Chapter 13 - Ninety-One Minutes
“Can you stop it?” Adrian asked.
Jonah shook his head.
“Not without triggering breach penalties.”
“How much?”
“Eight million.”
Dominic swore.
Claire stared at the deal.
“Who drafted it?”
Jonah pulled metadata.
“Outside counsel.”
Name: Sloan, Mercer & Keene.
Victor’s law affiliate.
Claire almost smiled.
“There.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You see something?”
“The buyer.”
“North Lake?”
“Yes.”
She searched public filings.
North Lake Development Partners had been formed five months earlier.
Registered agent: a law firm in Delaware.
But one financing document listed a guarantor.
R. Keller Holdings.
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Raymond.”
Claire nodded.
“He’s buying your assets with money he stole from you.”
Dominic said, “That takes nerve.”
“That takes confidence.”
Adrian grabbed his phone.
Claire stopped him.
“No threats.”
“I was calling counsel.”
“Good.”
He gave her a look.
“I do know how phones work.”
“Your reputation makes clarification useful.”
For the next hour, Claire, Jonah, Dana Pierce—Adrian’s outside attorney—and two bank officers worked the transaction.
They could not simply cancel it.
But they could contest the authorization.
Dana filed an emergency fraud notice.
The bank froze settlement pending review.
At 11:58, the transfer stalled.
At midnight, nothing moved.
Adrian exhaled.
Claire did too.
Then every screen in the office went black.
Jonah stood.
“What the hell?”
Emergency lights came on.
A second later, the building alarm chirped.
Not fire.
Security.
Someone had entered through the loading dock.
Adrian looked at Dominic.
“Stay with Claire.”
Claire said, “No.”
Both brothers turned.
“I’m not staying in a dark office while somebody walks around downstairs.”
Adrian sighed.
“Of course not.”
They moved through the service corridor.
The kitchen was empty.
The loading dock door stood open.
Rain blew inside.
A figure ran across the alley.
Dominic chased.
Adrian followed.
Claire stayed at the door.
She saw something on the floor.
A phone.
Old.
Cracked.
She picked it up.
One video file was open.
Elena Ruiz appeared on screen.
Her face was bruised.
She looked terrified.
“If Adrian finds this,” she whispered, “tell him Raymond isn’t the man in charge.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Elena looked off camera.
May you like
Then said the name.
“Victor answers to Vivian Vale.”
