The silence in the clinic lasted exactly four seconds before all three of them dropped to their knees.Master Frank hit the ground first, his torn coat pooling around him like a deflated parachute. Monica followed, her leather jacket creaking as she clasped her hands together. Stone was last, his wig sliding sideways as he bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the floor."Young Master, please reconsider," Master Frank's voice cracked with genuine desperation. "The Human Tower has existed for over forty years. You cannot disband it over one bad morning."Monica crawled forward on her knees and grabbed the hem of Ethan's shirt."I will quit the DJ job today," Monica pleaded, her dark eyes wide and glistening. "I will throw away the turntables. I will burn every remix I have ever made. Just do not disband the tower.""That is not the point," Ethan pulled his shirt free from her grip, his expression flat and unreadable.Stone scrambled to his feet and yanked the wig off his head, revea

Master Frank, Monica, Stone, Richard, Gary, and AJ piled into two vehicles that Stone had arranged through his real estate contacts. Ethan watched them pull out of the alley and disappear around the corner, the dust settling behind them like a curtain falling on one act of a very long play.The silence that followed was strange. For the first time in days, Ethan was alone.He went back inside, ate two more steamed buns, and washed his face in the clinic sink. He needed to contact Victoria about visiting Harlow Pharmaceuticals. The Phoenix Remedy still needed a proper production facility, and the Harlow family's resources were the fastest path to getting it done. He reached for his phone.Before his fingers touched the screen, the screech of tires echoed down the alley.Not one car. Two.A white BMW skidded to a stop at the mouth of the alley, and a black SUV pulled up behind it.Four doors opened almost simultaneously, and the Morgan family climbed out like a pack of hyenas descending

Sophia's scream was still echoing off the alley walls when Ethan turned his back on her and walked toward the clinic entrance."Where did you get one hundred million dollars?" Sophia chased after him, her heels scraping against the cracked pavement. "Answer me, Ethan. You owe me an answer.""I owe you nothing," Ethan did not turn around. His voice was so flat and disinterested it could have been a man talking about the weather. "My money is my business. It stopped being yours the moment you signed those divorce papers."The words hit Sophia square in the chest. She stopped walking and her hands curled into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms so hard the skin turned white.Diane shoved past her daughter and planted herself in front of Ethan with her arms spread wide, blocking the clinic door like a woman guarding the gates of heaven from a sinner."Your money?" Diane's face twisted into something ugly. "You lived under our roof for three years. You ate our food. You sl

Tyler sat frozen in his wheelchair, the color draining from his face as the reality settled over him like a funeral shroud. His father had taken their last fifty million dollars and vanished into thin air.The relatives' money. The company's emergency funds. Everything Gary had collected at the Hilton dinner was gone.President Lewis, who had been standing several feet away with Vivian Cross, watching the scene unfold with the professional detachment of a man who had seen family fortunes collapse before, cleared his throat politely."If I may," President Lewis stepped forward, adjusting his silver cufflinks with the calm of someone delivering a quarterly earnings report rather than a death blow. "I believe there may be some confusion about the origin of Mr. Cole's wealth."Every head turned toward him."The majority of Mr. Cole's deposits did not come from any scheme or theft," President Lewis opened his leather folder and ran his finger along a printed statement. "They came from cond

He pushed through the crowd and stopped three feet from Sophia. His chest heaved. His eyes were bloodshot. His tie was loose and his collar was torn, as though he had been pulling at his own clothes in frustration."I paid his taxi fare last night," Scott's voice was eerily calm now, the kind of calm that comes right before something breaks. "Your father's taxi. I paid for it because he did not have cash. And I talked to the driver. You know what the driver told me? He did not pick Gary up from any presidential suite. He picked him up from a hotel lobby where Gary was sitting alone on a bench eating peanuts from a bowl. And he dropped him off right here. At this clinic. This dirty little pharmacy in South Chicago."Scott flung his arm toward the open clinic door."Go look inside," Scott's voice rose to a shout. "Go look at the four sleeping mats on the floor. Go look at the empty takeout containers and the playing cards. Your father, the man who told us he was living in luxury with a