Chapter 6 - Victor Gallow’s Only Weakness
They escaped Warehouse 214 through an old maintenance tunnel Arthur claimed not to know existed.
Victor didn't believe him.
Neither did Harper.
The drive back to Gallow Tower was silent.
Arthur sat in the front passenger seat.
Victor and Harper sat behind him.
Nobody discussed the letter.
Nobody discussed the name.
Nobody discussed the fact that Malcolm Vane had known exactly when they entered the warehouse.
Once inside Victor's private office, Victor dismissed the security team.
Arthur remained.
“Start talking.”
Arthur stood across the desk.
For nine years, Victor had trusted this man more than anyone alive.
Arthur had protected him through corporate wars, assassination attempts, federal investigations, hostile takeovers, and the aftermath of his father's death.
Now Victor looked at him differently.
Arthur knew it.
“My father worked for Malcolm Vane,” he said.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Your father?”
“Samuel Beckett. He managed security for Northline.”
“Why have I never heard that name?”
“Because my father changed ours after Vane disappeared.”
Harper sat quietly near the window.
Victor remained standing.
“And you?”
“I was nineteen.”
“Were you involved?”
“No.”
“Did my father know?”
“Yes.”
Victor's voice sharpened.
“He hired you knowing?”
“He didn't hire me. You did.”
Victor remembered.
Arthur had been recommended through a private security contractor after an attempted kidnapping in 2017.
“You arranged the recommendation.”
Arthur nodded.
Anger moved through Victor slowly.
“You entered my life intentionally.”
“Yes.”
Harper watched Victor's hands tighten.
“Why?”
Arthur looked directly at him.
“Because my father died protecting yours.”
Silence.
Victor blinked once.
Arthur continued.
“Vane discovered your father planned to cut him out of Route Seventeen. He wanted the ledger. My father warned Elias Gallow.”
“My father never mentioned him.”
“Your father wasn't good at gratitude.”
Victor almost laughed at the understatement.
Arthur's face remained serious.
“My father was killed three days later.”
Victor stared.
“By Vane?”
“Yes.”
“And you spent nine years protecting me because—”
“Because Elias Gallow paid for my mother's medical treatment until she died. Because he got me out of Chicago when Vane's people started looking for me. And because my father made me promise that if Vane ever returned, I would finish what he started.”
Victor looked toward the letter.
“Why keep it from me?”
“Because your father ordered me to.”
Victor's expression darkened.
“My father is dead.”
“His enemies weren't.”
Harper spoke quietly.
“And now they're back.”
Arthur nodded.
Victor walked toward the window.
Below them, Chicago glowed beneath the night.
Harper approached him.
“Do you believe Arthur?”
Victor looked at her.
“I don't know.”
Arthur accepted that.
“There is one thing you should know.”
Victor turned.
“Vane isn't after money.”
“He threatened Harper for everything I've built.”
“Because he assumes what you've built includes the ledger.”
Victor frowned.
Arthur continued.
“Route Seventeen wasn't just freight.”
“What was it?”
“A record.”
“Of what?”
“Every politician, executive, contractor, and private investor who used your father's network for illegal movement of assets.”
Harper's eyes widened.
“A blackmail list.”
Arthur nodded.
“More than that. Proof.”
Victor understood.
“If Vane gets it…”
“He owns half the city.”
Harper looked at the dark skyline.
“And if he doesn't?”
Arthur's eyes moved to her.
“He'll keep escalating.”
Victor's voice turned cold.
“Then we end it first.”
Over the next three days, Victor transformed Gallow Tower into a fortress.
Harper hated it.
She worked remotely from his penthouse while Victor's security team monitored every entrance.
BrightLine was told she had a medical emergency.
Her damaged apartment was repaired anonymously.
Victor replaced her laptop.
Harper returned it.
He replaced her broken television.
She returned that too.
When he attempted to replace her entire living room, Harper marched into his office.
“Stop buying me furniture.”
Victor looked up.
“Your couch was destroyed.”
“I can buy a couch.”
“You have eighty-three dollars.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Victor immediately realized his mistake.
“Eighty-three fourteen.”
“Victor.”
“I apologize.”
“Again.”
“I apologize again.”
She stared at him.
Then laughed despite herself.
Victor leaned back.
“You're difficult.”
“You employ armed men.”
“You break into private elevators.”
“I entered one private elevator.”
“You've caused considerable disruption since.”
Harper placed both hands on his desk.
“Your criminals broke into my apartment.”
“Our criminals.”
“What?”
Victor's mouth shifted.
“You said your criminals.”
“Are you correcting my grammar?”
“Ownership.”
Harper stared at him.
Then smiled slowly.
“There. That's almost flirting.”
Victor looked down at his documents.
“It wasn't.”
“You're blushing.”
“I don't blush.”
“You absolutely do.”
Victor stood.
Harper stepped back.
He moved around the desk.
The humor disappeared.
Suddenly the space between them felt very small.
“You enjoy provoking me.”
Harper's breathing changed.
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone else is afraid to.”
Victor stopped inches from her.
“And you aren't?”
She looked up.
“I probably should be.”
“But?”
“But I don't think you'll hurt me.”
Victor's face changed.
“You trust me?”
Harper thought about it.
“Yes.”
The answer affected him more than she understood.
Victor lifted one hand.
Touched her cheek.
She didn't move.
His thumb brushed gently near the corner of her mouth.
Harper whispered, “Victor.”
He kissed her.
Not aggressively.
Not dramatically.
Almost carefully.
As if he had forgotten how.
Harper's hand rested against his chest.
For five seconds, perhaps ten, Victor allowed himself to want something without calculating the consequences.
Then his office door opened.
Arthur stopped.
Harper stepped back.
Victor turned slowly.
Arthur looked profoundly unimpressed.
“Should I come back?”
“No,” Victor said.
Harper said simultaneously, “Yes.”
Arthur chose survival.
“I'll wait outside.”
The door closed.
Harper covered her face.
Victor almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Arthur immediately returned.
“It's BrightLine.”
Harper lowered her hands.
“What about it?”
Arthur placed the phone on speaker.
Harper's manager sounded terrified.
“Someone accessed our servers.”
Victor's expression sharpened.
“What did they take?”
“Everything associated with Harper.”
Harper went pale.
“Why?”
The manager hesitated.
“They also downloaded the Gallow campaign files.”
Victor looked toward Arthur.
Arthur understood.
The campaign materials included internal property maps.
Warehouses.
Development zones.
Freight facilities.
Potential Route Seventeen locations.
Arthur opened his laptop.
“There's more.”
He turned the screen.
One of Gallow Holdings' internal servers had been accessed at precisely the same time.
No external intrusion.
Someone had logged in with executive credentials.
Victor read the account name.
His eyes narrowed.
The credentials belonged to a person who had attended his morning meeting.
A senior vice president named Richard Hale.
Harper remembered him from the elevator lobby.
Gray hair.
Polite smile.
Always watching.
Arthur looked at Victor.
“We have someone inside the company.”
Victor stared at Hale's photograph.
Then at Harper.
And suddenly the threat became much worse.
Malcolm Vane wasn't simply watching them from across the city.
He already had someone on the forty-second floor.
Someone close enough to hear Victor's plans.
Someone close enough to know where Harper slept.
May you like
And possibly someone close enough to know Victor Gallow had finally developed a weakness.
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