Chapter 4 - THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED
Andrew drove through the torrential rain, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. He kept his eyes on the rearview mirror, waiting for headlights to appear in the darkness behind him.
Beside him in the passenger seat, his phone buzzed. It was an encrypted video call from an unrecognized source.
He swiped the screen.
The face of Julian Drake, the Vice Chairman of Sterling Investments and Andrew's long-time mentor, appeared on the screen. He was sitting in his luxurious penthouse office, looking as calm and composed as if he were reviewing a quarterly earnings report.
"Andrew," Julian said, his tone dripping with false sympathy. "I hear you've had a very stressful evening."
"You did this," Andrew said, his voice dripping with ice. "You sent those men to my safehouse. You tried to kill my daughter."
"Daughter is such a strong word for a laboratory asset, Andrew," Julian replied smoothly. "Your father spent fifty million dollars of company money to develop that gene line. It belongs to Sterling Investments. The patent for the cardiac cellular repair sequence is worth thirty billion dollars. We cannot allow that asset to be locked in a trust fund for a toddler."
"She is a human being, Julian! She is my child!"
"And you are a dying man, Andrew," Julian countered, his eyes hardening. "Your heart will fail within the next twelve months. If you die, and she is your legal heir, the company falls into a legal limbo. We cannot allow that. But we are reasonable men. We can make a deal."
Andrew gripped the steering wheel tighter. "What kind of deal?"
"You bring the child to the Sterling Biotech facility in New Jersey tonight. We will extract a bone marrow sample—non-lethal, I assure you. Once we have the genetic sequence confirmed, you will sign a document surrendering all custody and rights to the patent. In exchange, we will provide you with the finished gene therapy. You will live, Andrew. You will keep your position as CEO. And the girl... well, she will be placed with a very wealthy family in Europe, far away from any danger."
"And if I refuse?"
Julian sighed, a sound of genuine disappointment. "Then Detective Vance will find you. And I'm afraid he doesn't have my patience. You have two hours, Andrew. Don't be foolish. Sentiment is an expensive variable, remember? Your father taught you that."
The screen went black.
Andrew felt a cold dread settle in his stomach. He looked back at Penny. She had fallen back asleep, her thumb tucked in her mouth, completely oblivious to the fact that her life was being bartered for billions of dollars.
Sentiment is an expensive variable.
His father’s words. The philosophy Andrew had lived by his entire life. He had always believed that everything had a price, that every decision could be calculated on a spreadsheet.
But as he looked at Penny, he realized his father was wrong.
There were some things that couldn't be calculated. Some things were priceless.
He tapped his Bluetooth earpiece. "Marcus, are you alive?"
A cough sounded over the line. "Barely. Vance is secured. He's... not going to be talking to anyone for a while. Where are you?"
"I'm heading to the Sterling Biotech facility in New Jersey," Andrew said.
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"Are you crazy? That's a trap, Andrew! Julian will kill you both the second he gets what he wants!"
"I know," Andrew said, a dangerous calm wash over him. "But I'm not going there to surrender. I'm going there to burn his empire to the ground. I need you to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Tell them I have evidence of corporate espionage, attempted murder, and illegal human experimentation. And Marcus... tell them to bring a camera."
