Chapter 6 - The Confession
Mark kicked the gun under a massive industrial oven.
He wiped the dripping water from his eyes, glaring at Grant.
The fire alarm continued to blare, but the sprinklers suddenly sputtered and stopped.
"You always had to be the hero, didn't you, Grant?" Mark shouted over the siren.
Diane was on the floor, clutching her broken wrist and moaning in pain.
Vanessa stayed hidden behind the counter, too paralyzed by fear to move.
"It's over, Mark," Grant yelled back.
"The fire alarm automatically dispatches the fire department."
"They'll be here in three minutes."
Mark smiled, a twisted, ugly expression.
"I disabled the external communication lines an hour ago."
"Nobody is coming."
My heart sank into my stomach.
We were completely trapped with a maniac.
Mark began walking slowly toward us, twirling the knife in his hand.
"You ruined my life, Grant."
"You got the company, you got the money, you even got Vanessa."
Grant scoffed loudly.
"You can have her."
"You two deserve each other."
Mark shook his head.
"It was never about her."
"It was about the algorithm you built."
"I wrote half of that code, and you took all the credit."
Grant's face hardened with genuine anger.
"You stole code from our competitors, Mark."
"I fired you to keep us out of federal prison."
I stared at my son in shock.
He had carried this burden alone, never telling anyone why he truly fired his best friend.
"And now I'm taking it all back," Mark sneered.
He suddenly lunged forward, swiping the knife toward Grant's chest.
Grant dodged backward, but the blade caught the fabric of his suit jacket.
The jacket ripped open, and a small, glowing blue device fell onto the floor.
It looked like a heavily modified flash drive.
Mark's eyes lit up with triumph.
He dove toward the floor to grab it.
But as his fingers brushed the metal casing, a loud electronic beep sounded.
A mechanical voice echoed from the small device.
"Audio upload complete. Data successfully transmitted to local authorities."
May you like
Mark froze, his face turning pale.
He slowly looked up at Grant.
