Chapter 10 - The Attack on Hayes TowerHayes Tower rose above downtown Los Angeles like a blade of glass.
Samantha had seen it in magazines, but standing inside its lobby made her feel very small.
Alexander had asked her to meet with his independent merger advisors, not his personal team. He sent the request through Bennett, formally, with three legal options and the right to decline.
That was why Samantha agreed.
Not because she trusted him completely.
Because he was trying not to trap her.
The lobby was quiet, elegant, guarded. People in suits moved with purpose. Nobody stared at Samantha like she was staff. Nobody asked her to carry anything.
That alone felt strange.
Alexander met her near the private elevator.
“You’re early,” he said.
“So are you.”
“I own the building.”
“That sounds like cheating.”
For the first time since the mansion, he laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to change his face.
Samantha realized he was younger than his reputation. The world called him cold because it was easier than admitting discipline could come from pain.
The elevator rose silently.
Inside the conference room, advisors presented the merger in plain language. Samantha asked questions. Some were basic. Some were sharper than they expected.
“What happens to Collins employees after acquisition?”
“What assets are protected?”
“Who benefits if I sign quickly?”
“Why did Victoria want this done before my birthday?”
By the end of the meeting, one older advisor leaned back and said, “Miss Collins, you may lack formal training, but you do not lack judgment.”
Samantha held that sentence carefully.
Like a warm cup.
Alexander watched from the end of the table, saying little.
When the meeting ended, Samantha gathered her notes.
“I won’t sign yet,” she said.
Alexander nodded. “Good.”
She looked up, surprised.
“Good?”
“If you signed today, I’d question whether you understood the pressure.”
“And your board?”
“My board will survive disappointment.”
“Billionaires usually don’t like waiting.”
“My father used to say impatient money is usually dirty money.”
Samantha studied him.
“You quote your father often?”
“Only when he was right.”
“And when he was wrong?”
Alexander’s eyes changed.
“I built an empire trying not to become him.”
Before Samantha could ask what that meant, alarms blared.
The lights flashed red.
Security rushed into the room.
“Sir, we have a breach.”
Alexander stood instantly.
“What kind?”
“Fire suppression triggered on floors thirty-four and thirty-five. System override from internal access.”
The windows suddenly darkened as emergency shields began descending.
Samantha’s pulse spiked.
Bennett’s security officer reached for her.
Alexander moved toward the door.
“Get her out.”
Samantha grabbed her folder. “What’s happening?”
Alexander looked at his security chief. “This building doesn’t malfunction.”
The hallway filled with smoke.
Not fire smoke.
Chemical.
Thick and white.
Employees began coughing.
Alexander pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Samantha.
“Cover your mouth.”
They moved quickly toward a service corridor. Security formed a tight circle. Somewhere below, people shouted.
Then the lights went out.
For three seconds, the world became black.
A hand grabbed Samantha’s wrist.
Not Alexander’s.
Harder.
Crueler.
She tried to scream, but the hand yanked her sideways through an open maintenance door.
The folder fell.
Samantha kicked backward.
A man cursed.
“Quiet.”
She bit his hand.
He released her with a sharp shout.
Samantha ran blindly through the narrow corridor. Emergency lights flickered red. Her lungs burned.
Behind her, footsteps.
Then Alexander’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Samantha!”
She turned toward it.
A masked man slammed into Alexander from the side.
Both hit the wall.
Samantha froze.
Alexander fought with brutal efficiency, not wild, not showy. But a second attacker appeared behind him with a metal baton.
Samantha saw it before he did.
“Alexander!”
He turned too late.
The baton struck his shoulder.
He dropped to one knee.
Something inside Samantha ignited.
She grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and swung with both hands.
It hit the attacker’s arm.
He yelled, dropping the baton.
Security arrived seconds later.
The attackers ran.
One was tackled.
The other vanished into the smoke.
Alexander stood, breathing hard, one hand pressed to his shoulder.
Samantha rushed to him.
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s not mine.”
“That is not comforting.”
His mouth twitched despite the pain.
Security cleared the floor. Firefighters arrived. Police locked down the building. The chemical smoke was traced to a maintenance system override.
Internal access.
Someone had help.
In the medical room downstairs, a doctor examined Alexander’s shoulder. A deep bruise, no fracture.
Samantha sat across from him, still shaking.
He looked at her.
“You hit a man with a fire extinguisher.”
“He hit you first.”
“You were supposed to run.”
“You were supposed to duck.”
The doctor wisely said nothing.
Bennett arrived, furious and pale.
“The captured attacker had no ID. But he had this.”
He placed a small card in a plastic sleeve on the table.
A white card with a gold symbol.
A falcon.
Samantha frowned. “What is that?”
Alexander’s face went completely still.
Bennett noticed. “You know it?”
Alexander reached for the card, then stopped himself.
“My father used that mark.”
Samantha looked at him.
“I thought Hayes was your company.”
“It is,” Alexander said. “Now.”
Bennett’s eyes narrowed. “And before?”
Alexander looked toward the window.
“Before, it belonged to men who solved business problems by making people disappear.”
The room chilled.
Samantha whispered, “Your father was dangerous?”
Alexander’s silence answered.
Bennett’s phone buzzed.
He read the message and turned grim.
“Victoria just released a statement through her attorney.”
“What does it say?” Samantha asked.
Bennett hesitated.
Alexander took the phone.
His eyes hardened as he read aloud.
“Alexander Hayes is not a rescuer. He is the son of a criminal empire. Samantha Collins is safer with her family than with him.”
The statement was already spreading online.
Samantha stared at Alexander.
Victoria’s plan became clear.
She could not make Samantha look unstable anymore.
So she would make Alexander look monstrous.
Alexander stood.
“I’ll leave.”
Samantha blinked. “What?”
“You’re safer if I’m not near you.”
“That’s exactly what she wants.”
“It may still be true.”
Samantha stepped closer.
“Tell me one thing.”
He looked at her.
“Are you like your father?”
A shadow crossed his face.
“No.”
“Then don’t let Victoria use his ghost to control my life.”
Alexander stared at her.
For years, he had built walls from reputation, money, and silence.
Samantha had walked through all of them with one question.
His voice was low.
“My father hurt people. I spent ten years cleaning his name out of our company. There are still men who think Hayes owes them loyalty.”
“And Victoria found them?”
“Or they found her.”
Samantha looked at the falcon card.
Then at Alexander’s bruised shoulder.
“Then we expose both families.”
Bennett exhaled. “That is dangerous.”
Samantha picked up the folder she had dropped during the attack. The edges were bent. The pages inside were stained with smoke.
“My life was dangerous when I was silent,” she said. “At least now I know where the danger is coming from.”
Alexander looked at her with something deeper than admiration.
Something like fear.
Not fear of her.
May you like
Fear for her.
And maybe fear of how much she was beginning to matter.
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