He turned the brass deadbolt, locking us inside.
He reached up and pulled the heavy velvet blinds down over the glass partition that looked out into the showroom.
The room suddenly felt incredibly small, and terribly dangerous.
"Tyler," Julian said, his voice dropping to a terrifying, deadly calm. "Go stand by the corner."
Tyler quickly backed away, pressing his shoulders against the wood-paneled wall.
Julian turned back to me, slipping his hand into his desk drawer.
"You aren't leaving this room with that check, Arthur," Julian whispered, his eyes entirely devoid of humanity. "And you certainly aren't leaving with your life, not unless you sign a non-disclosure agreement right now."
The metallic click of the deadbolt locking echoed loudly in the tense silence of the office.
Julian Vance stood between me and the only exit, his right hand still buried inside his desk drawer.
I didn't know if he was reaching for a weapon or just trying to intimidate me, but after a lifetime working in rough machine shops, I wasn't easily rattled by a man wearing a silk tie.
I kept my stance wide and planted my boots firmly on the expensive carpet.
"Whatever is in that drawer, Julian, you'd better be prepared to use it," I warned him quietly. "Because the only way I'm leaving without my son's watch is if they carry me out."
Julian’s face twitched, a momentary flash of hesitation crossing his features.
Before he could pull his hand from the drawer, Tyler spoke up from the corner of the room.
"Mr. Vance," Tyler's voice was shaking, high and tight with panic. "Mr. Vance, don't do this. The Swiss buyers... the video call is in ten minutes."
Julian froze.
The mention of the Swiss buyers seemed to strike him like physical blow.
He slowly pulled his empty hand out of the drawer, running it nervously through his silver hair.
"Shut up, Tyler," Julian hissed, though his voice lacked its earlier authority.
I watched the dynamic shift.
Tyler had just given me a massive piece of the puzzle.
"Swiss buyers?" I asked, looking from the terrified young salesman to the sweating owner.
Julian refused to look at me, pacing behind his desk like a caged animal.
Tyler swallowed hard, his conscience finally overpowering his fear of losing his job.
"Vanguard is bankrupt," Tyler blurted out, leaning away from the wall. "Mr. Vance has been trying to sell the company to a conglomerate in Geneva for months. The buyout is supposed to close tomorrow. But they demanded proof of Vanguard's technical superiority."
"Tyler, I swear to God, I will ruin you," Julian threatened, pointing a shaking finger at him.
Tyler didn't stop.
"The Celestial is the centerpiece of the deal," Tyler continued, looking at me with wide, apologetic eyes. "The buyers are calling on video in ten minutes to see the final appraisal. They need to see the tourbillon run through a full sequence to verify its authenticity."
Julian looked like he was about to be sick.
He collapsed into his leather chair, clutching the watch tightly in his fist.
I stared at Julian, putting the pieces together.
I remembered what I had seen out in the showroom.
The microscopic stutter of the second hand.
I suddenly understood why Julian had panicked so violently when I laid my check on the glass.
"You can't sell it," I said, a slow, grim realization washing over me.
Julian glared at me. "I can do whatever I want."
"No, you can't," I said, stepping closer to his desk. "Because the Celestial complication is locked. It stopped chiming three days ago, didn't it?"
Julian's eyes widened in absolute horror.
He looked at me as if I were a ghost reading his mind.
"How..." Julian breathed, his voice cracking. "How do you know that?"
"Because my son designed it to do exactly that," I said, feeling a surge of bitter pride in David's genius.
David had spent a lifetime protecting his intellectual property from men exactly like Julian Vance.
He had designed the celestial complication with an integrated mechanical failsafe.
If the internal calendar gear wasn't reset using a very specific sequence exactly one year after its activation, the entire chiming mechanism would lock itself tight.
It wouldn't break, but it would refuse to function, rendering the watch useless to anyone trying to claim it as their own.
"It jammed on Friday," Julian admitted, the words spilling out of him in a panicked rush. "I tried to wind it. I brought in three different master horologists over the weekend. None of them could figure out how to release the mainspring without shattering the sapphire casing."
He looked down at the watch in his hand, a look of desperate hatred on his face.
"The Swiss buyers require a live demonstration of the chime," Julian muttered, looking at the clock on the wall. "If it doesn't ring, the deal falls through. I lose everything. Vanguard goes into foreclosure."
Julian looked up at me, a sickeningly sweet, pleading expression suddenly appearing on his face.
"Arthur," Julian begged, standing up and leaning over the desk. "You know how to fix it, don't you? David must have told you the bypass code. You have his blueprints."
I stared at him with cold contempt.
He was asking the father of the man he destroyed to save his company.
"I know the sequence," I told him flatly.
"I will double the check," Julian pleaded, shoving the million-dollar check toward me. "Two million. Right now. Cash it today. Just unlock the mechanism before the buyers call."
"I don't want your money, Julian."
"Then what do you want?" he screamed, slamming his fists on the desk.