Chapter 2 - Blood in the Server Room
The chime of the private elevator echoed through the desolate 60th floor.
The executive floor, usually humming with high-stakes energy, was pitch black except for the emergency exit signs casting an eerie red glow over the glass partitions.
Caroline stepped out, her hand tightly gripping the heavy brass paperweight she had grabbed from the security desk.
Behind her, Marcus held Amanda firmly by the arm. Amanda had stopped fighting, her eyes wide with a mixture of rage and terror.
"Arthur!" Caroline called out into the darkness, her voice sharp enough to slice through the heavy silence. "It's over! The building is on lockdown. Federal authorities are already on their way!"
It was a bluff—she hadn't called the FBI yet—but she needed to gauge his reaction.
A low, dry chuckle drifted from the server room at the end of the long hallway.
The glass door slid open, and Arthur Vance stepped out into the hallway.
He looked as immaculate as ever in his Tom Ford suit, holding a dark leather briefcase in his right hand.
"Always the master negotiator, Caroline," Arthur said smoothly, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses. "Though I must admit, I didn't expect our dear mother to be the wild card that ruined a six-year plan."
Hearing him call Margaret "our mother" sent a surge of hot rage through Caroline’s veins.
"She is NOT your mother," Caroline hissed, advancing slowly down the hallway. "Who was she, Arthur? Who was your mother?"
Arthur smiled, a cruel, mocking curve of his lips. "Her name was Helen. Your father’s real assistant before he dumped her to marry your high-society mother. He paid her off, abandoned us, and left me to grow up in a trailer park while you two played princesses in the Hamptons."
"So this was all about revenge?" Caroline asked, keeping him talking while she calculated the distance between them.
"It wasn't revenge, Caroline. It was my birthright," Arthur replied, his voice rising with manic passion. "Your father built his initial wealth using my mother's family land as collateral! I earned every penny of this company. You just inherited his name!"
"You tried to ruin Mom!" Caroline yelled, pointing back toward the elevator where Amanda stood cowering. "You put her in an asylum!"
"That was Amanda's idea," Arthur sneered, throwing his accomplice under the bus without a second thought. "She was greedy. She wanted the estate money immediately. I just needed Margaret out of the picture so she couldn't identify me as Richard Sterling's illegitimate son."
Amanda gasped. "Arthur, you promised me half of the company!"
"And you were stupid enough to believe me," Arthur spat back.
Suddenly, Arthur reached into his coat pocket.
May you like
Marcus drew his weapon instantly, but Arthur didn't pull a gun. He pulled a small, black detonator.
"The master servers are rigged with thermite charges, Caroline," Arthur said, his eyes gleaming with mad ambition. "You give me the master keycard to the roof helipad, or I press this button and erase Sterling Financial from existence."
