'I Do' For Revenge
Chapter 190: Whose Fingerprint
CHAPTER 190: WHOSE FINGERPRINT
"Consider it done," Tye said in that professional tone I’d come to rely on. "But first, we lock this floor down com pletely. If Ma rco has a way i nside the Tower, I have to assume he can get inside this hospital too."
He pulled out his radio and clicke d the transmit button. "Unit On e, sea l the elevators immediately. No one gets off on the 4th floor without my direct visual confirmation. I don’t care if it’s the Chief of Surgery or the Governor himself. Verify everyone. No exceptions."
I nodded , the exhaustion f inally seeping into my bones like lead now that the cameras wer e gone and the ad renaline was crashin g.
The mask I’d worn for the board and the press was sl ipping, and I could fe el myself crumbling beneath it.
I looked over at the waiting area.
Helena was still sitting there, staring blankl y at the wa ll even though I’d told her she was free to go. She looked small and fragile. Her clothes wer e still stained with s oot from t he blast zone.
"Helena," I said gentl y, walking over to her.
She jumped, her eyes wide and red-rimmed. "Ma’am? Do you need something? I can get you coffee, or food, or..."
"I’m fine, Helena," I assured her, sitting down beside her. "But you look like you’re about to collapse. You’ve been here for hours, and you were in the blast zone, too. You need medical attention."
"I just want to help," she whispered. "I need to be doing so mething. If I stop moving, if I stop thinking..."
"You’ve already helped more than enough for today," I said firml y but kindly. "Tye is going to have two of his men drive you home. You need a shower, real food, and a real bed. I’ll call you if I need anything. I promise. "
Hel ena hesitated, her gaze drifting to the ICU doo rs, then back to me. Finally, she nodded slowly. "Okay. Ju st... please call me even if it’s 3 AM. I don’t care what time it is."
"I will."
I watched as she gathered herself, lookin g like a gho st in her soot-stained clothes, and let one of the security guards lead her t oward the elevators.
Once she was gone, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled i t ou t and looked at the screen: Henry Porter.
My jaw tightened hard.
I took a deep breath, forcing the "Interim CEO" mask back into place. He didn’t know that I knew about the evidence Helena had found, about the laptop hidden in his office, about the ninety million dollars split between him and Charles.
I a nswered. "Henry."
" Layla," his voice came through, oozing with fau x concern that made my skin crawl. "I just saw the press c onference. Truly marvel ous, if I may say so. You handled the media brilliantly under the circumstances. Very impressive. "
"Thank you, Henry," I s aid, keeping my voice p erfectly even. "We do w hat we must to protect ou r own."
"Of cours e, of course. Fam ily first, always. And that was my primary concern, naturally. The Board was... hasty in the ir acti ons. Panic makes men do foolish things." He chuckled lightly, the sound grating against my nerves. "But tell me, how is Axel really? The ’stable’ line works beautifull y fo r CNN, but between partners... is he going to make it?"
I tightene d my grip on the phone until my knuckles went white. He wa s fishing. Testing the waters. He w anted to know if the throne was permanently empty.
"He’s strong, Henry," I lied smoothly. " The doctors are very optimistic about his recovery. He actually woke up briefly in the ambulance on the way here."
"He did?" There was a tiny, almost imperceptible pause. A beat of d isap pointment care f ull y disguised as relief. "Well, that is wonderful news. Give him my best when he can receive visitors. And Layla? If you need help with anything.. . and I mean anything at all... don’t hesitate to reach out. It’s a heavy load for one person to carry alone. Don’ t be afraid to lean on me."
"I’ll keep that in mind," I sa id . "Goodnight, H enry."
I hu ng up and imme diately fel t like wa sh ing my hands.
"Sn ake," Tye m uttered from beside me.
"Worse than a snake," I said quietly. "He’s a patient snake. He’s waiting fo r me to slip, to show weakness, to make a mistake he can exploit."
"You wo n’t slip," Tye s aid firmly. " Now go in there. Be a wife for a few minutes, not a CEO. I’ll stand guard right here. Nobody gets past m e."
I nodded gratefully and pushed open the heavy door to the ICU.
The s ound of the machines wa s lo uder inside, filling the small room with their mechanical rhythm. Beep... whoosh... beep.
The room was dim, with only the monitors pro viding light, ca sting faint blue shadows on the walls. Axel hadn’t moved since I left him. He was s till face down on th e special bed meant to protect his injured spine. T hick white bandages covered his broad back, and his head rested carefully in the cushioned cradle.
He l ooked so big, yet so heartbreakingly helpless.
I pulled a plastic chair close to the bed, c areful not to bump the IV stand or any of the wires connecting him to the machines keeping him alive.
I sat down hea vily and reached through the tangle of tubes to fin d his hand; it was warm.
"I did it," I whispered into the silence. "I wa lked into that boardroom, Axel, and I t errified every single one of them. Scotfield practically wet himself. You would have been so proud."
He didn’t m ove. The monitor just kept beeping its steady rhythm.
"I told them I was holding the line," I continued, my voice cracking despite my best efforts. "And I will. I’ll hold it as long as I have to. But I’m scared, Axel. I’m so scared. Marco is inside our walls somehow. Henry is circling like a vulture. And you ..."
I squeezed his hand, tears finally spill ing down my cheeks unchecked.
"You have to wake up. Please. I can be the CEO. I can play the part. I can run the company and fight the battles. But I can’t be Layla without you."
I laid my foreh ead aga inst his arm, letting the tears soa k into the hospital sheet, my body shaking with silen t sobs .
I didn’t know h ow long I sat there. Minutes? Hours? The rhy thmic beeping was hypnotic, lulling me into a daze of ex haustion and grief.
Su ddenly, the do or behind me burst open.
I shot upright instantly, wiping my face, turning with a glare. "I said no visitors... "
It was Tye.
But he wasn’t lo oking at me. He was staring at a laptop he was balancing in one ha n d.
" Problem?" I asked, m y voice instantly hardening back into CEO mode. "Is it Henry again? Marco? What did he do now?"
"No," Tye said, his voice strange and hollow. "It’s the mole."
I stood up immedia tely. "Already? Who is it?"
"I had my tech guy pull th e raw data from the security scanners in the Tower lo bby," Tye explained, walking t oward me. "The video footage of the d elivery was looped, just like we sus pected, professionally do ne. But the scanner logs... those are hard -coded on a separate server. They can’t be delete d, only bypass ed with specific authorisation."
"Who bypasse d it?" I demanded.
"The package was flagged as ’Exec utive Personal - Do Not Scan,’" Ty e said. "That override isn’t sta ndard protocol. It requires a biometric authoris ation. A fingerprint scan from a senior executive assistant or higher."
"Whose fingerprint?" I ask ed, dread pooling in my stomach like ice water. "Who authorised the b omb to bypass security, Tye?"
Tye looked at me, and I saw something in his eyes I’d never see n b efore. Hesitation. Deep, terrified hesitation. His jaw worked l ike he was trying to find the words.
"Tye? Tel l me."
"It wasn’ t a guard," Tye said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.
He turned the laptop screen toward me.
The s ecurity log on the screen flashed in angry red lette r s: OVERRIDE AUTHORIZATION ID: HELENA PORTER TIMESTAMP: 08:42 AM