Chapter 8 - THE BETRAYAL AT MONTGOMERY TOWERDawn was breaking over Manhattan, painting the sky in sickly shades of bruised purple and pale gray.
Inside the executive boardroom on the thirty-eighth floor of Montgomery Tower, the air was thick with tension. The massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows offered a panoramic view of the awakening city, but nobody was looking outside.
Sarah Lin, the vice president, stood at the head of the polished mahogany table, her tablet glowing in her hands. Flanking her were three senior board members, their faces grim and pale.
The heavy double doors swung open.
Eleanor Montgomery walked into the boardroom.
She looked terrifyingly composed. Her hair was pulled back into a sharp, flawless chignon; she wore a brand-new charcoal Armani suit; and her stride was as steady and unyielding as granite. But behind her eyes burned a cold, unforgiving fire.
Sarah blinked in absolute shock. "Eleanor? Security reported your estate was breached. They said you were missing."
Eleanor walked slowly to the head of the table, pulling out the chairman’s executive chair, and sat down. She didn't say a word. She reached into her leather briefcase, pulled out the heavy silver locket, and slammed it down onto the polished wood with a sharp CLACK.
The board members flinched.
Sarah’s face drained of all color. She gripped the edge of the table so hard her knuckles turned white. "What... what is that?"
"You tell me, Sarah," Eleanor’s voice was dangerously quiet, cutting through the silence like a scalpel. "You’ve been with the company for twelve years. You signed off on the internal infrastructure audits. Did you really think my father’s subterranean biotech labs thirty-eight floors beneath our feet were completely decommissioned?"
Silence descended on the room. The other board members shifted nervously in their seats, looking between Eleanor and Sarah.
Sarah slowly lowered her head, a bitter, fragile smile touching her lips. She stopped pretending. She looked up, her eyes hard and cold. "You found the lab, didn't you? And you found the child."
"Project Genesis," Eleanor said, leaning forward, resting her elbows on the table. "You and the board didn't just want a pharmaceutical monopoly. You were building biological immortals—funded by illicit black-budget accounts disguised as real estate depreciation losses. And when the lead researcher tried to run with the baby, you sent James Calder and his hit squad to clean up the mess."
May you like
"We didn't have a choice," Sarah hissed, slamming her hands onto the table. "The investors backing this project aren't sitting on this board, Eleanor. They are global defense contractors and tech moguls who paid billions to secure the secret to eternal youth. If that baby got out into the public wild, our entire empire—and your father’s legacy—would burn to the ground."
"My father’s legacy is a cancer," Eleanor said coldly. "And I am cutting it out today."
