He would override the lock, delete the backup servers, and my mother would pay the price anyway.

“I’m not reversing it, Ethan,” I said into the receiver.

“You have five minutes,” he said, his voice dropping an octave. “Otherwise, the man in the garden goes inside to visit your mother.”

“If he touches her, you lose your leverage completely,” I said.

I sat back down in the swivel chair before the main terminal.

“You don’t have the nerve to play this card,” I added, hoping he couldn’t hear the tremor in my chest.

“Try me,” Ethan whispered.

I didn’t answer. I set the phone on speaker and laid it on the desk next to the keyboard.

My fingers hovered over the keys.

My training as a forensic accountant wasn’t just about finding stolen money.

It was about understanding how corporate empires were structured to protect their kings.

And more importantly, how those structures could be turned into cages.

“Claire, we need to move,” Liam said, his eyes darting between me and the door.

“No,” I said. “If we run, we lose.”