Chapter 16: Grant’s Confession
Grant’s broadcast reached every Cole Industries office in the world.
He confessed to intercepting Hannah’s letters, falsifying Adrian’s incapacity reports, bribing officials, and helping Evelyn hide company money.
Then he held up the drive from Caleb’s stuffed bear.
“This contains proof of every crime.”
Adrian watched from the penthouse.
“Why the countdown?” Hannah asked.
Maya traced the signal.
“He’s inside the original Cole Industries tower.”
The building had been closed for renovation.
Grant continued speaking.
“My mother taught me that power survives by controlling what people fear. Adrian feared he would never walk. Hannah feared losing her son. I feared becoming nothing.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“I was wrong about one thing. Becoming nothing would have been better than becoming her.”
The countdown reached seven minutes.
Grant revealed that Evelyn had installed a data-destruction system inside the tower years earlier. If authorities attempted to seize the company servers, the system would destroy the evidence.
He planned to upload everything publicly before the destruction sequence completed.
“But someone has locked me out of the final server,” he said.
Adrian called him.
Grant answered on the broadcast.
“You shouldn’t be watching this,” Grant said.
“Stop the countdown.”
“I can’t.”
“Leave the building.”
“The files won’t upload unless someone stays connected.”
“You don’t have to die for this.”
Grant looked away.
“I’m not doing it for you.”
“Then do it for Caleb. He doesn’t need another dead relative.”
Grant’s expression shifted.
The countdown reached five minutes.
“There is a manual override in Father’s office,” Grant said. “It needs two biometric signatures.”
“Yours and mine?”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at the tower visible through the windows.
He could not reach it in five minutes by car.
Maya saw the answer first.
“The roof.”
A company helicopter was still parked on Adrian’s private landing pad.
Four minutes later, Adrian, Maya, and Hannah landed on the tower.
The elevator had been disabled.
William’s office was three floors below.
Adrian looked toward the stairwell.
Hannah brought the portable braces Laura Bennett had sent from the hospital.
“You don’t have to prove anything,” she said.
“Yes, I do.”
Adrian locked the braces around his legs.
With one hand on the railing and the other on Hannah’s shoulder, he took the first step down.
The countdown reached sixty seconds.
At the bottom of the stairs, Grant stood beside the scanner.
May you like
But someone else was waiting with him.
Evelyn’s attorney held a weapon against Grant’s back.
