Chapter 9 - Live From the Forty-Second FloorMaya entered Whitmore Tower wearing a coat with a hidden camera sewn into the button.
When Maya entered, Celeste immediately reached for the nurse call button.
"What are you doing here?"
"Trying to keep you alive."
Celeste laughed painfully.
"That's rich."
Maya closed the door.
"Thomas Keene mailed you something."
Celeste's hand stopped.
"Who?"
"My father."
"The fugitive?"
"The man your family framed."
Celeste looked away.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Maya moved closer.
"Samuel Blake tried to kill us tonight."
Celeste's expression changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
"You know his name."
"He's on Adrien's board."
"He's also connected to the people who attacked you."
Celeste said nothing.
Maya sat beside the bed.
"Where's the package?"
"I don't have anything."
"Celeste."
"I said I don't."
Maya studied her.
"You weren't planning to marry Adrien because you loved him."
Celeste's eyes flashed.
"You think you understand me because he kissed you?"
"No."
"You're exactly his type."
"What type?"
"Broken."
Maya absorbed the insult.
Celeste continued.
"Adrien collects damaged people. Employees. Friends. Charities. Lost little girls from childhood."
Maya stood.
"I came here to save you."
"And I don't need saving."
"Then tell me where the drive is."
Celeste looked toward the window.
Finally she whispered, "My father told me the Whitmores stole our company."
Maya waited.
"Since I was eleven," Celeste continued, "he told me our family had been cheated. That Edward Whitmore manipulated documents and destroyed my grandfather."
"And you believed him."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because Harrison lied."
Celeste looked wounded.
"Maybe."
"You planned the marriage because of it."
"At first."
Maya noticed the last words.
"At first?"
Celeste's eyes filled with tears she clearly hated.
"I did love Adrien."
Maya said nothing.
"I know you don't believe me."
"I believe people can love badly."
That surprised Celeste.
She laughed softly.
"Maybe that's what I did."
Marcus had approached Celeste six months before the engagement.
He told her Adrien was already emotionally involved with someone on the household staff.
Maya.
He planted photographs.
Carefully timed encounters.
Anonymous messages.
He encouraged Celeste's jealousy.
Then suggested that if Adrien cheated publicly, the scandal could trigger protective clauses inside their prenuptial and merger agreements.
Celeste agreed.
Not because she wanted Adrien humiliated, she claimed.
Because she believed recovering Harrington assets was her obligation.
"But then you heard Maya warn him," Celeste said.
"And I realized Marcus had been playing both of us."
Maya frowned.
"Then why scream?"
"Because I was furious."
"That confession ruined your entire plan."
"I know."
Celeste looked embarrassed.
"I've replayed it roughly four thousand times."
Maya almost smiled.
"Where's the drive?"
Celeste sighed.
"My apartment."
"Police searched it."
"They didn't search the right place."
Before the attack, Celeste received a package addressed in handwriting she did not recognize.
Inside was a small hard drive and a note.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR FAMILY REALLY INHERITED, WATCH THIS ALONE.
Celeste watched twelve minutes.
It showed Thomas explaining the Meridian Circle.
Then someone entered her apartment.
"I heard the door."
"Marcus?"
"No."
Maya frowned.
"Security footage showed him."
"Marcus arrived after."
"Who attacked you?"
Celeste's breathing changed.
"I don't know."
"Man? Woman?"
"A man."
"Did you see him?"
"Only briefly."
"Would you recognize him?"
Celeste whispered, "Yes."
Maya took out photographs Agent Price had provided.
Samuel Blake.
Several Meridian suspects.
Corporate security staff.
Celeste examined them.
Then stopped.
Her finger touched one photograph.
Maya felt cold.
It was Daniel Chen.
Whitmore Global's general counsel.
The man leading Adrien's legal defense.
The man who had reported the archive breach.
The man who knew every detail of the investigation.
"You're sure?"
Celeste nodded.
"He hit me."
Maya immediately called Adrien.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then she remembered.
Adrien had a board strategy meeting.
Daniel Chen would be there.
Maya called security chief David Ross.
"Where is Adrien?"
"Forty-second floor."
"Get him out."
"Why?"
"Daniel Chen attacked Celeste."
Silence.
Then David swore.
Maya grabbed her coat.
Celeste spoke.
"I'm coming."
"You were unconscious yesterday."
"He attacked me."
"Exactly."
Celeste removed her IV.
"Then I want to be awake when he learns he failed."
They arrived at Whitmore Tower thirty-two minutes later.
Police surrounded the entrance.
The forty-second floor was locked.
Daniel had taken Adrien and five directors hostage.
Samuel Blake had entered through a private garage.
They demanded access to Thomas's hard drives.
Maya stared at the tower.
"This is insane."
Celeste looked at her.
"No."
She pointed toward the building.
"This is desperate."
Agent Price arrived.
Maya told her everything.
Including Thomas's claim about Price's father.
Naomi went very still.
"My father died in a robbery."
"No."
Maya handed her copies from Thomas's drive.
Price read them.
Her face changed.
"My father was investigating them."
"Yes."
Price looked toward the tower.
"Then we're ending it tonight."
Inside the boardroom, Samuel Blake stood beside Adrien.
"You could have had everything."
Adrien laughed.
"I already had everything."
"No. You had a company."
Samuel leaned closer.
"Power is knowing which prosecutor can be bought, which journalist can be silenced, which judge has a daughter with a drug problem."
Adrien looked disgusted.
"You killed people."
"I preserved order."
"You sound like every coward who ever mistook fear for respect."
Samuel hit him.
Adrien tasted blood.
Daniel stood near the door.
"We need Thomas."
"He won't come."
"Then Maya will."
Adrien's face changed.
Samuel smiled.
"There it is."
"What?"
"Your weakness."
Adrien looked at him.
Samuel continued.
"Your father had the same disease."
"Compassion?"
"Attachment."
Samuel's phone rang.
He answered.
A woman's voice spoke.
"It's Maya Coleman."
Adrien closed his eyes.
Samuel smiled.
"Put her through."
Maya's voice filled the speaker.
"I have the master drive."
Samuel stood.
"Good."
"I'll bring it."
"No police."
"Fine."
"And Maya?"
"Yes?"
"If you try anything clever, Adrien dies."
Maya looked across the command center at Agent Price.
Then at Celeste.
Then at Marcus, who had arrived against medical advice.
Maya smiled.
"Understood."
She ended the call.
Celeste stared at her.
"You don't have the master drive."
"No."
Marcus frowned.
"Then what exactly are you taking upstairs?"
Maya reached into her bag.
"The one thing Samuel Blake is more afraid of than evidence."
"What?"
May you like
Maya looked toward the television cameras gathering outside.
"An audience."
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