“She was forced out.”
“That is not what the official report says.”
“My mother wrote the official report. Mr. Cross replaced it.”
Adrian gave a quiet, humorless laugh.
“This is an accusation from a frightened child during a storm.”
Tessa pulled one of the notebooks from the case and opened it.
Page after page contained calculations, diagrams, handwritten observations, and photographs of enormous bolts covered in orange corrosion.
“My mother discovered that the western gates were built with the wrong alloy,” Tessa said. “The supplier changed the steel after the final inspection. Saltwater weakened the hinges. When the tide reaches maximum pressure, Gate Seven will twist.”
Iris looked toward the ocean.
The storm barrier stood three miles away, visible only when lightning illuminated its towers.
“When is maximum pressure?” she asked.
Tessa checked the mechanical gauge.
“Forty-three minutes.”
Adrian stepped closer to Iris.
“You are allowing a child to interrupt an international event with scraps of paper.”
“The pressure gauge is real,” Tessa said.
Adrian turned toward her.
“Do you understand how many independent systems monitor the Harbor Crown?”
“Twenty-six.”
“And all of them show normal conditions.”
“Because they read data from digital sensors.”
“Exactly.”
“My mother discovered the sensors were being recalibrated remotely.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Tessa took the damaged tablet from the case.
“She disconnected one pressure line from the network and connected it to an analog gauge. Something nobody could change from a computer.”
Iris examined the trembling needle.
“Why didn’t your mother bring this to me?”
“She tried.”
“I never received anything.”
“Your office returned every letter.”
“I receive thousands of letters.”
“She came to the tower.”
Adrian interrupted.
“She was unstable. Security removed her after she threatened employees.”
Tessa stared at him.
“My mother never threatened anyone.”
“She broke into a restricted facility.”
“She entered a chamber she designed.”
“She stole company property.”
“She collected evidence.”
The guests were no longer laughing.
Some had lowered their phones. Others were recording more carefully.
Thunder shook the windows.
The lights flickered.
A computerized voice sounded through the ballroom.
“Severe coastal storm warning. Harbor personnel should remain indoors.”
Adrian looked toward the event manager.
“Continue the program.”
Iris did not move.
“When did you last speak to your mother?” she asked Tessa.
“Three days ago.”
“And where is she now?”
Tessa’s jaw tightened.
“At the bottom of the north service shaft.”
Nobody spoke.
Iris stared at her.
“What?”
“My mother went to inspect Gate Seven. She called me from inside the maintenance tunnel. She said someone had locked the upper door.”
Tessa’s voice remained steady, but her hands were shaking.
“She told me to take the case and find you.”
Adrian shook his head.
“This is madness.”
Tessa looked at him.
“She also told me not to trust the man wearing her father’s watch.”
Adrian’s hand moved instinctively toward his left wrist.
A heavy brass watch rested beneath his cuff.
Iris recognized it immediately.
It had belonged to her father.
She had not seen it since the week he died.
“Where did you get that?” she asked.
Adrian slowly covered the watch with his sleeve.
“Your father gave it to me.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“I worked beside him for twelve years.”
“He promised that watch to my brother.”
“Your brother died before he could receive it.”
“My brother died in the same shipyard fire that destroyed the original Harbor Crown plans.”
Adrian’s calm expression began to fracture.
“This is not the time to reopen family tragedies.”
Tessa reached into the case and removed a small voice recorder.
“My mother found it behind a wall in the old engineering office.”
She pressed a button.
Static filled the ballroom.
Then a man’s voice emerged.
Older.
Tired.
Familiar.
Iris stopped breathing.
It was her father.
“If this recording survives, the replacement contracts must be investigated. Adrian has moved the gate order to a shell supplier. The metal will not survive prolonged salt exposure.”
Adrian lunged toward the recorder.
A security guard blocked him.
The voice continued.
“I confronted him tonight. If anything happens to me or Daniel, the original test results are hidden beneath the western control platform.”
Iris looked at Adrian.
“My father made this recording the night he died.”
Adrian’s face had become pale.
“It could be fabricated.”
Tessa pressed another button.
A second voice played.
Elara Rowe.
“If you are hearing this, I failed to return from Gate Seven. The barrier can still be saved, but the automatic system must be disabled before the gate bends. The manual release requires two keys. One is stored in the western tower. The other is the founder’s emergency key.”