Chapter 21 - THE ELEVATOR
The elevator descended beneath the hotel.
Brianna stood beside Lydia while the security guards remained upstairs to delay investigators.
“You planned this,” Lydia said.
“So did you.”
“You are more like your mother than you admit.”
“No. My mother believed people were possessions.”
The elevator stopped in an underground loading area.
A delivery van waited with its rear doors open.
Lydia held the black drive in one hand.
“Get inside.”
Brianna did not move.
“You cannot force the bank to accept my signature.”
“I no longer need to.”
Lydia showed her a tablet.
The fingerprint scanner upstairs had captured Brianna’s print when she touched the document.
The camera in Brianna’s necklace had also recorded her face from several angles.
“With your biometric data and the original trust documents, the bank will accept remote verification.”
“You planned to take it whether I signed or not.”
“I planned for every choice.”
A voice came from behind the van.
“No one plans for every choice.”
Elena stepped into the loading area.
Brianna stared at her.
“Elena, you were supposed to stay with Naomi.”
“I stopped allowing other people to decide where I belong.”
Lydia looked toward the ramp.
Police lights flashed beyond the closed gate.
“You think this ends with my arrest?” she asked. “The ledger contains enough names to protect me.”
“It protected you while no one knew it existed,” Elena replied. “Now every person on it is wondering what you will say first.”
For the first time, Lydia appeared uncertain.
Elena continued.
“Graham Sloane is cooperating. Victor’s agreement is being reviewed. Senator Reed’s attorney contacted prosecutors this afternoon.”
Lydia’s allies were no longer protecting her.
They were competing to betray her.
She tightened her grip on the drive.
“You destroyed your own father’s company by bringing that ledger forward.”
“No,” Elena said. “If Vale Medical benefited from a crime, we will face the truth. That is the difference between accountability and control.”
Lydia threw the drive beneath the van and moved toward the loading ramp.
Brianna blocked her.
Lydia shoved her aside.
Elena caught Brianna before she fell.
Agents entered from both sides of the garage.
Naomi approached with her badge raised.
“Lydia Crane, you are under arrest.”
Lydia looked at Brianna.
“Your family will always be remembered for this.”
Brianna straightened her wedding dress.
“Then they’ll remember I helped end it.”
An agent retrieved the black drive.
Naomi checked it.
The casing was empty.
Lydia smiled as officers led her away.
“The ledger was never on that drive.”
Elena looked toward the van.
May you like
Its rear doors were still open.
Inside were hundreds of identical black drives.
