Chapter 7 - THE GLASS COFFIN
The Vanguard Tower was a half-finished skeletal monolith of glass and steel on the edge of the city. Construction had been abandoned years ago when funding mysteriously dried up. Now, it stood as a monument to greed, the wind howling through its empty elevator shafts.
Jasmine’s SUV screeched to a halt at the base of the tower. Police tape from a previous trespassing incident fluttered in the wind.
"He's on the top floor," Marcus said, checking a thermal scanner. "Ms. Sterling, the structure is unstable. Let us go up."
"No," Jasmine said, stepping out of the car. She held the heavy leather ledger in one hand. "He won't talk to you. He wants me."
She entered the construction elevator, a rickety metal cage attached to the side of the building. With a grinding lurch, it began its slow ascent, ninety stories up into the grey, turbulent sky.
When the cage shuddered to a halt at the top, Jasmine stepped out onto the concrete floor. The wind was deafening up here. There were no walls, just exposed steel beams and a sheer drop to the city below.
Sebastian stood near the ledge. He looked wrecked. His expensive suit was torn, his knee heavily braced from where Jasmine had struck him, and his face was pale and drawn.
But he was smiling.
"Look at you," Sebastian yelled over the wind, spreading his arms. "The billionaire queen, rushing to save her dirty crown!"
"It's over, Sebastian," Jasmine shouted back, walking slowly toward him. "The DA won't cut a deal with a man who knew about a murder for ten years and said nothing."
"They will when I prove you paid me to keep quiet!" Sebastian countered, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "A signed NDA. Dated two weeks after your grandfather's death. With your signature on it, authorizing a five-million-dollar payout to my offshore account."
Jasmine stopped. She stared at the paper. "That's a forgery. I didn't even know about the money until yesterday."
"Try proving that to a jury," Sebastian sneered. "My father taught me well, Jasmine. Always have a dead-man’s switch. The feds are freezing your accounts as we speak. You’re going to be penniless, disgraced, and locked in a cell. We’re going to be nothing together."
Jasmine looked at the man she had called her husband for eight agonizing years. She saw the pathetic, hollow core of him.
She didn't panic. She didn't scream.
Instead, Jasmine laughed.
It was a cold, dark, genuine laugh that cut through the howling wind.
Sebastian’s smile faltered. "What's so funny?"
"You think this is about the money," Jasmine said, shaking her head. She held up the leather ledger. "You think I care if they burn Sterling Equity to the ground? It's dirty money. Let the feds have it. Let them freeze it."
Sebastian stepped back, confused. "You're bluffing. You waited ten years for that fortune."
"I waited ten years to see who you really were," Jasmine corrected him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the gold signet ring. She tossed it onto the concrete at Sebastian's feet. It clattered loudly.
Sebastian stared down at his father's ring.
"I didn't come here to stop you, Sebastian," Jasmine said, her voice dropping into a deadly, calm register. "I came here to tell you that while you were busy running to the DA with forged NDAs, I was busy making a phone call to the DEA."
Sebastian’s head snapped up. "What?"
"Your father didn't just manufacture poison to kill my grandfather," Jasmine said, walking closer. "His chemical plant has been a front for importing synthetic narcotics for the cartel for the last five years. And you, Sebastian, as the sole inheritor of his estate, have been the one signing the shipping manifests through Vanguard Real Estate."
All the color drained from Sebastian’s face. "No. No, I just signed what the lawyers told me to—"
"The cartel doesn't care about your excuses," Jasmine interrupted. "And neither does the DEA. They raided your warehouses an hour ago. They found three tons of product hidden inside Vanguard construction materials."
Sebastian stumbled backward, his good leg hitting the concrete barrier near the ledge. "You set me up! You planted it!"
"I didn't have to plant anything," Jasmine said coldly. "Your mistress, Natasha, was very cooperative. Turns out, when you leave a woman holding forty million in debt, she’s more than happy to hand over the flash drive she copied from your laptop."
Sirens wailed in the distance. Dozens of them, growing louder, converging on the base of the Vanguard Tower.
"You have two choices, Sebastian," Jasmine said, turning her back to him and walking toward the elevator cage. "You can wait for the feds, go to federal prison for narcotics trafficking, and spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder for cartel hitmen."
She paused, pressing the button for the elevator.
"Or you can jump."
May you like
The metal gate of the cage slid open. Jasmine stepped inside.
As the cage began its descent, Jasmine looked through the mesh. Sebastian was on his knees, clutching his father's ring, screaming in absolute terror as the flashing red and blue lights surrounded the building far below.
