Chapter 18 - THE OXYGEN ROOM
I entered the underground control corridor wearing hospital scrubs.
A camera followed my movements.
Victor spoke through a ceiling speaker.
“Leave the phone.”
I placed it on the floor.
“Remove the security transmitter.”
I removed the visible device from my collar.
Lily had hidden a second transmitter beneath the bandage over my C-section incision.
Victor did not know.
The oxygen room door opened.
Vanessa stood inside holding a gun.
Victor remained near the control panel.
A red trigger rested in his left hand.
“You look better than the last time I saw you,” Vanessa said.
“You look less pregnant.”
Her eyes hardened.
Victor smiled.
“Sit.”
I remained standing.
“You invoked my mother’s trust.”
“She understood that your grandfather was weakening the network.”
“She understood you were dangerous.”
“Then why did she invest in me?”
“Because intelligent people can make mistakes.”
His smile disappeared.
I looked toward the oxygen tanks.
“You cannot transfer the network with one signature.”
“The board already granted you emergency authority.”
“Temporary authority.”
“Enough for tonight.”
He placed documents on the table.
They assigned the Vale voting shares to my mother’s trust.
Victor would become trustee.
I read every page.
Grant had expected me to sign without fighting.
Victor expected the same.
Men like them confused restraint with surrender.
“Where is the original trust amendment?” I asked.
Victor looked at Vanessa.
She removed a sealed document from her bag.
My mother’s final amendment revoked Victor’s authority.
He had hidden it for fourteen years.
Without it, his claim appeared legitimate.
With it, everything collapsed.
I reached toward the paper.
Vanessa moved the gun.
“Sign first.”
I picked up the pen.
Victor watched my hand.
I signed the first page.
Then the second.
His smile returned.
On the third page, I wrote a different name.
Catherine Vale.
Victor frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Comparing signatures.”
I held my signature beside my mother’s.
“The trust documents you filed use handwriting identical to the signature on my divorce waiver.”
Vanessa looked toward Victor.
He had hired the same forger for both.
That connected Helix Meridian directly to Grant’s divorce scheme.
Victor realized I was buying time.
He lifted the trigger.
The oxygen room lights went dark.
The emergency system switched to manual control.
My grandfather’s engineers had isolated the tanks remotely.
Victor pressed the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Federal agents entered through the maintenance tunnel.
Vanessa fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside me.
I fell behind the control desk.
Victor grabbed the revocation amendment and ran toward the emergency exit.
Vanessa followed.
The exit opened into the NICU service corridor.
They had planned a second route.
Victor reached the twins’ room first.
He seized Elise’s portable incubator.
Vanessa blocked the door with the gun.
“You took everything from me,” she shouted.
I stood across from her.
“No.”
“Grant gave you promises.”
“Victor gave you orders.”
“You gave yourself away.”
Her hand shook.
Victor pushed the incubator toward the elevator.
Then Grant’s voice came through the hall.
“Vanessa.”
He stood between two federal marshals.
The prosecutor had brought him to identify Victor’s access route.
Vanessa stared at him.
For one second, she became the woman who believed his lies.
Grant stepped closer.
“Put down the gun.”
“You chose her.”
“I chose myself.”
“I always did.”
The honesty broke something in her.
Her arm lowered.
A marshal disarmed her.
Victor attempted to push Elise into the elevator.
Lily locked the wheels remotely.
Federal agents tackled him beside the incubator.
I reached Elise.
Her eyes remained closed.
Her heartbeat remained steady.
May you like
Victor’s hand still held my mother’s final amendment.
I took it from him before the agents pulled him away.
