Chapter 9 - The Fire on the Executive Floor)
Megan smelled smoke before she saw it.
Natalie grabbed the codicil.
Daniel ran to the door.
It would not open.
"Security!"
He slammed his fist against it.
No answer.
The ventilation system pushed gray smoke into the room.
Megan pulled her sweater over her mouth.
"Windows."
Twenty-second floor.
Sealed glass.
Daniel grabbed a chair and hit the door's narrow glass panel.
It cracked.
Again.
The glass shattered.
An alarm finally started.
Daniel reached through and unlocked the door from the outside.
The hallway was filling with smoke.
Natalie pointed toward the stairwell.
They ran.
On the nineteenth floor firefighters were coming upward.
A security officer stopped Daniel.
"Sir, you need to evacuate."
"Someone locked us in."
"We'll investigate."
"My father is in the building."
"Everyone is evacuating."
Outside, employees gathered across the street.
Richard stood beside his car.
He watched Daniel emerge with Megan and Natalie.
No surprise.
No relief.
Daniel walked toward him.
Megan followed.
Natalie caught her arm.
"Do not let him provoke Daniel into touching him."
Too late.
Daniel stopped inches from his father.
"You locked us in."
Richard looked at the smoke rising from the building.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You knew we were in my office."
"So did half the executive floor."
"Where were you?"
"In a meeting."
"With who?"
Richard smiled.
"My lawyer."
Natalie approached.
"Excellent. Give me the lawyer's name."
Richard's smile faded.
"And you are?"
"Natalie Cross."
Recognition appeared immediately.
Good, Megan thought.
Richard knew enough to be worried.
Natalie continued.
"My clients will preserve all access logs, security footage, fire-system records, network records, and building entry data. Any destruction of those materials from this moment forward will create additional problems."
Richard looked at Daniel.
"You hired her?"
"I did."
"You always were easily influenced."
Daniel stepped forward.
Megan touched his arm.
He stopped.
Richard noticed.
"Your wife controls you."
Daniel answered, "No. She reminds me when I'm becoming you."
Richard's expression cracked.
Only for a second.
Then he walked away.
Fire investigators later found an accelerant in a storage room beside Daniel's office.
Security footage from that floor had gone offline twelve minutes before the fire.
But another camera in the elevator recorded a person in a maintenance jacket carrying a fuel container.
The face was hidden.
The build resembled the man who had appeared at the hotel.
Natalie arranged for the codicil to be stored in a secure evidence locker.
Then she told Daniel something he did not want to hear.
"You need to resign temporarily."
"What?"
"If Richard controls company security and someone is willing to set a fire inside the building, you should not keep walking into his territory."
"Resigning gives him more power."
"Being dead gives him even more."
Daniel looked at Megan.
He knew she agreed.
That afternoon he submitted a formal leave of absence instead.
Richard responded within twelve minutes.
Your grandfather would be ashamed of you.
Daniel deleted the message.
They moved into a rented house under a corporate lease.
No Bennett name.
No forwarding address.
Sophie slept through most of her first night there.
Megan did not.
At two seventeen she heard something outside.
She checked the monitor.
Sophie was asleep.
Daniel was beside her.
The sound came again.
A light tapping against the front window.
Megan woke Daniel.
He checked the security camera.
A figure stood at the edge of the property.
Young.
Thin.
Hooded sweatshirt.
Daniel went pale.
"Lucas."
He started toward the door.
Megan grabbed him.
"Wait."
The figure held up both hands.
Then placed something on the porch.
He backed away.
Daniel opened the door only after the figure crossed the street.
"Lucas!"
The boy stopped.
For one second he turned his face toward the house.
Megan saw Anna immediately.
The same blue eyes.
The same shape of the jaw.
Then he ran.
Daniel chased him to the corner.
Lucas disappeared between houses.
On the porch he had left a flash drive.
Natalie insisted they open it on an isolated computer.
The first folder contained photographs.
Anna at Cedar Ridge.
Anna with Lucas.
Anna with Laura.
Richard entering the facility.
Evelyn leaving it.
Another folder contained scanned documents.
Payments from Bennett Industries to Cedar Ridge.
Private security contracts.
Custody documents.
Then they found an audio file.
Anna's voice.
Daniel,
If Lucas gives you this, it means he found you before I could.
Megan and Daniel looked at each other.
The recording continued.
I don't know who to trust anymore. Dad is involved, but he is not working alone. Someone inside the family helped him change the trust records. Someone with access before Grandfather died.
Daniel whispered, "Victor."
But Anna's next words changed everything.
Do not trust Uncle Victor.
And Daniel, there is one more thing Mom never told you.
Megan leaned closer.
The audio crackled.
May you like
Lucas is not the only child connected to this trust.
Then the recording ended.
