Chapter 17 - The Forty-Ninth Floor
Bellamy Holdings was empty at four in the morning.
At least it appeared empty.
Roman entered through the main lobby with Tessa beside him.
Dante’s team had already disabled the building elevators except for one controlled car.
Celeste remained outside with police and federal contacts Dante trusted.
Roman wanted Tessa outside too.
The argument lasted thirty seconds.
Tessa won.
“You realize,” Roman murmured as the elevator climbed, “that at some point I’d like to have a normal dinner with you.”
“You chose the wrong woman.”
“I’m beginning to understand that.”
The elevator stopped at forty-eight.
They took the stairs.
At the forty-ninth-floor landing, Roman paused.
The door stood open.
No guards.
No alarms.
An invitation.
Inside the boardroom, Owen sat tied to a chair.
Elias Ward stood by the window.
Alone.
Tessa’s instinct immediately screamed trap.
Elias looked almost bored.
“Roman.”
Roman entered.
“Tessa.”
His eyes moved toward her.
“I’m disappointed.”
“You’ll recover.”
Elias smiled.
Owen struggled against the restraints.
“Tessa, don’t listen to him.”
Elias placed one hand on Owen’s shoulder.
Roman’s voice changed.
“Move away from him.”
“No weapons,” Elias said. “No shouting. We’re businessmen.”
“Tessa isn’t.”
“True.”
Elias looked at her.
“That has always been the problem.”
Tessa stepped farther into the room.
“What do you want?”
“Exactly what my father wanted.”
“Which was?”
“Continuity.”
Roman laughed.
“You kidnapped a nineteen-year-old for corporate continuity?”
“I borrowed him to ensure attendance.”
Owen kicked backward.
Elias calmly moved away.
“Your father understood that legitimate businesses require dirty foundations,” Elias told Roman. “Ports. Construction. Unions. Politicians. Victor pretended he wanted to clean everything up near the end.”
“He did.”
“And he almost destroyed us.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“There is no ‘us.’”
Elias shrugged.
“You’re sentimental.”
“No. I’m selective.”
Tessa studied the room.
Something was wrong.
Elias had no visible weapon.
No men.
No obvious escape route.
He expected to leave safely.
That meant his leverage was elsewhere.
“Why Owen?” she asked.
“Because Celeste is useful when afraid.”
“She already betrayed you.”
“Everyone betrays everyone eventually.”
Tessa shook her head.
“That’s what men like you tell yourselves so you don’t have to admit loyalty exists.”
For the first time, Elias looked irritated.
Roman noticed.
“So Arthur killed Sean.”
Elias’s face smoothed again.
“My father made difficult decisions.”
“That’s a confession.”
“It’s history.”
Tessa glanced toward the conference table.
A laptop displayed a countdown.
Eight minutes.
“What happens at zero?”
Elias smiled.
“Control changes.”
Roman moved toward the laptop.
“Don’t.”
Elias held up a remote device.
“Bellamy Holdings’ lenders receive every internal ledger, every historic payment, every off-book account Victor ever used.”
“Half of those records are already disclosed.”
“Not all.”
Roman stopped.
Elias’s smile widened.
“The government will seize enough assets to collapse your company before anyone sorts the truth from the lies.”
“And what do you gain?”
Elias pointed toward a folder.
“A signed transfer granting temporary voting control to Ward Capital.”
Roman laughed.
“No.”
“Owen dies.”
Tessa’s body went still.
There it was.
The real threat.
Roman looked at Owen.
Then at Elias.
“You said no weapons.”
“I said I don’t have one.”
A red laser point appeared on Owen’s chest.
A sniper.
Somewhere across the avenue.
Roman’s face hardened.
Elias placed the documents before him.
“Sign.”
Tessa looked toward the windows.
Across the street were dozens of possible positions.
Dark offices.
Rooftops.
Mechanical floors.
Dante could search, but not before the timer expired.
She looked at Owen.
His eyes moved repeatedly toward the ceiling.
Not fear.
Communication.
Tessa followed his gaze.
The mirrored panel above the conference table reflected the opposite building.
In the reflection, she saw a tiny red flash from a high floor.
Tessa stepped closer to Roman.
She slipped her hand into his.
To Elias, it looked intimate.
Roman glanced down.
Tessa traced four numbers against his palm.
The building across the avenue.
Fifty-second floor.
Window eighteen.
Roman understood.
He picked up the pen.
“Fine.”
Elias relaxed.
Roman signed the first page.
At the exact instant his pen touched the second, the laser disappeared from Owen’s chest.
Dante’s voice came through Roman’s hidden earpiece.
“Sniper contained.”
Roman dropped the pen.
Elias’s smile vanished.
Owen threw his chair sideways, crashing into Elias’s knees.
Tessa lunged forward, grabbing the remote.
Elias fell.
Roman pinned him against the floor.
But Elias laughed.
Actually laughed.
“You think that was the plan?”
The laptop countdown reached zero.
Nothing exploded.
No alarms.
No gunfire.
Instead, every television screen in the boardroom came alive.
Roman’s face appeared.
Then Tessa’s.
Then old photographs of Sean and Victor.
A headline filled the screens.
BELLAMY EMPIRE BUILT ON MURDER.
Elias looked up from the floor.
“Congratulations.”
His smile returned.
“You saved Owen.”
May you like
Outside, camera flashes began exploding on the street.
“But by sunrise, Roman Bellamy will belong to the whole country.”
