The service elevator was a cramped, vibrating metal box that smelled of industrial grease and stale ozone. It was a stark contrast to the marble-and-glass luxury Vivian had come to associate with Ashford Industries. Every time the lift jolted, a white-hot spike of pain shot through Vivian's side, making her vision swim.
Liam's hand was a heavy, grounding weight on the small of her back. He wasn't just holding her up; he was pouring his own strength into her. "Breathe, Vivian," he murmured, his eyes fixed on the floor indicator as it crawled past 42... 43... "If the pain gets too much, we stop. We find another way."
Vivian gripped the handrail until her knuckles turned the color of bone. "No. We're already ghosts in the system. If we stop now, Evelyn wins by default." She forced a jagged breath into her lungs. "The Global Freeze is already tanking the stock. We have one chance to show the world why the price is dropping, or the board will crucify you to save their dividends."
Liam checked his phone. The screen was a chaotic waterfall of red percentages. The Ashford market cap was evaporating at a rate of two million dollars a minute. "Charlotte has the backdoor open. The moment we step onto the 50th floor, the security loops will give us exactly sixty seconds of invisibility."
Ding.
The doors slid open. The 50th floor was silent, bathed in the dim, blue glow of the emergency lights triggered by the "Code Black" protocol. Liam stepped out first, his hand moving to the small of his back, not for a weapon, but for the folder of physical documents that even a digital genius like Aiden Vale couldn't hack.
They moved like shadows. Vivian focused on the rhythm of her footsteps, masking the limp that threatened to slow them down. They reached the massive double oak doors of the boardroom. From inside, the muffled, honeyed voice of Evelyn Ashford drifted through the wood.
"...a tragic lapse in judgment," Evelyn was saying, her tone dripping with mock sympathy. "Liam has always been prone to high-functioning episodes of instability. It is our duty as the board to protect the legacy while he... recovers."
Vivian looked at Liam. His jaw was set so tight a muscle in his cheek was twitching. He didn't look like a CEO anymore. He looked like a man who had finally seen the monster under his bed for what it truly was.
"Ready?" he whispered.
Vivian didn't answer with words. She straightened her blazer, wiped the cold sweat from her brow, and stepped forward.
Liam didn't turn the handle; he threw his shoulder into the door, the sound echoing through the cavernous room like a gunshot. The board members, twenty of the most powerful people in the country, gasped in unison.
Evelyn, standing at the head of the table with a gavel in her hand, went deathly still. The porcelain perfection of her face didn't move, but her eyes, those cold, predatory Ashford eyes, narrowed to slits.
"The reports of my instability," Liam said, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that filled every corner of the room, "have been greatly exaggerated."
Vivian stepped into the light beside him. She looked pale, almost ethereal, but the fire in her gaze was undeniable. She threw the manila envelope onto the center of the mahogany table. It slid across the polished wood, stopping right in front of the board's lead director.
"Inside that envelope is the paper trail Evelyn thought she burned," Vivian stated, her voice projecting with a strength that surprised even herself. "It's the record of every 'security' payment made to a shell company in the Cayman Islands, the same company that purchased the untraceable ammunition used at the warehouse."
The room erupted. Directors were shouting, Graham was scrambling for his tablet, and Evelyn... Evelyn simply stood there, watching the digital screens flicker to life behind her as Charlotte began the Real Audit.
Evelyn didn't reach for the folder. She didn't have to. She knew exactly what was inside. Instead, she turned her gaze toward the lead director, a man who had served her for twenty years.
"Do you really believe this theater?" she asked, her voice as smooth as silk. "A woman who appeared out of nowhere with a child of 'convenient' heritage, and a son who is clearly suffering a breakdown? Liam has been under immense stress. He is hallucinating enemies where there are only protectors."
"The only thing I'm hallucinating, Mother," Liam interrupted, walking around the table until he was standing directly in front of her, "is the idea that you ever had a soul."
He turned to the board. "The Global Freeze wasn't just a defensive measure. It was a trap. Every time Evelyn tried to move funds to cover her tracks over the last hour, the system logged the IP address. Those addresses trace back to this very room. To the tablet in her hand."
A gasp rippled through the directors. Graham, sensing the ship was sinking, finally spoke up. "I... I noticed some irregularities in the offshore filings, but I was told they were for R&D!"
"You were told they were for a hitman, Graham," Vivian snapped, her voice trembling with a mixture of pain and fury. "Don't pretend your silence was anything but a purchase."
The sound of heavy boots echoed in the hallway outside, a rhythmic thumping that signaled the end of the Ashford dynasty's secrecy. The boardroom doors, already weakened from Liam's entrance, were pushed open by two officers in tactical gear, followed by a man in a plain grey suit holding a warrant.
"Evelyn Ashford?" the man asked.
Evelyn didn't flinch. She picked up her glass of water, took a slow, deliberate sip, and set it back down. "I am."
"You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, financial fraud, and obstruction of justice."
The room went silent. The "Queen of Industry" was being read her rights in the house she built. Liam watched as the handcuffs were clicked into place. For a moment, he looked like the small boy who had once sought her approval; then, his face hardened into the mask of the man who had finally outgrown her.
As they led her away, she stopped beside Vivian. The air between them chilled.
"You think Daniel is safe now?" Evelyn whispered, a jagged, terrifying smile touching her lips. "You've cleared the path for the real monster, Vivian. Aiden Vale doesn't want the company. He wants the boy's legacy to rot from the inside out. Good luck being a mother in a graveyard."