The office was silent, but the scream inside my head was deafening.
I stared at the freeze-frame on the tablet. The geometric wolf tattoo on the man's chest and the tattoo I had seen on General Silas Thorne in the bunker beneath the bookstore.
My uncle, My ally. The reason of my victory.
He wasn't the savior of the company but the cancer eating it from the inside out.
My finger hovered over the screen. I didn't want to watch the rest but I wanted to throw the tablet through the bulletproof glass and jump after it. I wanted to un-know this, I wanted to go back to five minutes ago, when I was just a grieving son who had won a corporate war.
But the King doesn't get to look away.
I pressed PLAY.
The video skipped forward. The timestamp changed: JUNE 12, 1998. 03:00 AM.
The violence had stopped. My mother was sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging her knees, She looked hollowed out, Broken. The man Silas was standing by the mirror, adjusting his shirt, buttoning it over the tattoo.
He turned to her and didn't shout or hit her again. He spoke softly, with a terrifying, gentle voice.
"He knows, Elizabeth," Silas said "Marcus knows you're weak and That's why he's leaving."
"No," my mother whispered "He loves me."
"He loves the idea of you," Silas corrected. He walked over and brushed a strand of hair from her face. She flinched, terrified "But he hates what you've become. He told me tonight that he's going to file for divorce and going to take the boy."
"Not David," she sobbed "Please."
"He's going to send David away to boarding school. In Switzerland and You'll never see him again." Silas leaned in close. "Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless you stop him." Silas placed a hand on her shoulder "Marcus is the enemy, Elizabeth. He wants to destroy your family and wants to take your son. You have to protect the boy, become strong. Do you understand?"
"I... I have to protect David," she repeated, her eyes glazing over.
"Good," Silas whispered "I'll help you and stop him today but when he will cast even me out then only you can save, David."
The screen flickered.
FILE SEGMENT 2: THE TRIGGER. DATE: OCTOBER 31, 2025. LOCATION: PENTHOUSE LIVING ROOM.
The date of the murder.
The camera angle was different this time. It wasn't the "security feed" I had assumed existed but It was recorded from the perspective of the clock. A hidden lens.
My father, Marcus Thorne, was standing in the center of the room. He looked tired and was holding a glass of scotch, looking at his watch.
The door opened.
My mother walked in.
But it wasn't the mother I knew. Her movements were stiff, robotic, her eyes were wide and unblinking. She held the sword the decorative katana from the study down at her side.
"Elizabeth?" my father asked.
He took a step toward her and then he stopped.
He saw her eyes.
I watched my father's face. I saw the confusion changed into realization, and then into a profound, crushing sorrow. He looked past her, toward the hallway, as if he sensed someone else standing in the shadows.
He knew.
In that split second, Marcus Thorne solved the equation.
He realized that his brother had finally made his move. He realized that Silas had broken Elizabeth completely, turning her into a puppet, a loaded gun pointed at his heart.
If Marcus fought her, he would have to kill her. She wouldn't stop, Silas had programmed her too well. If he ran, Silas would kill them both, and probably me, to cover the tracks.
There was only one move left on the board.
My father put the scotch glass down and he didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't call for security.
He looked directly at the hidden camera in the clock as of looking directly at me, in the future.
He mouthed two words.
I'm sorry.
Then he turned back to my mother. He straightened his tie and lifted his chin, exposing his neck.
"Do it, Elizabeth," he said softly "Save our son."
He wasn't talking to her. He was giving her the permission she needed to break the programming loop and he was letting her be the hero in her own tragic narrative.
She swung the blade.
I watched the head separate and the body fall.
I watched my father sacrifice himself not because he was weak, but because it was the only way to ensure that I survived long enough to find this file.
The video ended and screen went black.
I sat in the silence of the executive suite, the tears finally streaming down my face. They weren't tears of grief.
My mother hadn't murdered him. She was the weapon and Silas pulled the trigger.
And for the last three days, I had been taking orders from the gunman.
I felt sick and violated.
I grabbed the tablet and wanted to burn this entire building down.
"Why?" I screamed at the empty room.
I tapped the microphone icon. My voice shook with a rage that felt bottomless.
"System," I commanded.
USER RECOGNIZED: DAVID THORNE (CEO). COMMAND?
"Why did you protect him?" I demanded "You knew! You had this file! You knew Silas raped her! You knew he framed the murder! Why did you let me work with him? Why did you let him sit in that bunker and give me orders?"
The blue ring pulsed calmly as if machine didn't care about my pain. It didn't care about justice.
ANALYSIS: GENERAL SILAS THORNE IS A TIER-1 ASSET.
ROLE: STRATEGIC DEFENSE.
PROTOCOL: THE KING MUST SURVIVE. DATA INDICATES SILAS THORNE WAS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR SURVIVAL DURING THE SUCCESSION CRISIS. MORALITY IS NOT A VARIABLE.
"He killed the Chairman!" I shouted.
CORRECTION: HE ACCELERATED THE SUCCESSION. THE COMPANY SURVIVED. YOU ARE THE CEO. THE SYSTEM WORKED.
I stared at the screen and horror of it washed over me. The Tablet wasn't loyal to my father. It wasn't loyal to me, It was loyal to Thorne Industries.
And in its cold calculus, Silas Thorne the rapist, the monster was a valuable asset. My mother was a liability.
"Who gave the order?" I whispered "At the asylum, when the Janitors tried to kill her Who gave the purge order?"
ACCESSING LOGS... AUTHORIZATION: GENERAL SILAS THORNE.
REASON: ASSET LIQUIDATION (LOOSE END).
It was him. He had tried to kill her to bury the truth and to stop her from telling me what he did in 1998.
And the "Men in Black"? The ones the Tablet couldn't see? They had saved her from him.
I walked to the window and looked out at the city I now owned. The lights glittered like diamonds, but all I saw was a cage.
I had won the war against the Syndicate. I had secured the billions and sat in the big chair.
But the man who really ran the world was sitting in a bunker beneath a bookstore, laughing at me.
I placed my hand on the cold glass.
I wasn't the King but a Sacrifice.
But Silas had made one mistake.
He thought he had forged a weapon to use against his enemies. He didn't realize that by showing me this, by stripping away the last of my humanity, he had pointed that weapon right back at himself.
I wiped the tears from my face and buttoned my jacket over the sling.
I looked at the tablet one last time.
"System," I said, my voice dead and flat "Close File 001."
FILE CLOSED. AWAITING INPUT.
"New Objective," I whispered.
OBJECTIVE?
"Kill the General."
The screen pulsed once.
CALCULATING...
END OF VOLUME ONE