CHAPTER 17: THE SIGNATURE

Adrian refused to believe the memory.

“I never signed that.”

Naomi examined the neural interface.

“The implant may contain false memories.”

Emma shook her head.

“Or memories they erased.”

Adrian remembered being twenty-four years old, desperate to save Elena’s unborn baby after doctors detected a severe neurological condition.

Sebastian had offered an experimental treatment.

Adrian had signed dozens of forms.

One of them may have created the Helix Foundation.

He had thought he was saving his son.

Instead, he had handed him over.

Eli watched from the bed, unable to move his legs.

“You started the facility?”

“I didn’t know what it would become.”

“That’s what everyone says.”

The boy turned his face toward the wall.

Adrian left the room.

For the first time since the restaurant, walking no longer felt like victory.

Mason found him in the hallway.

“We traced the shooter from the cemetery.”

“Who was it?”

“One of your company’s security officers.”

“Working for Sebastian?”

“He received orders from your personal account.”

Adrian frowned.

“That’s impossible.”

“Your access codes were used.”

Only four people knew those codes.

Adrian.

Mason.

Victoria.

And Adrian’s younger brother, Julian Vale.

Julian had lived in Europe for fifteen years and avoided company business.

Adrian called him.

A stranger answered.

“Mr. Vale?”

“Where is my brother?”

A weak voice sounded in the background.

“Adrian…”

It was Julian.

“Help me.”

The line went dead.

Mason traced the call to a Vale Industries tower downtown.

The same building where the board had scheduled an emergency meeting to remove Adrian as chief executive.

When Adrian arrived, dozens of reporters waited outside.

News of his paralysis “relapse” had already spread.

He entered the boardroom in his wheelchair.

Seven directors sat around the table.

At the head was Julian.

His face was bruised, but he smiled.

“Brother.”

Adrian looked beneath the table.

A wire ran from Julian’s chair into his neck.

Someone was controlling his body.

Then Julian raised a gun and pointed it at Adrian.

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His lips moved against his will.

“Sebastian says you should have stayed broken.”