Chapter 14 - THE MAN WHO DESIGNED THE COUNTDOWN
Vale asked for immunity consideration.
He did not receive full immunity.
He talked anyway.
Ryan hired him privately at first.
Not Northstar.
Ryan described Ava as unstable and asked how to document threats safely.
Vale said the safest method was passive observation.
Ryan wanted something faster.
“I need an event before quarter end.”
Vale refused to stage violence.
Then Ryan reframed it.
A “controlled safety test.”
He would create emotional pressure.
Ava would choose her response.
Cameras would document it.
Vale admitted helping position cameras.
He admitted analyzing Ava’s retreat patterns from old home footage.
He denied telling Ryan to kick doors or chase her.
Then prosecutors played the clip:
“That’s the point.”
Vale closed his eyes.
“That was me.”
“What did you mean?”
“That the camera should capture her, not Ryan approaching.”
Ava felt sick.
Vale continued.
“I thought he was documenting a threat. I did not understand he had been frightening her for months.”
Naomi asked:
“Who paid you?”
Vale answered:
“Ryan personally at first.”
“And later?”
“Northstar reimbursed the invoice after Ryan called it transaction security.”
Derek Shaw had approved reimbursement without knowing the details.
Negligent.
Possibly.
Not conspiracy.
Then Vale produced one final email.
Ryan:
If this works, proxy activates, vote closes, everyone wins.
Vale:
I am not involved in voting.
Ryan:
You don’t have to be.
There it was.
The link.
Fear.
Weapon.
Proxy.
Deal.
Eight million dollars.
Ryan had designed the domestic incident to trigger corporate authority.
The board terminated him.
Northstar removed his future CEO appointment.
The retention package vanished.
Prosecutors filed charges including assault, unlawful restraint, evidence tampering, and fraud-related counts tied to the proxy scheme.
Ava thought she would feel victorious.
Instead she felt tired.
Then Marcus called.
“We found one more server folder.”
“What?”
“Countdown Tests.”
Ava closed her eyes.
“We already have those.”
“No.”
Marcus’s voice changed.
“This folder is older.”
“How old?”
“Two years.”
Before Northstar.
Before Vale.
Before the company crisis.
May you like
Ava’s stomach dropped.
Ryan had been studying her fear long before he had eight million reasons.
