Chapter 16 - TEN MINUTES Adrian didn’t remember the drive.
Only Sarah’s voice.
“Adrian.”
Again.
“Adrian!”
He looked up.
“We found Kane’s vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Heading south.”
“Destination?”
Sarah hesitated.
“The Mercer Archive.”
Claire sat in the passenger seat with an ice pack against her head.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
She turned.
“Don’t start.”
“You were unconscious twenty minutes ago.”
“And Noah was taken from my arms.”
Adrian had no argument.
Victor lay in another vehicle headed toward a hospital under Reed’s supervision.
Before they separated, Victor grabbed Adrian.
“Kane will make Noah think he’s helping you.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
“He won’t threaten him.”
“Why?”
“Because frightened children resist.”
Victor coughed.
“He’ll tell Noah that unlocking the archive saves his parents.”
Adrian’s blood turned cold.
Kane understood psychology.
And Noah loved them.
That made him vulnerable.
At the Mercer facility, Noah sat across from Marcus Kane.
No ropes.
No gun.
A glass of chocolate milk sat on the table.
Noah didn’t touch it.
Kane smiled.
“You’re very intelligent.”
“My dad says people say that before they want something.”
Kane almost laughed.
“Your father is intelligent too.”
“He doesn’t like you.”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
“Fair.”
Kane placed a scanner on the table.
“I need your help.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what I’m asking.”
“Still no.”
Kane leaned back.
“What if helping me saves your mother?”
Noah’s expression changed.
Kane noticed.
“Claire is in danger.”
“You hurt her.”
“No.”
“My people had to stop her.”
“You hit her.”
“I didn’t.”
Noah stared.
“You change rules too.”
Kane’s smile disappeared.
Noah continued.
“You’re like Victor.”
That bothered Kane more than anything else.
“I am nothing like Victor.”
“You both lie.”
Kane pushed the scanner forward.
“Put your finger here.”
“No.”
“Your father is wanted by every federal agency in the country.”
“He didn’t do anything.”
“I can clear his name.”
Noah hesitated.
Kane smiled.
There.
A crack.
“Ten seconds.”
Noah looked at the scanner.
“Then Dad goes home?”
“Yes.”
“Mom too?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
Kane smiled.
“I promise.”
Noah slowly raised his hand.
Then stopped.
“My dad says promises only count if you keep them when they hurt.”
Kane stared.
“What does that mean?”
“It means yours doesn’t count.”
Kane’s patience snapped.
He grabbed Noah’s wrist.
Noah screamed.
At that exact moment, the building lost power.
Darkness.
Adrian had arrived.
Emergency lights activated.
Kane dragged Noah toward the biometric chamber.
“Let go!”
Noah kicked him.
Kane cursed.
Adrian entered the corridor.
“NOAH!”
“DAD!”
Kane pressed a gun against Noah.
Adrian stopped.
Claire appeared behind Adrian.
Kane smiled.
“The reunited family.”
“Let him go.”
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
“Then your son dies.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You won’t shoot.”
Kane smiled.
“You think you know me?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at Noah.
“But I know what you need.”
Kane’s expression changed.
“You need his fingerprint.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“His voice.”
Another step.
“His DNA.”
Kane tightened his grip.
“So you can’t kill him.”
Adrian smiled coldly.
“And now he knows it too.”
Noah bit Kane’s hand.
Hard.
Kane screamed.
Noah dropped.
Adrian lunged.
Gunfire.
Claire pulled Noah behind cover.
Adrian slammed Kane against the wall.
They fought.
No elegance.
No rules.
Years of lies exploded into violence.
Kane drove a knife toward Adrian.
Adrian caught his wrist.
Kane whispered:
“You think this ends with me?”
Adrian headbutted him.
“No.”
Another strike.
“But you do.”
Kane fell.
Reed arrived with Sarah and federal officers loyal to her committee contacts.
“Hands!”
Kane laughed from the floor.
“You think these people are loyal?”
Sarah approached.
“No.”
She held up her phone.
“They’re being livestreamed.”
Kane’s smile vanished.
Every camera in the room was broadcasting.
International media.
Independent journalists.
Multiple servers.
Sarah smiled.
“Smile, Marcus.”
Kane looked at Adrian.
For the first time—
fear.
Claire activated the drive.
Upload resumed.
94%.
95%.
Kane shouted.
“You have no idea what you’re releasing!”
96%.
“People will die!”
97%.
“Governments will fall!”
98%.
Adrian looked at him.
“No.”
99%.
“People will answer questions.”
100%.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
Across the world, files appeared.
Transactions.
Recordings.
Photographs.
Names.
Victor.
Kane.
Judges.
Officials.
Executives.
Everything.
Kane closed his eyes.
It was over.
Or it should have been.
Then Sarah stared at the monitor.
“What?”
The drive had opened another folder automatically.
A folder none of them had seen.
PHOENIX.
Claire whispered:
“I didn’t create that.”
Michael arrived.
He saw the name.
Then stopped.
“No.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You know it.”
Michael stared at the folder.
“Phoenix was Gabriel’s contingency.”
“For what?”
Michael looked toward Noah.
“For the day the Blackwood empire fell.”
Adrian frowned.
“What happens?”
The folder opened.
A countdown appeared.
23:59:58.
Twenty-four hours.
Noah stared.
“Is that a bomb?”
Michael shook his head.
“Worse.”
“What?”
Michael looked at Adrian.
“When Gabriel created the Blackwood trust, he built an automatic transfer mechanism.”
“To who?”
Michael swallowed.
“To the surviving heir.”
Everyone turned toward Adrian.
Adrian stared.
“What transfers?”
Michael answered:
“Everything.”
The companies.
The properties.
The accounts.
The voting shares.
Billions.
In twenty-four hours, Adrian Vale would legally inherit the empire he had just destroyed.
Kane began laughing.
Adrian looked at him.
“What?”
Kane smiled.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Phoenix doesn’t just transfer the assets.”
Michael’s face went pale.
Kane continued.
“It transfers the debts.”
Adrian stared.
“And the obligations.”
“What obligations?”
Kane’s smile widened.
“Every agreement Gabriel ever made.”
Michael whispered:
“Oh God.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Michael looked at him.
“One of those agreements was with the families.”
“What families?”
Kane answered.
“The five criminal organizations Victor spent thirty years keeping away from your son.”
Noah looked at Adrian.
The countdown continued.
23:58:41.
Kane smiled.
“Congratulations, Mr. Vale.”
“You didn’t destroy the Blackwood empire.”
May you like
A pause.
“You just inherited the war.”
