Chapter 17 - CHARLES'S LAST LEVER
“Congratulations, Emma,” Charles said through the screen. “You finally inherited the family talent for betrayal.”
Nathan’s lip was split. Blood darkened his collar.
I felt no love for him.
But I would not let Charles kill him to control me.
“What do you want?”
“The founder agreement. The physical original. And Julian’s signature on a revocation.”
Julian shook his head.
Charles smiled. “Then Nathan dies.”
Detective Shah whispered to an agent, tracing the feed.
I kept Charles talking.
“You spent twenty years stealing from my family, and this is your ending? A hostage video?”
“You still think this is about money.”
“What else is there?”
“Legacy.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“Your grandfather built an empire on stones men like me found, moved, insured, and protected. The Vales put their name on the windows. I built the machine underneath.”
“You stole because you thought you deserved applause.”
His face changed.
That hit him.
Good.
Detective Shah mouthed: TWO MINUTES.
Charles lifted a gun.
“Bring me the agreement.”
I said, “No.”
Nathan looked at the camera.
For the first time since I had known him, he did something without calculating what he could gain.
“Don’t,” he said. “Emma, don’t give him anything.”
Charles struck him.
I flinched.
Then alarms sounded faintly through Charles’s microphone.
His eyes snapped toward something off camera.
Detective Shah smiled.
“We found him.”
The feed jolted.
Gunshots cracked.
The screen went black.
No one in the boardroom moved.
Thirty seconds later Shah’s phone rang.
She listened.
Then looked at me.
“Charles is in custody.”
I exhaled.
May you like
“And Nathan?”
Her expression told me the answer was complicated.
