Jack's fingers twitched at his sides. The envelope - his mother's salvation - hung there in Elias's grip like bait in a trap. The morning sun caught the cream-colored paper, making it glow with false promise.
"Why?" The word scraped his throat. "Why show up now, when she's-" He couldn't finish the sentence.
"Dying?" Elias's voice cut like steel. "Your mother made her choice long ago. She chose that factory worker over her family, her future-"
"That factory worker was my father." Jack's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "He worked himself to death providing for us while you sat in your tower counting money."
"Is that what she told you?" A cold smile touched Elias's lips. "That Thomas Reeves was a simple factory worker?"
Marcus shifted by the door, drawing Jack's attention. The head of security's expression had changed - there was something like recognition there now, maybe even respect.
"Your father was many things," Elias continued. "But 'simple' was never one of them."
Jack's mind flashed to those childhood "games" - learning to pick locks, memorizing escape routes, reading body language. His father's voice: Always know your exits, Jackie-boy.
"What was he really?"
"Ask yourself why a factory worker would have Delta Force training." Elias set both envelopes on the desk. "Why he'd teach his son military infiltration techniques disguised as games."
The room tilted beneath Jack's feet. "You're lying."
"Am I? Then how did you manage to nearly breach my security? How did you block Marcus attacks- a man with twenty years of special operations experience?" Elias's eyes - so much like Jack's own - bore into him. "That's not luck or desperation. That's muscle memory. Training passed from father to son."
Elisabeth made a small sound of surprise behind him. Jack wanted to look at her, to see if her face showed the same shock he felt, but he couldn't tear his gaze from his grandfather.
"If you knew who he was, why did you let him die? Why didn't you help?"
"Your father made his choices too." Elias's voice softened fractionally. "He chose to keep his secrets, even from you. But now you have a chance to understand everything - who he was, who you are."
Jack's hand crept to the scar above his eyebrow - not from fixing a sink like he'd always believed, but from combat training with his father. How many other lies had shaped his life?
"The money's not just about Mom's treatment, is it?" Jack's throat felt raw. "What do you really want from me?"
"What your father once was - what you could become." Elias gestured to the second envelope. "There's a legacy here, Jackson. One that goes beyond wealth or status. But accessing it means leaving your old life behind."
Jack's chest tightened. The weight of the choice pressed down on him like a physical thing. One envelope meant saving his mother but remaining in ignorance. The other promised answers but at what cost?
His father's voice whispered in his memory: Sometimes the hardest path is the right one.
"And if I take the second envelope?" Jack's voice barely carried across the room. "What happens then?"
"Your future will be secured as my heir," Elias declared, his words cutting through the air like steel. He adjusted the antique Patek Philippe on his wrist - a nervous tell Jack instantly cataloged. "You'll be groomed as royalty, trained in every aspect of the Altiar empire. The finest schools, the best connections, access to resources you've never imagined."
Jack's mind raced, hunger for truth warring with suspicion. The leather chair creaked beneath him as he shifted, acutely aware of how out of place his worn jacket and scuffed boots looked against the mahogany and silk that surrounded them. His fingers clenched around the envelope until the expensive paper crackled, as he made his choice. "I'll do it," he growled, meeting his grandfather's calculating gray-blue eyes - so eerily similar to his own. "But Mom comes first. She survives - that's non-negotiable. I want it in writing."
A predatory smile curved across Elias's face as he crossed the room in measured steps, each footfall echoing against the marble floor. His hand descended on Jack's shoulder, grip firm and commanding - the touch of a man used to absolute control. "I've already dispatched my team," he said, satisfaction coloring his tone as he towered over Jack. "She's being transferred to the estate as we speak. The finest medical minds in the world await her arrival. Marcus himself is overseeing the operation."
Jack shrugged off Elias's grip and rose to his full height. The leather chair skidded back against the marble floor. "I need to see her. Now."
"Of course." Elias's face remained impassive, but something flickered in his eyes - disappointment at the rejected touch, perhaps. He turned to Marcus. "Have the car brought around. Alert Dr. Chen we're en route."
As the two men conferred in low voices, Jack faced Elisabeth. She'd been so quiet during the confrontation, he'd almost forgotten she was there. Almost. Her presence had anchored him somehow, kept him from completely losing his cool.
"So..." She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "This wasn't exactly the boring Tuesday morning I expected."
"Thanks. For helping me get up here." Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about the whole fake hostage thing."
"Are you kidding? This was the most exciting thing that's happened to me in..." She glanced at her father's back, lowered her voice. "Well, ever. Besides, you weren't half bad at playing the dangerous criminal."
"Years of practice looking suspicious in nice neighborhoods." The joke slipped out before he could stop it, but Elisabeth's laugh made it worth it.
"Mr. Reeves." Marcus's voice cut through their moment. "The car's ready."
Jack nodded, suddenly uncertain how to say goodbye to this girl who'd turned from stranger to accomplice in the span of an hour. "I should..."
"Go. Be with your mom." Elisabeth smiled, but there was something wistful in it. "Maybe I'll see you around? Since you're going to be, you know..." She waved her hand at the office, encompassing the whole Altiar empire in one gesture.
"Yeah. Maybe." Jack matched her smile, surprised to find he meant it. "Try not to help any more suspicious characters break in, though."
"No promises. Turns out I have a talent for corporate espionage."
A throat cleared behind them. Elias stood by the door, every line of his expensive suit radiating impatience. "Jackson."
"Coming." Jack gave Elisabeth one last nod and followed his grandfather into the hallway. The same corridor he'd snuck through earlier now felt different - less like enemy territory, more like... something else. Something he wasn't ready to name yet.
The private elevator whispered open. As they descended, Jack caught fragments of his reflection in the polished brass panels. His worn jacket and messy hair stood in sharp contrast to Elias's tailored perfection. The sight crystallized the reality of what he'd just agreed to - this wasn't just about saving his mom anymore. He'd signed up for a complete transformation.
The elevator doors opened onto the private garage. A sleek black car idled, Marcus already holding the door. Jack paused, one foot on the threshold between his old life and whatever waited ahead.
"Second thoughts?" Elias's voice carried a challenge.
Jack straightened his shoulders, thought of his mother lying in that hospital bed. Thought of his father's secret past, of all the questions still unanswered. "No. Let's go."
He slid into the car's leather interior, the door closing with a soft thunk that felt like finality. As they pulled away from the tower, Jack watched it recede in the side mirror, wondering if Elisabeth was still up there, looking down at their departure.