Chapter 3 - The Boardroom Siege
Caroline’s breath hitched in her throat.
The thermite charges would not only erase the data—they would melt the central core of the building, potentially triggering a catastrophic fire that could bring down the top ten floors.
He wasn't just stealing her company; he was willing to burn it to the ground.
"You're insane, Arthur," Caroline said, forcing her voice to remain calm, adopting the cold, analytical tone she used in high-stakes acquisitions. "If you destroy the servers, the stolen algorithms in your briefcase become completely worthless. You need the decryption keys stored in my private vault."
Arthur hesitated. His thumb hovered over the red button on the device.
Caroline took a slow step forward, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender.
"You want what you think father owed you," she continued, her voice soft, hypnotic. "The money, the status, the power. Burning this building gives you none of that. It just turns you into a murderer."
"Don't listen to her, Arthur!" Amanda screamed from behind Marcus. "She’s lying! She’s stalling!"
"Silence!" Arthur roared, his composure slipping for the first time.
That fraction of a second was all Marcus needed.
The security director lunged forward, slamming his heavy frame into Arthur.
The two men crashed into the heavy glass wall of the executive conference room.
The sound of shattering glass filled the air as the wall gave way, sending both men tumbling onto the massive mahogany conference table.
The detonator slipped from Arthur's hand and skidded across the floor, stopping right at Caroline's feet.
Without hesitation, Caroline stomped her heel down on the small plastic device, crushing the circuitry beneath her weight.
In the conference room, Arthur scrambled to his feet, bleeding from a cut on his forehead.
He grabbed a heavy metal desk lamp and swung it wildly, catching Marcus across the jaw.
Marcus went down, momentarily dazed.
Arthur didn't pause. He grabbed his briefcase and sprinted toward the secondary exit—the stairwell leading up to the rooftop helipad.
"Amanda, key!" Arthur yelled as he ran past her, snatching the master bypass keycard from Amanda's coat pocket before she could even react.
"Caroline!" Amanda cried out, reaching toward her sister, her fake shell completely shattered. "Please, help me! He’s going to leave me here!"
Caroline looked at her sister with total disgust.
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"You made your bed, Amanda," Caroline said coldly. "Now you can lie in it."
Caroline turned and sprinted after Arthur into the freezing draft of the stairwell, her heart pounding against her ribs as she chased the ghost of her father's dark secret up toward the snow-covered roof.
