Chapter 10 The Ultimatum
The taxi pulls up to the curb in front of the Thorne and Associates building. It is a glass skyscraper that looks like a giant silver needle piercing the sky.
I lean heavily on my crutches as I hop toward the revolving doors. Every step sends a throb of pain through my wrapped ankle, but I swallow it. I have exactly ten minutes left, and it enough.
The lobby is filled with marble and silence. Everything in here costs more than I will ever own. The security guard at the desk looks at my faded hoodie and my crutches with a sneer.
"Delivery entrance is in the back," he says without looking up.
"I'm not a delivery," I say, my voice steadier than I feel. "I'm Zoe Vane. I have a five o'clock with Arthur Thorne."
The guard freezes. He looks at his computer, then back at me, his eyes widening. "Top floor. Suite 100."
The elevator ride feels like an eternity. The numbers glow on the panel. 40. 60. 80. The higher it climbs, the harder my heart pounds. My stomach drops with the speed. When the doors chime open, I am standing in a hallway that smells like expensive wax and power.
Arthur Thorne is sitting behind a desk that looks like it costs more than my entire neighborhood combined. He is silhouetted against the sunset, the orange light making him look like a shadow carved from stone.
"You're late," he says. He doesn't look at my crutches.
"I'm on time," I counter, limping to the chair across from him. I don't sit down. I stand, leaning on the crutches, looking him in the eye. "Where are the papers?"
Arthur slides a thick blue folder across the desk. "A standard non-disclosure agreement. You admit the accident is your mother's fault. You accept a relocation fee of fifty thousand dollars. You leave the city by midnight tomorrow."
"Fifty thousand?" I let out a dry laugh. "Lumi's first surgery cost more than that."
"It's more than you'll have when I'm through with you," Arthur says. He clicks a gold pen and sets it on top of the folder. "Sign it, Zoe. Don't make this harder for Caspian."
"This isn't about Caspian," I say. I reach into my pocket and pull out the thumb drive. I set it on top of the blue folder. "This is about the truth."
Arthur eyes the drive. A small, tight muscle in his jaw twitches. "What is that?"
"It's a copy of the original insurance logs," I say. I lean forward, my voice dropping to a whisper. "The ones that show the other driver was speeding at ninety miles per hour. The ones that show you paid the witnesses to change their stories."
The room goes deathly quiet. The orange light from the window fades into a dark, bruised purple.
Arthur doesn't move. Then he starts to laugh. It is a cold, hollow sound.
"You think a digital file from a janitor's pocket is going to stand up against my firm? I own the servers, Zoe. I own the people who verify them. By the time you get to a courtroom, that drive is empty."
"I'm not going to a courtroom," I say. I pull my phone out of my other pocket. "I've already uploaded the files to a cloud server. And I've set an automated email. If I don't check in by six o'clock, the entire folder goes to the City Press and the Board of the Vance Academy."
Arthur's smile vanishes. He stands up, leaning over the desk. "You're playing a dangerous game, girl."
"I've been playing a dangerous game since the night of the crash," I snap. "I'm done being your loose end. Here is the new deal."
I slide a piece of paper I wrote in the taxi across the desk.
"You drop the lawsuit. You pay for Lumi's physical therapy for the next five years. And you let me dance in the Gala tomorrow night."
Arthur stares at the paper. "You can't even walk, let alone dance."
"That's my problem," I say. "Do we have a deal?"
Arthur looks at the thumb drive, then at the clock on his wall. 5:45 PM.
"You're just like your mother," he says, his voice dripping with venom. "Stubborn. Foolish."
"My mother is a survivor," I say. "And so am I."
Arthur grabs the gold pen. He signs the bottom of my paper with a jagged, angry stroke. He shoves it back at me.
"Get out," he hisses. "But know this, Zoe Vane. If you stumble once, if you so much as miss a single beat tomorrow night, I will find a way to break you that no cloud server can fix."
I grab the paper and the thumb drive. I don't say thank you. I turn and limp out of the office, my heart hammering so loud I can barely hear the elevator chime.
When I get to the lobby, I see a familiar figure pacing by the fountain.
It is Caspian. He sees my crutches, then he sees the look on my face. He runs over, catching me before I can trip.
"Did you do it?" he asks, his voice frantic.
I hold up the signed paper. "We're safe, Caspian. He drops it."
Caspian lets out a breath that sounds like a sob. He pulls me into a hug, right there in the middle of his father's lobby. He smells like sweat and rain and hope.
"But the Gala," he says, pulling back to look at my foot. "Elias already called Sloane. She's taking your spot."
"No, she isn't," I say, a fierce light in my eyes. "I have twenty-four hours to learn how to dance on one leg."
"Zoe, that's impossible."
"Nothing is impossible," I say. "Not anymore."
I look at the glass doors. Outside, the city lights are starting to flicker on. It looks like a stage.
"Take me back to the studio," I say. "We have work to do.”