Chapter 92. Keep As-Is

It started not in a boardroom, not with a press release.

It started in silence.

Forge Tower stood still at dawn—no buzz, no cameras. Just glass and steel, caught in breathless pause.

Inside, Harper sat barefoot on the cool marble of her father’s old office. A space she once feared. Now, it felt… empty in a liberating way.

Knox paced nearby. Not rushing her.

Waiting.

The sunlight spilled through the windows like judgment. Or benediction.

She stared at the terminal embedded in the floor. Legacy code—Arthur Quinn’s last firewall. She’d cracked it once, months ago, but hadn’t deleted it.

Not until now.

Her fingers brushed the interface. It hummed, asking: Admin Confirm?

Knox crouched beside her.

“You sure you want to erase it?”

She nodded. “Legacy isn’t a vault. It’s a weight. I’m done dragging it.”

She pressed her hand flat to the reader.

Code Deleted.

Authority Reassigned: HQ–Ind