Chapter 14
The following morning, Adrian brought the silver lighter down to the estate's highly secured subterranean control room. Marcus and a trusted technical expert were waiting. The room hummed with the sound of servers processing the surveillance feeds from the highway.
"Take it apart," Adrian commanded, placing the lighter on the steel table. "Carefully."
The technician used microscopic tools to unhinge the vintage casing. The ornate emblem of the striking falcon framed by a shield was carefully detached. Beneath the heavy silver exterior, tucked behind the cotton wick chamber, the technician extracted a microscopic, encrypted flash drive no larger than a fingernail.
Marcus exhaled a sharp breath. "Jesus Christ. He was carrying a ghost drive."
Adrian’s jaw clenched hard enough to flex the light stubble along his face. He inserted the drive into a disconnected, secure laptop. A prompt appeared, demanding a numeric password.
Adrian didn't hesitate. He typed in the jagged numbers etched onto the back of the lighter: 09122022.
The screen unlocked, revealing a massive, intricately detailed digital ledger. As Adrian scrolled through the files, the blood ran cold in his veins. James hadn't just wanted to walk away from the Mafia; he had systematically documented a decade's worth of offshore accounts, political bribes, and shipping routes belonging to the Chicago Commission. It was the ultimate insurance policy.
"Boss," Marcus whispered, staring at the screen in pure disbelief. "This is a kill switch. If this ledger goes to the federal authorities, the entire Chicago syndicate collapses overnight. James didn't just run. He stole their crown jewels."
"And now Chicago knows the drive wasn't destroyed," Adrian deduced, his voice flat, icy, and carrying the weight of an impending storm. "They sent the watch to see if I would react. They believe I have the ledger. They believe Nora is the key."
Before Adrian could issue a command, the control room doors swung open. A junior bodyguard stepped in, his face pale.
May you like
"Mr. Cole," the guard stammered. "The perimeter alarms haven't tripped, but... Nora’s private tutor, Mr. Vance, didn't show up for the morning lesson. We went to his quarters in the staff wing. He's dead, Boss. And his security badge is missing."
Adrian’s dark eyes widened in absolute, breathtaking shock. The enemy wasn't at the gates. They were already inside the fortress.
