Chapter 3 - The Lethal Secret
The room went dead silent.
"Killed her?" I repeated. "Sarah, Thomas died in a car accident. The brakes failed."
"The brakes didn't fail, David," she said, her breathing growing labored. "They were hacked. Thomas found out that Marcus Vance, your Chief Financial Officer, was running a shadow ledger. Marcus wasn't just embezzling millions; he was selling Sterling Tech's proprietary military drone software to foreign black-market buyers."
My blood ran cold. Marcus had been my father's right-hand man. He was my mentor. He sat at the head of my board of directors.
"Thomas downloaded the proof," Sarah continued. "He gave it to me to encrypt. That night, his car went off the cliff. I knew Marcus would come for me next. So I ran. I hid. I found out I was pregnant. I lived off the grid for six years."
"Then why are you sick?" I asked, looking at the oxygen tubes.
"It's not cancer," she smiled bitterly. "It's thallium poisoning. Marcus's men found me three months ago. They couldn't make it look like a murder without raising suspicions, so they poisoned my water supply. It mimics a terminal autoimmune failure. They are just waiting for me to die so they can search my belongings for the drive."
I stared at her, a terrifying, violent rage igniting in my chest. Marcus had murdered my brother. He had poisoned the woman my brother loved. He had forced my niece to live in poverty.
"Where is Lily now?" I asked sharply.
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"She went to the cafeteria to get me a juice box," Sarah said.
Before I could speak, Vance burst into the room. "Boss. We have a problem. Three armed men just walked into the lobby. They aren't hospital security. They are carrying concealed weapons, and they are heading for the pediatric cafeteria."
