Chapter 54
Chapter 54:
“No,” Cole said, his voice dropping. “Don’t issue a statement. Just — watch it.” He heard the twisted, desperate logic in his own words even as he said them — a pathetic attempt to reclaim some illusion of power. Let her see that her knight in shining armor cannot save her from the world I command.
It was a lie. A hollow boast to cover the terror clawing at his throat.
He stood and walked to the window, pulling at his tie as though it were a noose.
“Find out who threw that brick,” Cole said quietly, staring down at the city. “If it was one of Richard’s men, I want him found. And I want him dealt with p>
“Understood, sir p>
Sterling left. Cole turned back to the cracked screen.
He hated Brogan Clements. He hated him for being there. He hated him for bleeding for her.
Because that should have been him.
N𝘰ve𝘭ѕ i𝗇 𝗍rе𝗇𝘥 𝗈𝘯 ga𝘭𝗇𝗼𝘷е𝗅𝗌.сom
The Apex Bio lab was bathed in the sterile blue glow of UV lights. It was two in the morning, but no one had gone home. June felt a dull throb in her abdomen — a phantom echo of her barely healed wound — and ignored it, running on coffee and rage.
She stood over the mass spectrometer, her eyes burning from exhaustion.
Dr. Miles Lewis burst through the double doors waving a printout, his usually immaculate lab coat rumpled.
“June. You need to see this p>
She took the paper. It was a spectral analysis of the contaminated Neuro-X batch — the drugs that had allegedly paralyzed the boy in the wheelchair.
“The molecular structure is wrong,” Miles said, pointing to a sharp spike in the graph. “It wasn’t just contaminated. It was diluted with a neurotoxin precursor. But look at the batch code p>
June leaned in. The laser-etched code on the vial was flawless. Too flawless.
“It’s a forgery,” June said.
“A very good one,” Miles agreed. “But we traced the chain of custody. This crate did not come from our warehouse in Jersey. It was swapped in transit p>
A sick sensation moved through June’s stomach. “Who was the carrier p>
Miles hesitated. He glanced at Silas, their operations manager.
“Spit it out, Miles,” June said.
“It was routed through a subcontractor,” Miles said quietly. “A subsidiary of Compton Logistics. A fleet that was only added to our approved vendor list yesterday p>
Compton Logistics.
The name hung in the air like toxic gas.
June’s hands began to tremble. She set the paper down before she could tear it.
She thought of Cole’s face at the gala — the contempt in his eyes, the ease with which he had handed Richard Beasley a check. She thought of every threat he had made.
He did it.
The thought was no longer a question. It was a verdict.
Cole had given Richard the contract. Cole controlled the logistics. Cole had promised she would regret leaving him.
“He’s trying to kill the company,” June said quietly. “He couldn’t buy me, so now he’s trying to bury me p>
“June,” Silas stepped forward. “We can’t prove he had direct knowledge. We need to file a motion for discovery p>
“Discovery?” June let out a short, harsh laugh. “While the stock is in freefall? While Brogan is still bleeding p>
She grabbed her keys from the bench.