“You’re a nobody here!” Mauricio spat as he gripped my arm, right after his mother had slapped my daughter with such force that Daniela fell against the table and split her lip.

The heavy oak door swung open, and the lights in the suite flashed on.

Standing in the doorway was not Mauricio, but two men in sleek charcoal suits. They were built like brick walls, with wide shoulders, cropped hair, and the distinct, cold posture of private corporate security operatives.

Behind them stood Dr. Roberto Salinas—the family doctor who had been at the Christmas dinner.

Salinas looked surprised to see me sitting in Daniela's chair, but his expression quickly settled into a smug, disappointed grimace.

"Rafael," Dr. Salinas said, stepping into the office and closing the door behind him. "We saw the network login alert at the house. Mauricio assumed Daniela was trying to delete company files remotely. He sent us to secure the server."

I didn't move. My hand remained resting on the desk, inches from the flash drive. On the secondary monitor, hidden behind the main window, the transfer bar hit 88%.

"You shouldn't be here, Rafael," Dr. Salinas continued, pulling a thin pair of leather gloves from his pocket. "You're trespassing on private corporate property."

"I'm securing my daughter's personal belongings," I said calmly, keeping my voice steady. "And making sure her legal rights are protected."

Salinas let out a short, dry laugh. "Legal rights? Rafael, look at yourself. You're an retired high school history teacher wearing a threadbare sweater. Do you really think you can go to war with Arturo Valdés? Do you have any idea how many prosecutors, state delegates, and bank directors sit at his table for Sunday lunch?"

"I don't need a table full of politicians, Roberto," I replied, looking him in the eye. "I just need the truth."

Ding.

A tiny, almost imperceptible audio chime echoed from the computer speakers. Transfer Complete.

One of the security guards stepped forward, his sharp eyes dropping to the USB drive glowing blue in the front tower port. "He's downloading network logs, Doctor."

"Take the drive," Salinas ordered coldly. "And bring him downstairs. Arturo wants to handle this personally before the news media wakes up."

The guard lunged across the desk, reaching for the flash drive.

I acted on instinct. I didn't try to fight the guard. Instead, I grabbed a heavy glass crystal award from Daniela's desk—an accolade for 'Corporate Leadership' given to her by Valdés Industrial—and slammed it down onto the main power strip beneath the desk.

Sparks flew with a sharp crack!

The circuit breaker tripped, instantly plunging the entire executive suite into pitch-black darkness.

"Grab him!" Salinas shouted, his voice echoing in the dark.

I snatched the flash drive from the port, slipped it into my coat pocket, and threw my body sideways over the desk, using my memory of the office layout to guide me. I slammed into the floor-to-ceiling curtain, grabbed the heavy velvet fabric, and ripped it downward with all my weight.

The metal rod snapped, spilling yards of heavy cloth over the two security guards who were charging through the dark. They stumbled, cursing as they entangled themselves in the heavy material.

I scrambled to my feet, sprinted past Dr. Salinas in the dark, pushed open the suite door, and ran into the corridor.

"Tomás!" I yelled into my phone as I sprinted toward the stairwell door. "Shut down the primary elevator bank!"

"Already done, Mr. Vance!" Tomás's voice crackled through the speaker. "I tripped the emergency fire alarm on floor 12! The whole building is locking into safety protocol!"

Blaring red emergency lights began to flash along the corridor walls, accompanied by the deafening screech of the fire alarm sirens.

I threw open the heavy door to the emergency stairwell and took the concrete steps three at a time, plunging downward into the metallic echoes of the fire system.

Fourteen flights of stairs. My legs burned, my lungs screamed for air, but with every step I took, the weight of the flash drive in my coat pocket felt like an impenetrable piece of armor.

I hit the ground floor exit door, bursting out into the cold night alley behind the building.

A dark limousine was idling near my rusted sedan.

The rear window rolled down, revealing Arturo Valdés sitting in the leather interior. He held a glass of whiskey, looking out at me with an expression of absolute, venomous disdain.

"You're making a catastrophic mistake, Rafael," Arturo said over the noise of the sirens. "Bring me that drive, and I'll settle Daniela's severance package at two million dollars. Walk away now, and I'll make sure neither of you ever works in this country again."

I stood in the cold wind, catching my breath, holding my coat tightly around my chest.

I pulled the small, glowing flash drive from my pocket, held it up between my thumb and forefinger so he could see it clearly under the streetlights, and smiled.