Chapter 10 - the man behind the badge
They reached Aurelia Hospital through a steel service door beneath the abandoned east wing.
The building had once treated hundreds of children. Now its corridors were dark, its rooms empty, and its walls marked by years of water damage.
Temporary cables ran across the floor.
Owen had turned the hospital into an operational center.
Ethan divided his team. Two officers searched for the demolition controls. Marcus, Khloe, Isabella, and Ethan continued toward the lower operating theater.
Isabella walked ahead with her hands visible.
Marcus did not trust her.
Khloe did not forgive her.
But Isabella knew the route.
“Owen recruited me two years ago,” she said.
“You expect sympathy?” Khloe asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
“He told me Thomas’s trust would destroy the foundation. He showed me reports claiming thousands of employees would lose their jobs if the shares transferred.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed what I wanted.”
“That Marcus should have married you?”
Isabella’s face tightened.
“That the life I was promised could still be restored.”
Marcus looked at her.
“No one promised you my life.”
“Our parents did.”
“They had no right.”
“I know that now.”
Khloe heard fear in Isabella’s voice, but also something close to shame.
“Who spoke through your earpiece?” Ethan asked.
“Owen.”
“The recording’s voice was altered.”
“He used a filter.”
“Did he order you to push Khloe?”
“He ordered me to make it look as though she had broken into the corridor and attacked me.”
“You could have refused.”
“I should have.”
“You could have warned us.”
“I thought Owen needed the drive to prevent Julian from stealing the company.”
Marcus stopped.
“You knew Julian was being framed.”
“Not until tonight.”
“Why did you try to reach the drive after the recording played?”
“Because Owen said the drive contained proof that Marcus’s father had selected another heir.”
Khloe studied her.
“Another heir to the company?”
“To everything.”
The demolition timer reached six minutes.
They entered the operating theater.
The retired pilot was tied to a chair but conscious.
Ethan freed him.
The pilot’s name was Samuel Reed.
Marcus knelt beside him.
“What happened to my father?”
Samuel struggled to speak.
“The plane went down, but Thomas survived. Owen’s team reached us first.”
“Did Owen kill him?”
“I don’t know. I lost consciousness. When I woke, Thomas was gone.”
“Why were you declared dead?”
“They said my family would be killed if I returned.”
“Who are they?”
Samuel looked toward Isabella.
“Her father knew.”
“My father died three years ago,” Isabella said.
“No. He disappeared three years ago.”
Isabella’s face went blank.
Marcus helped Samuel stand.
“Where is Owen?”
Samuel pointed toward the lower vault.
“He has the controls.”
Ethan found the vault entrance beneath the operating table. A gold lock waited beside the door.
Marcus inserted the key.
Nothing happened.
Khloe noticed a second slot beneath it.
“It requires two keys.”
Isabella reached beneath the collar of her dress and removed a thin chain.
A silver key hung from it.
“My father gave me this before he disappeared.”
“You never knew what it opened?” Marcus asked.
“He told me I would understand when the Vale family began destroying itself.”
Marcus inserted both keys.
The door opened.
Owen stood inside the vault.
Behind him were shelves filled with financial ledgers, passports, sealed recordings, and legal documents.
A small control panel displayed the demolition timer.
04:12.
Owen held a remote trigger.
“You took longer than expected.”
Ethan aimed his weapon.
“Put it down.”
“You trained me better than that.”
“You betrayed everyone who trusted you.”
“I protected the structure Thomas tried to destroy.”
“Who gave you the order?”
Owen smiled.
“Still asking the wrong question.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
“Dead.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Owen’s eyes moved toward Margaret’s image on one of the surveillance screens.
“Ask your mother.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“The pilot saw Vale security remove Thomas.”
“He saw us remove an injured man from the wreckage. Thomas was alive for three more days.”
Khloe felt Marcus’s hand close around the gold key.
“Where was he kept?”
“In this hospital.”
“And then?”
“He signed the final trust document.”
Owen pointed toward a sealed glass case.
Inside was a leather folder.
“That document names the person who receives control if Marcus’s child cannot inherit.”
“Who?” Khloe asked.
Owen looked at her.
“You.”
Khloe stared at him.
“Not your child,” Owen continued. “You.”
Isabella stepped backward.
Owen laughed at her reaction.
“You nearly destroyed the woman Thomas selected to dismantle us.”
“Thomas died years before Marcus met me,” Khloe said.
“Yes.”
“Then how could he name me?”
“Because Khloe was not the name he wrote.”
Owen pressed the remote.
The timer dropped from four minutes to sixty seconds.
The vault door began closing.
Ethan fired at the control panel, but the metal shield locked over it.
Owen moved through a side exit.
Marcus grabbed the leather folder.
Khloe helped Samuel toward the door.
Isabella froze.
“Move,” Khloe shouted.
The vault door continued lowering.
Ethan pushed Samuel through first.
Marcus followed.
Khloe reached the opening, but Isabella stumbled behind her.
For one second, Khloe could have left her.
Instead, she turned and caught Isabella’s hand.
They slid beneath the door together as it slammed shut.
The countdown reached ten seconds.
Ethan searched for another control.
Samuel pointed toward the old oxygen panel.
“Emergency override.”
Marcus pulled the lever.
Nothing happened.
Five seconds.
Four.
Three.
Isabella removed the silver key from the lock and inserted it into the override panel.
The timer stopped at one second.
No one moved.
Then every light in the hospital turned on.
A voice came through the speakers.
May you like
It was the same distorted voice from the recordings.
“Owen has failed. Begin the second procedure.”
