Chapter 4 - The Inside Man
"You?" Arthur stammered, stumbling backward against the glass wall. "You've been on my payroll for a decade!"
"You paid me to clean up your messes, Arthur," Silas said coldly. "But you never paid me enough to forget that my father was the pilot of the plane you sabotaged in the Alps. I’ve waited fifteen years for the Vanguard heir to return. Eleanor and I have been planning this night for six months."
Eleanor walked around the table, the silver dress moving like liquid mercury. She tapped the dossier.
"Sign it, Arthur. If you don't, Silas puts a bullet in your knee, and we use your thumbprint to authorize the transfer anyway."
Sweat beaded on Arthur’s forehead. He looked at the gun, then at Eleanor’s merciless eyes. With a shaking hand, he picked up the Montblanc pen and signed the confession.
"You think this is over?" Arthur spat, throwing the pen. "Julian has the offshore accounts. The liquid assets are locked behind a dual-authentication biometric vault in the basement. You have the company, but you have no money!"
Eleanor smiled, a sharp, terrifying curve of her lips. "I know. That's why I sent a distraction to the ballroom."
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Suddenly, the lights in the penthouse flickered and died. The entire skyscraper plunged into darkness. The emergency red backup lights engaged, bathing the boardroom in a sinister, bloody glow.
"The gala is officially shut down," Silas said, racking the slide of his pistol. "We have ten minutes before Julian’s private security overrides the system. We need to get to the basement vault."
