Chapter 5 - Blackout.
Darkness swallowed the penthouse.
Sarah screamed once before catching herself.
Emergency lights should have activated immediately.
They did not.
For three seconds, Elena heard only breathing and the distant hum of the city beyond the windows.
Then Elias’s security chief spoke.
“Stay where you are.”
A beam from his flashlight cut through the room.
Another followed.
Marcus was standing near the dining table.
Celeste was no longer beside the elevator.
“Where is Monroe?” an agent asked.
A crash came from the hallway.
Security moved.
Elena felt her father’s hand close around her forearm.
“Behind me.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I know this house.”
She pointed toward the dark corridor.
“There’s a service passage behind the pantry.”
Marcus looked at her sharply.
Elias understood.
“Seal the lower garage.”
An agent relayed the order.
Another flashlight swept across the floor.
The black case was still on the table.
One encrypted drive was missing.
VALE/LEGACY.
Marcus saw the empty slot.
“She took it.”
Elena turned toward him.
“You knew about the passage.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“It’s my penthouse.”
“Then you knew she could use it.”
“I didn’t know she would.”
The distinction sounded thin even to him.
Emergency power suddenly returned.
Only half the lights came back.
The room glowed in fractured amber.
An agent examined the electrical panel through a wall console.
“Manual override.”
Sarah whispered, “Celeste planned this.”
Marcus shook his head.
“She didn’t plan agents showing up.”
Elias looked at him.
“She planned needing an exit.”
Marcus said nothing.
Elena moved toward the hallway.
Her father blocked her.
“You are injured.”
“And she has the drive with your name on it.”
“I have people for that.”
Elena looked at him.
“She used me because she wanted you.”
Elias’s expression tightened.
“I know.”
“Then stop treating me like I’m still twelve.”
That landed.
For a moment, father and daughter simply stared at each other.
Then Elias handed her his coat more securely.
“Stay between me and Daniel.”
His security chief nodded.
They moved through the service corridor.
The narrow passage smelled of dust and cold metal.
Marcus followed with two agents.
Sarah remained under guard in the main room.
At the end of the corridor, a door stood open.
Beyond it was a private service elevator.
Its display showed B3.
“Parking level,” Elena said.
The team moved toward the main elevators.
Marcus’s phone vibrated.
He looked down.
His face changed.
“What?” Elena asked.
He did not answer.
She took the phone from his hand before he could stop her.
A message from an unknown number filled the screen.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR WIFE QUIET.
Below it was a photograph.
Celeste stood beside a black SUV in the underground garage.
In her hand was the missing drive.
Beside her stood a man Elena had never seen.
Marcus had.
The recognition on his face was immediate.
Elias saw it.
“Who is he?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Nolan Price.”
Elias went still.
Elena looked between them.
“Who?”
Marcus answered before her father could.
“The man who funded Ashford Global.”
A second message arrived.
MIDNIGHT.
PIER 17.
May you like
BRING ELENA.
OR THE VALE FILE GOES PUBLIC.
