Another pause.
"Evelyn, this isn't the time for paranoia."
Her eyes hardened.
"Answer the question."
"I don't have that information."
Grant's voice softened.
"Listen to me. Don't make a bad situation worse. Take the morning conference remotely."
"I can't."
"You can."
"I need to be there."
"You need to protect the company."
Evelyn glanced toward Nolan.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to do."
Grant sighed.
"I've spent eight years protecting your family."
"Don't talk about my family."
"I was there when your father died."
"And you've reminded me of that every year since."
Silence.
Then Grant said quietly:
"Don't trust strangers, Evelyn."
The call ended.
Nolan had heard enough.
He crouched beside the backup terminal.
"What?"
Evelyn asked.
"Nothing."
"You recognized something."
"No."
"Mr. Pierce."
He looked up.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"Then stop asking me questions and let me finish."
She almost snapped at him.
Instead, she nodded.
Minutes later, his tablet displayed a login record.
Nolan's eyes narrowed.
"Who has administrative access?"
"IT security. Grant. Me."
"Anyone else?"
"No."
He turned the screen toward her.
The final access came from Grant's administrative credentials.
Timestamp: 1:42 a.m.
Forty-seven minutes before the aircraft was scheduled to depart.
Evelyn stared.
"No."
Nolan said nothing.
She shook her head.
"His credentials could have been stolen."
"Possibly."
"You don't know."
"No."
"Then don't accuse him."
"I didn't."
Nolan pointed to the next line.
"Look."
A second verification.
Physical badge.
Grant's private office.
Biometric scan.
Evelyn felt her stomach tighten.
"That can't be right."
Nolan looked at her.
"That's what the machine says."
Clara stepped closer.
"I'll verify the security protocol."
She made a call.
Five minutes later, she returned.
Her face was pale.
"It's accurate."
Evelyn sat down.
For the first time in years, she felt genuinely afraid.
Not of losing money.
Not of losing status.
Of realizing that the person standing closest to her might be the person trying to destroy everything she had built.
Then Nolan's phone rang.
He stepped away.
"Dad?"
Evelyn looked over despite herself.
A teenage girl's voice came through the speaker.
"Are you coming home?"
Nolan's face softened.
"I'll be late."
"You promised."
"I know."
"You promised."
"I'll make it up to you."
"You always say that."
Nolan closed his eyes.
"I'll be there after school."
Avery paused.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You're lying."
He smiled faintly.
"Where did you learn that?"
"From you."
He laughed.
It was the first time Evelyn had heard him laugh.
A real laugh.
Small.
Tired.
Human.
"Go to sleep," Nolan said.
"I have my presentation tomorrow."
"I remember."
"You better."
"I remember everything."
"Goodnight, Dad."
"Goodnight, kiddo."
The call ended.
Nolan put the phone away.
Evelyn looked at him.
"She sounds like a remarkable girl."
"She is."
"How old was she when her mother died?"
"Thirteen."
"I'm sorry."
Nolan nodded.
"Me too."
There was nothing else to say.
But Evelyn understood his strange answer from earlier now.
His daughter didn't need a replacement mother.
She needed something much more difficult.
She needed her father to believe life could still contain something good.
And perhaps, Evelyn realized, so did he.
The Boardroom in the Hangar
At 3:31 a.m., the board joined the emergency call.
A large screen was wheeled into the hangar.
One by one, faces appeared.
Directors.
Shareholders.
Legal advisers.
And Grant Blackwood.
He looked perfectly composed.
Evelyn hated him for it.
"The situation is unfortunate," Grant began.
Evelyn stared at him.
"Unfortunate?"
"We have a critical aircraft failure."
"We have sabotage."
Grant's expression barely changed.
"That's a serious accusation."
"Then explain the access logs."
"I don't have them."
"You will."
Sterling Kingsley appeared beside Grant.
Kingsley Capital had been circling Hawthorne Aerolux for months.
Sterling was a silver-haired man in his sixties with the calm confidence of someone who had spent his entire life buying things from desperate people.
"Perhaps," Sterling said, "we should focus on the immediate business problem."
Evelyn turned toward him.
"The immediate business problem is that someone disabled my aircraft hours before the most important signing of my career."
"Which raises questions about internal governance."
"I agree."
Sterling smiled.
"I'm glad we agree."
Evelyn didn't smile back.
"Those questions should begin with Grant."
Grant leaned forward.
"Evelyn, you're exhausted."
"Don't patronize me."
"I'm not."
"You redirected my maintenance team."
"No."
"You had your credentials used to access my aircraft systems."
"I didn't."
"And you knew about the Seattle deadline."
"Of course I knew."
"Then why did you call me twice tonight and tell me not to fly?"
"Because I was concerned about your safety."
Nolan quietly placed the recovered module on the table.
Grant saw him.
His expression changed.
Only for a second.
But Evelyn noticed.
"Who is that?"
Grant asked.
"Nolan Pierce."
Grant's face tightened.
"You're using him?"
"I'm listening to him."
Grant laughed.
"He's a freelance mechanic."
Nolan didn't react.
Grant continued.
"Do you know what you're doing, Evelyn? You're allowing an unqualified outsider to access proprietary systems during a corporate crisis."
Nolan finally spoke.
"Unqualified?"
Grant looked at him.
"You don't remember me?"
"I remember you."
Nolan's voice remained calm.
"I remember everything."
Grant went silent.
Evelyn noticed.
"What happened between you two?"
Grant answered first.
"Nothing worth discussing."
Nolan looked at Evelyn.
"That's not true."
He took a breath.
"Years ago, I reported falsified aviation safety records."
Grant interrupted.
"False claims."
"I reported them."
"You were disciplined for manipulating inspection data."
"No."
Nolan reached into his toolbox.
"I was blamed for it."