Chapter 9 - Someone Inside Northstar
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Mom?”
The transmission ended.
Nobody spoke.
Maria was crying.
“You said she died.”
“I thought she did.”
“You were there.”
“I was there when she stopped breathing.”
Daniel interrupted.
“Could be prerecorded.”
Ethan grabbed that possibility.
“Yes.”
But he knew his mother’s face.
The woman on the screen looked older than Grace had three years ago.
“Turn around.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Ethan—”
“Turn the car around.”
They reached Northstar under federal lockdown.
Agents surrounded the building.
Christian had sealed himself inside the original server level.
Thermal imaging showed two people.
One standing.
One seated.
Ethan insisted on entering.
Daniel went with him.
They reached the server corridor.
Christian’s voice came through speakers.
“Alone.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
“No.”
“If I don’t go, he kills her.”
“You don’t know that’s Grace.”
“I need to know.”
Daniel reluctantly remained behind.
Ethan entered.
Christian stood beside the server.
Grace sat in a wheelchair.
Alive.
Ethan forgot Christian existed.
“Mom.”
Grace began crying.
“My boy.”
Five years of grief hit him at once.
He wanted to run to her.
He didn’t.
Christian held a gun.
“You’re learning.”
Ethan looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“Northstar.”
“You can’t have it.”
“I built it.”
“You helped build it.”
“I wrote the architecture that made you rich.”
“And I paid you.”
“You erased me.”
“You faked your death.”
“After Grace threatened to expose my father.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
“Why?”
Grace’s voice was weak.
“To protect you.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“We’ll discuss that later.”
A faint smile appeared through her tears.
“I hope so.”
Christian pointed toward the master server.
“Transfer control.”
“You know I can’t.”
“You can through Orion.”
“No. Maria is trustee.”
“Attachment C changes that.”
“You haven’t read it.”
Christian’s expression flickered.
Ethan understood.
“You never had the document.”
“No.”
“And you thought Lily was beneficiary.”
“She should have been.”
“She’s three.”
“She’s my blood.”
“She’s Maria’s daughter.”
Christian’s jaw tightened.
Ethan deliberately continued.
“You’re nothing to Lily.”
Christian raised the gun.
Grace shouted, “Christopher!”
The old name stopped him.
Grace leaned forward.
“You were not always this man.”
Christian laughed.
“You knew me for six months.”
“I knew enough.”
“You chose Ethan.”
“He chose himself.”
Christian’s face twisted.
“All of you did.”
He pressed the detonator halfway.
Ethan remained still.
“What happens if you destroy the server?”
“Orion dies.”
“No. Daniel duplicated it.”
Christian froze.
A bluff.
Mostly.
Enough.
“You’re lying.”
“Find out.”
Christian glanced toward a monitor.
That was the opening.
Grace moved first.
She drove her wheelchair into Christian’s legs.
The gun fired.
Ethan lunged.
They hit the floor.
The detonator slid beneath a server rack.
Christian punched Ethan.
Ethan struck back.
Years of anger made both men reckless.
Christian reached for the gun.
Ethan kicked it away.
Federal agents burst through the doors.
“Hands!”
Christian froze.
For one second Ethan thought it was over.
Then Christian smiled.
“You forgot Michael.”
An explosion shook another floor.
Lights died.
Emergency systems activated.
Christian ran through a maintenance door.
Agents followed.
Ethan ignored them.
He went to Grace.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He knelt in front of her.
Neither knew what to say.
Finally Grace touched his face.
“You got old.”
Ethan laughed once through tears.
“So did you.”
“I deserved that.”
He hugged her.
Five years collapsed.
For a moment, he was not a billionaire.
He was a son who had missed his mother.
Then Daniel entered.
“Michael escaped custody during the blast.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Of course.
Grace looked at Daniel.
“He’ll go to the bank.”
“What bank?”
“The original Orion escrow branch.”
“Why?”
“The physical ledger.”
Ethan frowned.
“We found Richard’s ledger.”
“Not that one.”
Grace looked at him.
“The second ledger contains the names Richard never knew.”
“Who?”
“People inside Northstar.”
“How many?”
“Seven.”
Daniel went pale.
Grace continued.
“One of them is still on your board.”
Ethan thought of every person he trusted.
“Who?”
Before Grace could answer, the building intercom activated.
A woman’s voice announced that Northstar’s board had called an emergency vote.
Effective immediately, Ethan Cole was suspended as CEO.
Daniel checked his phone.
“It’s real.”
“Who called the vote?”
Daniel showed him.
Board chair Margaret Sinclair.
Grace stared at the name.
Then whispered, “That’s her.”
Ethan’s phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived.
Maria and Lily entering the safe residence.
Behind them stood Margaret Sinclair.
The timestamp was thirty seconds old.
Then came a message.
YOU HAVE ONE HOUR.
May you like
BRING GRACE.
OR THE CHILD LEARNS WHAT FAMILY REALLY MEANS...
