Chapter 17 - The Bleeding Confession
Marcus stumbled forward into the study, clutching his bleeding head with one hand while holding a shattered, encrypted tablet with the other. He collapsed onto his knees against the Persian rug, gasping for air as droplets of crimson blood stained the woven threads.
Vincent lowered his gun instantly, stepping forward to grab Marcus by the shoulders and hoist him up onto a leather armchair. "Marcus! What the hell happened to you? The corporate logs showed your terminal executing a hostile data transfer to a Swiss proxy server at 3:14 AM yesterday."
Marcus groaned, wincing as he pressed a linen handkerchief against the gash on his forehead. "It wasn't me, Vincent... well, technically it was my terminal, but I didn't authorize it."
I stood over him, my eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Your hardware serial number was logged, Marcus. You expect us to believe someone just walked into your locked corporate office and stole your credentials?"
"Not someone," Marcus wheezed, his voice shaking with genuine terror. "Arthur."
The name hung in the air like a physical blow. Vincent froze, his hand still resting on the back of Marcus’s chair.
"My father?" Vincent’s voice dropped dangerously low. "Explain yourself right now, Marcus. Exactly what does my father have to do with this?"
Marcus swallowed hard, taking a ragged breath before speaking. "Three days ago, before Arthur officially showed up at the front gates, I was ambushed in my underground parking garage downtown. Two men in unmarked suits grabbed me, shoved me into the back of a black SUV, and drove me to an abandoned warehouse near the docks. When I woke up... Arthur Rossi was sitting in a chair waiting for me."
I stepped closer, listening intently. "What did he want?"
"He didn't want to kill me," Marcus said, his eyes wide with lingering trauma. "He wanted my corporate security credentials. He told me that the Swiss syndicate had infiltrated the board years ago, and that the only way to flush them out—and save the company from a total hostile liquidation—was to pretend to betray you, Vincent."
Vincent stared at Marcus, his jaw tight. "So my father blackmailed you into playing double agent?"
"Not blackmailed," Marcus corrected softly. "He convinced me it was the only play left on the board. He said the syndicate was planning a final, devastating strike against your personal assets, and that the only way to catch them was to give them a false trail—a honey-trap file that would force their primary servers out of hiding."
I crossed my arms, looking at Marcus with critical evaluation. "If Arthur told you to play double agent, why are you bleeding? Why does it look like you barely escaped with your life?"
Marcus looked down at his trembling hands, a shadow of deep fear washing over his face. "Because someone else got to the warehouse before Arthur’s plan could fully execute. Richard Vance. He found out about the sting operation through a secondary leak inside the Swiss syndicate. When Richard realized Arthur was playing a double game, he turned on him. They had a violent falling out. I managed to grab my shattered tablet and run for my life before they could silence me."
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Vincent looked at me, the pieces of the complex, deadly puzzle finally clicking into place in his mind. "Arthur isn't our enemy," Vincent realized aloud. "He came back not to steal the company, but to protect it from the inside out—and to draw Richard Vance and the Swiss syndicate out into the open where we can finally destroy them once and for all."
"If that's true," I said, my voice cutting through the tension like cold steel, "then Arthur is currently trapped alone in the west wing with Richard Vance’s mercenaries closing in."
