Chapter 4: The Harbor Safe
Midnight shrouded the city in a cold, drizzling mist. Victor drove his unmarked sedan down to the forgotten waterfront of the East District, far away from the gleaming spires of his corporate world. Leo sat in the passenger seat, while Toby slept soundly in the back, wrapped in Victor’s cashmere overcoat.
"You're not like the man on television," Leo murmured, staring out at the decaying brick warehouses.
"Television only shows the armor," Victor replied, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. "When you spend your life running from fire, you end up building a cage made of gold."
They parked in front of the Old Harbor Bank, an ancient stone structure guarded by a lone night watchman whom Victor paid off with a stack of bills. Inside, the air smelled of damp stone and oxidized copper.
Victor and Leo walked down the spiraling iron staircase into the subterranean vault. Leo used the brass key to unlock Box 414.
Inside lay an old magnetic tape drive, a stack of handwritten blueprints, and a small audio cassette labeled: *PROJECT PHOENIX - INSURANCE*.
Victor inserted the cassette into a portable player he had brought along. The mechanical hum of the tape filled the cold vault, followed by static, and then a familiar, raspy voice.
*“Victor, if you’re hearing this, it means I’m dead, and you finally stopped running,”* Michael’s voice echoed from the tiny speaker. *“The fire at Genesis Tower wasn't an electrical malfunction. Beatrice and the investment firm orchestrated the arson to claim the three-billion-dollar insurance payout and clear the land. I found the ignition timers in the air ducts thirty minutes before the explosion.”*
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Victor stopped breathing. His entire corporate empire—the fortune he had spent twelve years protecting—was built on the deliberate murder of his best friend.
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