Page 79 of Stay Scared

“I saw a chained emergency exit and still had to wonder whether you wanted it there.”

Ash holds my stare without offering an explanation. Cade looks back toward the screens.

“What happened to the woman afterward?”

Ash exhales once through his nose.

“We settled with her family. Confidentiality was part of the agreement.”

Cade’s shoulders tighten. “She needed surgery, and you paid them to keep quiet.”

“We settled the claim.”

“You kept the company alive.”

“I did.”

Cade steps closer until only the corner of the console separates them.

“And kept selling the same damn fantasy.”

Ash finally looks at me.

“I did.”

His voice stays level.

“If I wanted forgiveness, I would be telling this differently.”

Rook turns toward him.

“You always did enjoy confession once it became theatrical.”

Ash plants one hand beside the microphone.

“You disabled a medical release while a woman suffocated because you wanted to prove nobody could stop you.”

“You built the room.”

“And I should have dismantled every piece of it when I removed you.”

Rook waits before responding. Owen has already reopened the VANTA profile. The conversation moves forward. The history does not. Cade notices the screen.

“How is he still inside everything?”

Owen enlarges the credential tree.

“It was never only a login.”

That distinction cuts through the argument. VANTA was not simply a password they forgot to delete. Owen brings up the credential history. The original account existed before Rook’s expulsion. One version was revoked. Another disappeared beneath an equipment-maintenance classification and survived every renovation after it.

“You duplicated your credentials before they removed you.”

“I planned for betrayal.”

“You left yourself permanent access.”

“I left myself proof that ownership was temporary.”