Chapter 10 - THE MIDPOINT BETRAYAL
She placed the ring on the table.
"I didn't steal it."
Vivienne's voice became cold.
"Then explain why it's in your hand."
"Someone put it in my coat pocket."
Elias stepped toward her.
"Convenient."
Naomi looked at Vivienne.
"Search me."
They did.
Nothing.
Security footage showed Naomi entering.
Then Elias.
Then Evelyn.
No one else.
Vivienne looked at the ring.
"Someone wants us accusing each other."
Marcus nodded.
"Victor's best weapon has always been suspicion."
Then Elias's phone rang.
His face changed.
"Sloane is missing."
Vivienne stared.
"What?"
During transport back from a court appearance, the vehicle carrying Sloane had been struck at an intersection.
No gunfight.
No dramatic kidnapping.
Just confusion.
A fake emergency vehicle.
Two minutes.
Sloane vanished.
Hours later, Vivienne received a video.
Sloane sat tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Behind her stood Adrian.
Free.
Vivienne's blood went cold.
Adrian had been released hours earlier after prosecutors failed to establish direct possession of the allergen.
The missing EpiPens had disappeared from evidence before police collected them.
The contaminated dressing bottle carried only Sloane's fingerprints.
Adrian smiled into the camera.
"Hello, Vivienne."
Vivienne wanted to throw the phone.
Instead, she watched.
"You've spent your whole life believing intelligence makes you untouchable."
He leaned toward the camera.
"It doesn't."
Sloane cried behind him.
"Adrian, please."
He ignored her.
"I want the Meridian archive."
Vivienne looked at Marcus.
Adrian continued.
"Twenty-four hours."
"If I don't have it, your sister disappears."
Vivienne's expression didn't change.
Adrian smiled.
"You probably think you don't care."
"You do."
Then his expression shifted.
"And there is one more thing."
He stepped aside.
Behind Sloane was a hospital bed.
A man lay unconscious.
Marcus went white.
"My son."
Vivienne looked at him.
Marcus's son, Daniel Vale, had supposedly lived in Europe.
Adrian had both hostages.
"Bring the archive to St. Agnes."
The video ended.
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
Vivienne looked at her.
"He'll kill them."
"He'll kill them after he has the archive."
Marcus sat down.
For years, he had hidden to protect his son.
Now Victor had found him anyway.
Vivienne stared at the black Meridian drive.
Her family had spent fifteen years protecting information.
People had died for it.
Lives had been destroyed because of it.
Maybe that was the mistake.
Secrets gained power because only a few people controlled them.
"What happens if we release the archive publicly?"
Marcus looked horrified.
"Patient identities."
"Redact them."
"Research protocols could be abused."
"Remove them."
Elias understood first.
"You want to publish the financial trail."
Vivienne nodded.
"The corruption."
"The bribes."
"The board communications."
"The illegal clinics."
"Everything that proves crimes without exposing patients."
Evelyn slowly smiled.
"If everyone has the evidence, Adrian can't trade it."
Vivienne looked at the drive.
"My father built vaults."
"My mother became a ghost."
"Marcus disappeared."
"And Victor still won for fifteen years."
She inserted the key.
"No more vaults."
The archive began decrypting.
A name appeared at the top of the primary payment ledger.
Not Victor Dane.
Not Adrian Hartwell.
Vivienne leaned closer.
AUTHORIZED BY: ELIAS GRANT.
May you like
Everyone turned toward Elias.
And Elias Grant quietly locked the door.
