I followed, still processing everything that had happened at Montgomery Industries. Elizabeth's warning echoed in my mind: "Julian Montgomery destroys everything he touches."
Yet all I could think about was how carefully those same hands had held mine in the elevator, how much pain he'd carried alone for three years.
The security center was tucked behind an unassuming door that looked like it might lead to a closet. Inside was a room that would have made a government intelligence agency jealous—walls lined with screens displaying feeds from every angle of the building, keyboards with strange symbols I didn't recognize, and equipment that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie rather than a private residence.
The rest of the penthouse stretched out beyond the security room's open door—sleek and modern with its floor-to-ceiling windows offering a panoramic view of the city that was beginning to twinkle with early evening lights.
Despite the expensive furnishings and breathtaking vista, there was something clinical about the space, as if Julian had prioritized function over comfort.
"Michael will be up shortly," Julian said, positioning his wheelchair in front of the main console. His fingers flew across the keyboard with practiced precision. "I've asked him to run a complete security sweep of the building."
I leaned against the doorframe, unsure of my role in this high-tech war room. "Do you think Harris would try something so soon after the board meeting? Wouldn't that look suspicious?"
Julian didn't look up from the screens. "Harris doesn't have the luxury of time anymore. We've exposed his operation—the evidence I showed the board was just the tip of the iceberg. He's desperate, and desperate men don't wait for convenient timing."
As if summoned by Julian's assessment, his phone rang with a distinctive tone I'd come to recognize as Jake's. Julian tapped a button to put it on speaker, still working at the security console.
"Tell me you have good news," Julian said by way of greeting.
"The opposite." Jake's voice was tense, stripped of its usual casual warmth. "Harris knows about the evidence—the full evidence, not just what you showed the board. One of my team just intercepted communications between his security chief and a private contractor. They're talking about 'retrieval' and 'elimination of liabilities.'"
My blood turned to ice. I didn't need a translation to understand that Julian and I were the "liabilities" in question.
"How soon?" Julian demanded, his focus intensifying as he accessed security protocols on multiple screens.
"They're coming after both of you now," Jake warned, urgency making his words clip together. "My team is twenty minutes out, but—"
"We don't have twenty minutes," Julian finished for him, his jaw tight as he surveyed the security feeds. "They've already started."
I followed his gaze to a screen showing the building's main entrance. Nothing seemed amiss—the usual doormen, a few residents coming and going. But then I saw it—a maintenance van parked just at the edge of the frame, two men in coveralls unloading equipment that could plausibly be repair tools.
Except Montgomery Industries employed its own maintenance staff. They didn't use outside contractors.
Julian's fingers flew across the keyboard, initiating what looked like additional security measures. "Jake, I need remote backup on the building's systems. They'll try to bypass the main—"
The screens suddenly flickered, images distorting before going completely dark. The lights overhead followed suit, plunging the security room into darkness so complete I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.
"Julian?" I called out, panic rising in my throat.
"Don't move," his voice came from the darkness, calm despite the situation. "Emergency systems should activate in three, two, one..."
A soft red glow filled the room as backup lights struggled to activate, casting everything in an eerie crimson hue that made the familiar space suddenly alien and threatening. The security screens remained dead, no sign of rebooting.
"They've cut the main power and somehow disabled the backup generator," Julian said, his voice tight with controlled anger. "That should be impossible without inside access."
I thought of Elizabeth's face as she'd watched us leave the boardroom, that strange mix of calculation and regret in her eyes. Had she given Harris access to Julian's security systems?
It seemed too coincidental otherwise.
"What do we do?" I asked, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the fear clawing at my chest.
The soft whir of Julian's wheelchair was my only warning before he appeared at my side, the red emergency lighting casting harsh shadows across his face. He reached out, pulling me closer until I was leaning down beside his chair.
His lips brushed against my ear as he whispered, "Don't make a sound. They're already here."
My breath caught in my throat, the reality of our situation crashing over me like a wave of ice water. This wasn't just corporate espionage or harassment—Harris was sending people to kill us, to silence us permanently just like those other young men who'd disappeared into his properties.
I strained my ears in the silence, hearing nothing at first but the pounding of my own heart. Then, faintly, a mechanical hum that shouldn't have been there—the service elevator operating despite the security lockdown.
