Chapter 12 - THE BETRAYAL AT KANE TOWER
12
Anthony Kane had built an empire out of dead people.
Now everyone wanted to know whether his daughter was one of them.
Elena Kane had been eleven when the boating accident supposedly killed her and her mother.
No bodies were recovered.
Anthony held a public funeral.
Vincent remembered standing beside two empty coffins.
Nine months later, Anthony “died” in the warehouse fire.
Two funerals.
Three missing bodies.
An entire family disappeared.
Agent Brooks searched school records, medical systems, passports, social media.
Nothing under Elena Kane.
Daniel suggested another possibility.
“Search the ghost identities.”
The master ledger contained hundreds.
One stood out.
Emily North.
Same birth date as Elena.
Same middle initial.
Federal records showed Emily North lived in Wisconsin until age sixteen, then moved to Chicago.
Current employment:
Kane Tower.
Vincent stared.
“My building?”
She worked on the thirty-eighth floor as a financial systems analyst.
For Vincent's own company.
Anthony's daughter had been inside her uncle's headquarters for two years.
Vincent didn't recognize her.
She had been eleven when he last saw her.
Now twenty.
New hair.
New name.
New life.
Security footage showed Emily North entering Kane Tower at 8:04 that morning.
She hadn't left.
Brooks ordered the building quietly contained.
Vincent wanted to confront her.
Daniel warned him.
“Elena may be working with Anthony.”
“Or she may be trapped.”
“Both can be true.”
Vincent entered his office.
Emily sat beside his desk.
Waiting.
She looked at him.
“Hi, Uncle Vin.”
Vincent's composure disappeared.
He crossed the room and hugged her.
She remained stiff.
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
“I looked for you.”
“No. You held a funeral.”
His face tightened.
“I thought you were dead.”
“That's what Dad wanted.”
Anthony had taken Elena after discovering his wife planned to cooperate with federal investigators.
Elena's mother really died.
Anthony survived.
He raised Elena under false names.
Told her Vincent had arranged the boating accident.
For nine years, Elena believed her uncle murdered her mother.
Vincent whispered, “He lied.”
“I know.”
“When did you find out?”
“Two years ago.”
That was why she entered Kane Tower.
Not to work for Anthony.
To investigate Vincent.
She eventually found transfers connected to Lakefront.
Then she realized Anthony controlled them.
“Why didn't you come to me?”
“Because everyone who trusted a Kane ended up dead.”
Vincent couldn't argue.
Emily had secretly copied financial records for two years.
She was the reason some data survived Rebecca's fire.
She had also been the unidentified seventh person near Vincent's restaurant table on several occasions.
An internal-security employee.
A watcher.
That number stuck in my head.
Seven.
But there was a larger betrayal.
Emily revealed someone inside Kane Tower had been communicating directly with Anthony.
Not Salvatore.
Not Vincent.
Vincent's chief legal counsel.
Martin Hale.
Hale had represented Kane companies for twenty-three years.
He drafted shell-company agreements.
Settlements.
Property trusts.
He helped Vincent “clean” parts of the organization after Anthony's supposed death.
And all that time, Hale reported everything to Anthony.
Vincent immediately ordered him detained.
Too late.
Hale had left the building twenty minutes earlier.
He took a server backup.
The server held master account keys.
Anthony now had the ability to erase billions in transactions.
Agent Brooks issued a nationwide alert.
Then Kane Tower's elevators stopped.
Lights flickered.
Emily stood.
“That's him.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
A video appeared on every office monitor.
Anthony Kane.
Silver-haired.
Calm.
Sitting somewhere dark.
“Vincent.”
Employees across thirty-eight floors watched.
“You've always confused mercy with weakness.”
Vincent stared at the screen.
Anthony continued.
“You open your books to federal agents. You betray blood. You let a waitress and her child tear apart what took decades to build.”
Mom, watching remotely, muttered, “Good.”
Anthony smiled.
“You want the truth? Come get it.”
Behind him appeared Howard Voss.
Alive.
Then Martin Hale.
Then Senator Brenton.
The network's remaining core.
And someone else.
Rebecca Sterling.
Hands tied.
This time she really was a hostage.
Mercer swore.
Anthony continued.
“One hour. Old Stockyard Exchange.”
Daniel recognized it.
A closed commodities warehouse.
Anthony wanted the master ledger.
Agent Brooks refused.
“We don't negotiate with him.”
Vincent said, “He'll kill Rebecca.”
Daniel spoke quietly.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Anthony won't kill her immediately.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he needs somebody to blame.”
The plan became clear.
Anthony intended to gather everyone involved.
Burn the building.
Plant the ledger.
Create a final story.
Vincent Kane killed his brother's network in a criminal dispute.
Rebecca died because she was connected.
David Sterling took the blame for payroll fraud.
Anthony disappeared again.
Agent Brooks prepared a counter-operation.
Daniel insisted on going.
Mom grabbed his arm.
“You came back today.”
“I know.”
“And you're already leaving?”
“Mia—”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
I asked, “Are you going to disappear again?”
That question stopped him.
He knelt.
“No.”
“Promise?”
His eyes filled.
“I promise.”
“Then don't go somewhere you can't keep it.”
Daniel looked at Mom.
Then Agent Brooks.
He stayed.
Vincent went.
Wearing a wire.
No ledger.
Only a duplicate.
The old Stockyard Exchange smelled like dust and rust.
Anthony waited on the trading floor.
Rebecca sat tied to a chair.
Voss held a gun.
Hale carried a briefcase.
Brenton looked terrified.
Vincent walked in.
“Hello, Anthony.”
His brother smiled.
“Little brother.”
“You look terrible for a dead man.”
Anthony laughed.
Then he saw the ledger.
“Put it down.”
Vincent did.
Anthony opened it.
His smile disappeared.
“Fake.”
Vincent's expression didn't change.
Anthony looked toward Hale.
“Kill Rebecca.”
Voss raised his weapon.
A shot exploded.
Rebecca screamed.
But Voss fell.
Not Rebecca.
Salvatore stood on the balcony above.
Smoking pistol in his hand.
Federal teams stormed entrances.
Chaos erupted.
Hale ran.
Brenton dropped to his knees.
Anthony disappeared behind the old trading floor.
Vincent chased him.
They reached a loading bay.
Anthony turned.
“You really think you're different from me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vincent stopped.
“Because I'm willing to lose everything.”
Sirens surrounded the building.
Anthony smiled.
“So was Daniel.”
Then he stepped backward through an open loading door.
Twenty feet below was the river channel.
Vincent lunged.
Too late.
Anthony disappeared into black water.
Divers searched for hours.
No body.
Again.
Agent Brooks stood beside Vincent at dawn.
“Your brother has a talent for dying without evidence.”
Vincent stared at the river.
“He's alive.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he wants me to wonder.”
Then Emily called from Kane Tower.
She had recovered the server Hale stole.
A final transaction had been scheduled.
Every account connected to Lakefront would empty at noon.
Destination unknown.
Amount:
$312 million.
May you like
Recipient:
RORY CARTER.
