Chapter 13 - ARTHUR’S CONFESSION
Julian grabbed the remote control and tried to shut down the broadcast.
The screens remained active.
Celeste had already transferred control to an external network.
She cut Arthur’s restraints beneath the table.
“Tell them,” she said.
Arthur looked at the board.
For decades, these men and women had praised his judgment.
They had celebrated his fortune.
They had accepted his gifts.
Now they waited to see whether he would protect the empire or tell the truth.
Arthur slowly stood.
“My daughter is not unstable,” he said.
Julian moved toward him.
“Sit down.”
Arthur continued.
“Eleven years ago, Warren Strategic Systems manufactured altered guidance modules outside approved government specifications.”
Several directors began exchanging frightened looks.
“I signed documents authorizing the production line.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“You had no idea what those documents contained.”
“I chose not to know.”
Arthur looked toward the camera.
“That distinction protected my conscience for eleven years.”
“It should not protect me from the law.”
Celeste watched him carefully.
This was not redemption.
A confession did not erase cowardice.
It was simply the first honest thing Arthur had done in years.
“My son used those modules to redirect the Valor,” Arthur continued.
“He also arranged the accident that killed my wife.”
Julian struck him across the face.
Arthur fell against the table.
The board members shouted.
Celeste moved between them.
Julian pulled a pistol from beneath his jacket and aimed it at her.
The directors froze.
“You always ruin everything,” Julian said.
Celeste kept her hands visible.
“You ruined it yourself.”
“You left us.”
“I served my country.”
“You chose strangers over your own blood.”
“I chose people who understood loyalty.”
Julian pressed the gun against Arthur’s head.
“End the broadcast.”
“No.”
“I will kill him.”
Arthur looked at Celeste.
For the first time in her life, her father did not ask her to protect the Warren name.
“Don’t do it,” he said.
Julian dragged him toward the roof access door.
“Then everyone gets to watch him die.”
The building alarms began to sound.
Federal teams had entered the lobby.
Julian forced Arthur through the stairwell.
Celeste followed at a controlled distance.
She knew Julian believed he still had one advantage.
He believed her love for her father would make her hesitate.
He did not understand that Celeste had led people through burning ships.
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She had learned long ago that love and duty were not opposites.
Sometimes duty was the most painful form of love.
