Adrian stood over Chris with the recording still echoing inside his skull. He placed both hands flat on the desk and leaned forward until his face was less than a foot from Chris's."You knew my father."Chris did not look away. He did not reach for his glasses. He did not move at all. He sat in his chair like a man who had been waiting for this exact moment for a very long time and had finally run out of road."Yes.""How long?""Before you were born. Before Skyward. Before any of this existed.""And you never told me. Not once. Not when I walked into this building for the first time. Not when you shook my hand and called me brilliant. Not when you sat across from me and pretended you were just a grateful founder who happened to benefit from my code.""I wanted to tell you. Every day since you walked through that door, I wanted to tell you everything.""Then why didn't you?""Because your father made me promise. Before he disappeared, he called me and told me to protect you. He told

"I did not let you rot. I spent three years preparing for the day you walked out. I kept your shares protected. I kept the company growing. I made sure that when you came home, you would have the power to fight back." His voice cracked. "But I could not save you from the prison itself. And I have hated myself for that every single day since."Sarah burst through the remains of the doorway with two medics behind her. They dropped beside Chris and began working immediately, cutting his shirt away and pressing gauze against the wound. Adrian stepped back, his hands covered in Chris's blood."Is he going to make it?""The wound is deep but it missed the major organs." The lead medic looked up. "He needs surgery, but he'll survive."Chris grabbed Adrian's sleeve as the medics lifted him onto the stretcher."I haven't told you everything yet.""You can tell me after surgery.""No. Now. Before they sedate me." Chris's eyes were losing focus, but he fought to keep them locked on Adrian's face

"Victor is protective and secretive, but I have run his complete financial history. Nothing suggests a connection. His money is old, legal, and traceable."Adrian moved to the next column. "What about people from before prison?""David Chen. Officially dead, but we have a recent photograph of him alive and shaking hands with a silver haired man outside a building we have not identified.""Chen is involved. But is he the leader?""Unlikely. In the photograph, his posture is deferential. He is standing slightly behind the other man, and his body language suggests he is the subordinate.""Then who is the silver haired man?""Still unidentified. Facial recognition has produced nothing. Whoever he is, his image does not exist in any public or private database I can access."Adrian stood up and walked to the whiteboard. He picked up a marker and started drawing."Look at the pattern. Every single event in the last three years was designed to force a reaction from me."He drew a box and wrote

The convention center had been transformed into a fortress. Armed security at every entrance, plainclothes officers scattered through the crowd, cameras on every corner of the building connected directly to Aegis. Sarah stood at the main security station with six monitors showing every angle of the venue and a communication line open to Adrian at all times."Every guest has been screened. Metal detectors at all three entrances. Communications are running on our own encrypted network." Sarah's voice came through Adrian's earpiece, steady and precise. "We are as secure as we can be without cancelling the event entirely.""We are not cancelling anything.""I didn't suggest we should. I'm simply telling you the facts."Chris appeared at the end of the backstage corridor, walking slowly with one hand pressed against his side where the bandages were still wrapped beneath his shirt. His face was pale, his steps were careful, but his eyes were alert and focused."You shouldn't be here." Adria

The stage lights hit Adrian's face like a second sunrise. A thousand cameras clicked at once, the sound rolling through the auditorium like a wave breaking against stone. Every screen in the building showed his face, and beyond these walls, millions more were watching on live broadcasts across the country.Adrian looked out at the crowd. A sea of faces, some curious, some hungry, some bored and impatient. In the front row, investors leaned forward with their phones recording. Behind them, journalists had their pens ready and their microphones aimed at the stage like weapons.Somewhere near the back, Chloe sat beside Julian. She had managed to get inside using an old business contact's invitation. Her eyes were fixed on Adrian, and something inside her chest was pulling tight. She had watched him step out of that black sedan with Sarah a month ago. She had seen the security chief open the executive doors for him. She had spent every night since then lying awake, turning the same imposs