Chapter 14 - The Forty-Fifth Floor
The private elevator car ascended through the core of Sterling Tower with terrifying speed, the digital floor counter flashing numbers in rapid succession: 32... 35... 40... 43...
Ethan stood in the corner of the polished mahogany cabin, his chest heaving, staring at Victor Vance. The older lawyer was calmly wiping his glasses with a silk handkerchief, looking as though they were taking a routine business trip rather than breaking into a high-security corporate fortress while pursued by private security and federal agents.
"You used me," Ethan said, his voice flat, stripped of all anger, leaving only a hollow exhaustion. "You didn't care about my job, or my ruined wedding, or the child at the hospital. You just needed a decoy to draw Arthur’s security detail away from the basement server room so you could swipe his master financial ledgers."
Victor didn't look up from his handkerchief. "Cut the melodrama, Ethan. I gave you a lifeline when you were drowning in your own cowardice. Without me, you'd be sitting in a holding cell right now, taking the fall for five years of corporate embezzlement that Arthur pinned on you before you even signed your employment contract."
Ethan flinched as if struck. "What are you talking about?"
"You think you were chosen for your corporate brilliance, Ethan?" Victor chuckled darkly, sliding his glasses back onto his face and turning to face him. "Arthur needed a patsy with clean credentials and zero family backing—someone ambitious enough to sign whatever papers were put in front of him without asking questions. You were never his successor. You were his insurance policy."
The elevator chimed softly, slowing to a gentle halt. The heavy mahogany doors slid open to reveal the sprawling, panoramic expanse of Ethan’s former corner office on the forty-fifth floor. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows offered a breathtaking, glittering view of the city skyline at midnight, framed by expensive modern art and minimalist leather furniture. But the room was dark, illuminated only by the ambient neon glow of the city outside.
Step by step, Victor walked out of the elevator into the office, holding the black encrypted drive up to the dim light.
"And now," Victor said, turning to face Ethan as he stepped out of the car, "the policy has matured."
Before Ethan could reply, the entire office was suddenly flooded with blinding white light as dozens of concealed recessed spotlights snapped on simultaneously.
From the shadows behind the executive mahogany desk, a slow, rhythmic clapping echoed through the cavernous room. Arthur Sterling stepped out from the darkness, wearing an impeccably tailored charcoal suit, a cold, triumphant smile cutting across his weathered face.
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"Bravo, Victor," Arthur said smoothly, his eyes shifting from the lawyer to Ethan with a look of absolute, chilling contempt. "I was wondering when you'd finally crawl out of the woodwork. And you brought my favorite stray dog with you."
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