Chapter 12 - The Man Who Wanted EverythingSteve looked strangely calm.
He pointed the gun at Harold.
“Move.”
Harold raised his hands.
Steve turned toward me.
“You've made this much harder than it needed to be.”
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
“You were in his room.”
“I was sent there.”
“By who?”
He smiled.
“Your father.”
That sentence shattered everything.
“What?”
Steve explained that Dad had been dying anyway.
The hospital incident had been an attempt to fake his death long enough to disappear.
But something went wrong.
Someone interfered.
“Who?”
Steve looked at Mom.
She said nothing.
I turned to her.
“Mom?”
Her face crumpled.
“I found out your father was planning to disappear with everything.”
“Everything?”
“The company. The money. The trust.”
She looked at me.
“He was going to leave all of us with nothing.”
“So you stopped him?”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
Steve lowered the gun.
“I was working for your father. Your mother hired me afterward.”
“To do what?”
“Keep the company alive.”
“And my sister?”
“She was collateral.”
Lucy flinched.
“What does that mean?”
Steve answered calmly.
“Your mother had debts. Political debts. Financial debts. I took over some of them.”
“And in exchange?”
“She gave me access.”
“To my assets.”
“Yes.”
I laughed.
“All of this because you wanted money?”
Steve shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at the computer.
“I wanted Northbridge.”
The company belonged to me.
According to Dad's documents, once I triggered the final inheritance clause, every controlling share transferred to me.
Steve couldn't take it legally.
So he needed me to surrender.
I looked at Mom.
“You were helping him.”
She nodded.
“I thought I could control him.”
“You couldn't.”
“No.”
I looked at Lucy.
“And you?”
“I tried to stop him.”
Steve suddenly raised the gun.
“You're all wasting time.”
He pointed at the computer.
“Delete the files.”
I didn't move.
“Or?”
He aimed at Daniel.
“Or your brother dies.”
Daniel froze.
I stared at the gun.
Then at the files.
Then at Steve.
And for the first time, I realized I had something he needed more than I needed the files.
Control.
I smiled.
“Okay.”
Steve lowered the gun slightly.
“I'll delete them.”
I walked toward the keyboard.
But secretly, I had already triggered another command.
The files weren't being deleted.
They were uploading.
To hundreds of servers.
I pressed Enter.
A message appeared.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
Steve saw it.
His face transformed.
“You little…”
May you like
Police sirens screamed outside.
Steve fired.
