Chapter 3 – THE APEX SECURITY BADGE

The metallic badge hit the floor with a heavy clatter.

James stared at the red and black logo of Apex Innovations. The corporate rival that had been beating his division to every major patent filing for the last six months.

Delilah lunged for the badge, but the bailiff put a heavy boot over it.

“You told me you were a freelance consultant,” James said. His voice sounded hollow, like it belonged to a ghost. “You told me you didn’t even understand what my division did.”

Delilah’s face twisted. The soft, adoring mistress he had risked his marriage for vanished entirely. She looked at him with pure, unadulterated pity.

“Oh, James,” she sneered, dropping the helpless act completely. “Did you really think I wanted to listen to you brag about your golf swing for eight months just because of your charming personality? I needed your laptop passwords.”

The realization hit James like a physical blow. The late nights she had spent ‘working’ in the penthouse. The times he had fallen asleep after too much wine, leaving his encrypted work tablet on the nightstand.

She hadn’t just wrecked his marriage. She had stolen his company’s intellectual property.

“You’re a corporate spy,” James breathed. “The boarding pass to Geneva… you weren’t taking a babymoon. You were running.”

“And you were paying for the apartment I did it in,” Delilah shot back.

“That’s enough,” Elias’s voice cut through the room like a blade. He gestured to two men in dark suits who had silently entered behind him. “Ms. Sterling will be coming with us. Apex Innovations’ legal counsel has already been notified of the espionage charges.”

Delilah’s bravado shattered. “You can’t do that! I’m pregnant!”

Elias didn’t blink. “Our medical staff has reviewed the ultrasound you sent Mr. Vance. The serial number matches a stock image from a 2019 medical journal. You are no more pregnant than I am, Ms. Sterling.”

James dropped the deed to the floor. The ringing in his ears was deafening. He had thrown away a brilliant, loyal wife and his unborn child for a woman wearing a fake belly and a wire.

He didn’t wait to see Delilah get dragged away. He turned and ran out of the courtroom, pushing past the heavy wooden doors and sprinting down the courthouse steps.

He had to get to Mount Sinai. He had to beg Lucy for forgiveness. He had to explain he was a victim too.

He hailed a cab, his hands shaking so violently he dropped his phone twice trying to open his banking app.

Access Denied. Account Frozen.

He tried his credit card app.

Error Code 404. Contact Administrator.

He arrived at Mount Sinai’s VIP wing breathless and sweating. The security guard at the elevator bank recognized him but immediately stepped in front of the doors.

“I need to see my wife,” James pleaded. “Lucy Vance.”

Before the guard could answer, the elevator dinged. The doors slid open, and Catherine stepped out.

She looked immaculate, her posture rigid, her eyes cold. In her hands, she held a small, worn photograph in a silver frame. It was a picture of Lucy’s late father, the man James knew only as a humble hardware store owner who had passed away years ago.

James rushed forward. “Catherine, please. You have to let me see her. I’ve been played. Delilah was a spy. She faked the pregnancy. I’m a victim in all this!”

Catherine looked at the frantic, desperate man in front of her. She slowly turned the silver-framed photograph around so James could see it.

“Do you know who this man is, James?” Catherine asked softly.

“It’s Arthur. Lucy’s dad,” James said rapidly. “Please, Catherine—”

“His name was Arthur Thorne,” Catherine corrected him.

The elevator behind her began to descend again.

“And he didn’t own a hardware store,” Catherine continued, her voice echoing in the quiet lobby. “He owned the building. And the block. And the supply chain that built it.”

James froze. The name finally, impossibly, clicked in his brain.

Thorne.

Suddenly, the heavy double doors to the emergency bay swung open. A doctor walked out, looking grim. Over his arm, he carried Lucy’s black maternity coat.

It was soaked in blood.

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