Chapter 4 - A Mother’s Price
Celeste made a broken sound and reached for the phone.
Grant pulled it away.
“Julian!”
On the screen, Julian lifted his head.
Blood ran from his nose, but his eyes were clear.
“Don’t give her anything,” he said.
Vivian pressed the knife closer.
“You always were dramatic.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Nora, bring the ring and the flash drive to the executive conference room. Come alone.”
Nora stared at Vivian.
“You framed me, tried to steal my company, and now you’re holding your own son hostage.”
Vivian’s expression remained calm.
“I am preserving what my family built.”
“My father built it.”
“Your father designed machines. I built influence.”
Julian laughed weakly.
“You stole influence.”
Vivian struck him across the face.
Celeste rushed toward Grant, but Maya held her back.
Vivian continued.
“You have five minutes.”
The call ended.
Silence filled the corridor.
Ethan lowered the gun slightly.
“She’ll kill him.”
Celeste turned on him.
“This is your fault.”
“I know.”
“You helped her!”
“I know.”
She slapped him.
The sound echoed off the walls.
Ethan did not defend himself.
Nora looked at the ring.
“Can the information be copied?”
Ethan nodded.
“If we reach a secure computer.”
Maya pointed toward the banquet office.
“There’s one beside the kitchen.”
Grant suddenly moved.
He reached for Ethan’s wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Everyone ducked.
Grant twisted Ethan’s arm, but Nora shoved a metal cart into Grant’s legs.
He stumbled.
Celeste grabbed the gun.
Her hands shook violently as she pointed it at him.
“Don’t move.”
Grant studied her.
“You won’t shoot.”
Celeste’s voice dropped.
“Try me.”
Maya led them into the banquet office and locked the door.
Ethan inserted the black drive into the computer.
Nora placed the ring on the desk.
Using the edge of a letter opener, Maya removed the capsule and connected it with an adapter.
Two folders appeared.
One was labeled HALE.
The other was labeled SUCCESSION.
Ethan clicked the Hale folder.
Financial records flooded the screen.
Illegal transfers.
Payments to public officials.
Private surveillance reports.
Clinical trial deaths listed as unrelated medical events.
Then Nora saw her father’s name.
A video file was dated two days before his plane crash.
She opened it.
Samuel Hale appeared in his home office.
He looked tired and frightened.
“Nora,” he said, staring into the camera, “if you are watching this, Vivian Cole has already moved against me.”
Nora gripped the desk.
Her father continued.
“Hale Meridian developed a cardiac monitoring implant that could save thousands of lives. Vivian approved unauthorized human trials to force an early launch.”
Maya whispered, “That was my brother’s project.”
Samuel looked over his shoulder.
“I tried to stop her. I transferred controlling shares into your trust. She cannot access them unless you surrender them willingly or are declared legally incompetent.”
Nora closed her eyes.
That was the trap.
Public humiliation.
False medical records.
Forced legal documents.
Her father’s recorded voice softened.
“I made one mistake. I trusted a member of the Cole family.”
Ethan looked away.
Samuel continued.
“Not Vivian. Not her sons.”
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed Samuel standing beside Chief Grant.
Nora turned slowly.
Grant was no ordinary security employee.
Samuel said, “Grant Mercer is my half-brother.”
Maya stared through the office window at the man outside.
Nora’s uncle.
Samuel’s final words came through the speakers.
“If Grant is still alive, he knows where the original evidence is buried.”
Grant smiled through the glass.
Then he lifted a second gun.
May you like
And fired through the office door.
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