Chapter 2 - The Seven Words
The lobby went dead silent.
Visitors near the elevators froze, staring at the confrontation. Chloe stood behind the intake desk with her mouth parted in stunned satisfaction, while Derek Vance crossed his arms over his chest, wearing the smug, self-righteous smirk of a man who loved exercising absolute power over people he considered beneath him.
Emily felt a cold leaden weight settle into her stomach. She thought of her night classes, her rent, her mother’s grocery budget. She knew she had just sacrificed her job for a woman she had met three minutes ago.
Yet, when she looked at Martha Vance, she didn't see fear.
The old woman was standing completely upright, her knuckles white against the foam padding of her walker. The cloudy, tired look in her eyes had vanished, replaced by an ancient, razor-sharp intelligence that made Derek Vance’s smirk falter for a fraction of a second.
Martha Vance slowly reached into the deep, sagging pocket of her moth-eaten wool coat.
She didn't pull out a handful of loose change, an expired bus pass, or a crumpled piece of paper.
She pulled out a sleek, matte-black smartphone encased in titanium—a device entirely devoid of commercial branding, its screen glowing with an encrypted crimson interface that hummed with a low, silent frequency.
She pressed a single tactile switch on the side of the housing.
The device connected instantly. A sharp, mechanical tone beeped once.
Martha brought the handset to her lips. Her voice was no longer the raspy, broken wheeze of an infirm old woman; it was deep, resonant, and carried the absolute, unyielding authority of an empress issuing a decree from an iron throne.
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Into the phone, Martha Vance spoke seven words that made Derek Vance’s face go instantly pale:
"Tell the board they can come down here."
