“Are the remote servers syncing?”

A metallic voice crackled from the speaker, though I couldn’t make out the words.

Nathaniel listened for a moment, his eyes never leaving Arthur.

“Good,” Nathaniel said. “Bring the hardware down.”

He ended the call and placed the phone back in his pocket.

“What hardware?” Arthur asked, his voice barely audible.

“My security team has been busy while you were busy turning off the lights,” Nathaniel said.

“They just accessed the local database in your leasing office.”

“The one you said was offline.”

Arthur took a step back, his leg hitting the edge of the stone planter.

A small fern rustled behind him.

“That is private property,” Arthur said.

“That server contains sensitive tenant records.”

“It is my property,” Nathaniel corrected him.

“Every wire, every hard drive, and every lease agreement belongs to Graves Group.”

“And I have a feeling we are about to find some very interesting numbers.”

I watched Arthur’s face.

The arrogance he usually carried around Brindlewood was completely gone.

He looked small, wet with sweat, and utterly trapped.

“I was only trying to save the building,” Arthur muttered.