Chapter 9: A: Private Stall & Remote Leak

👉 [Previous Decision]: You chose Option A – Confront Arthur face-to-face while Marcus triggers an automated press release.

Arthur Pendelton sat behind his desk, watching me. His gaze was unnervingly calm.

“So, Julian,” he said, gesturing to the digital copy of the letter on his desk. “You think this changes anything? A faded letter, a desperate plea from my soft-hearted father.”

“It’s more than a plea,” I countered, keeping my voice steady, eyes on the clock on the wall. “It’s proof that you orchestrated political assassinations. It ties directly to the audio confessions.”

“Conjecture,” Arthur dismissed, waving a hand. “Rumors. Gossip for your little podcast. Without an audience, Mr. Kross, you are nothing. And in this room, you have no audience.”

I knew Marcus’s timed press release was minutes away. I just had to keep him talking.

“You really think you’re above the law?” I asked, forcing a scoff. “That your family name gives you immunity?”

He leaned back, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Immunity? No. Influence? Absolute. You see, Julian, I don’t need to break the law. I simply shape it. My sister Evelyn drafts the ordinances. My cousin Thaddeus enforces them. And I, Julian, own the ground they’re built on. Literally.”

He picked up a heavy, antique letter opener, turning it over in his fingers. “You are an amateur in a game of titans. A fly buzzing against a pane of glass.”

Just then, a faint, almost imperceptible tremor ran through the room. It wasn’t physical, but something in the air shifted. Then, a distant wail began. Sirens. Not just one, but many, growing in intensity. The distinct sound of a media helicopter thrummed in the night sky.

Arthur paused, his brow furrowing slightly. He looked up, a flicker of confusion crossing his face.

My phone, lying silently on the desk, suddenly buzzed. Then his. Then the landline. The digital world outside was detonating.

“What is that?” Arthur murmured, his eyes narrowing, the facade of control beginning to crack.