CHAPTER 12: THE WARNING FROM STATEVILLE
CHAPTER 12: THE WARNING FROM STATEVILLE
Panic is a cold weight in the chest. Hannah and I didn't wait for the threats to materialize. By noon the following day, we were back at Stateville Correctional Center. The visitation room felt darker this time. Preston was brought out in heavy chains. He looked exhausted, his orange uniform wrinkled, a dark bruise swelling under his left eye. He picked up the phone aggressively. "You shouldn't have come here," he muttered, his voice shaking. "Preston, who is Christian Sterling?" I asked through the glass. Preston’s eyes widened in pure terror. He slammed his free hand against the reinforced barrier. "He’s the ghost, Evy! Arthur kept him hidden from the board, hidden from the public, hidden even from me!" "He handles the offshore extraction protocols." "The bruise on my face? One of his men inside this block gave it to me yesterday." Hannah grabbed the receiver from my hand. "What does he want, Preston?" "He wants the primary decryption ledger," Preston whispered, his breathing ragged. "The twelve million he sent to your foundation? It’s a tracking wire." "The moment your bank accepted the funds, Christian’s software bypassed your network firewalls." "He’s inside your servers right now." "He’s searching for the archive." My blood ran cold. The foundation wasn't a safe haven anymore. It was a digital hunting ground. "Evy, listen to me," Preston said, looking directly into my eyes with a sudden, desperate sincerity. "I was a monster to you. I know that." "But Christian doesn't want to buy your silence." "He wants to eliminate the evidence completely." "And anyone who has ever looked at it."
