CHAPTER 16 — THE BETRAYAL AT THE FAMILY ESTATE
The gunshot shattered the darkness.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then James did.
“DOWN!”
His voice cut through the room with absolute authority.
I dropped behind the stone table.
Anna grabbed my arm and pulled me lower.
Another shot cracked through the chapel.
Glass exploded above us.
Someone screamed.
But it wasn't Rebecca.
It was Thomas.
A bullet had struck the stone beside his shoulder, sending fragments across his face.
He stumbled backward.
James moved toward the sound of the shooter.
“Stay down!”
I heard footsteps.
Fast.
Multiple people.
The vehicles outside hadn't been there to surround us.
They had come to take the vault.
James understood it too.
“They're inside the estate.”
Rebecca's voice came from the darkness.
“No.”
She sounded terrified.
“They're already inside.”
A flashlight flickered.
Then another.
Men appeared at the top of the stairs.
Black clothing.
Gloves.
Weapons.
At least six.
Thomas looked at them.
For the first time, his confidence disappeared.
“You were supposed to wait.”
One of the men laughed.
“We waited long enough.”
Rebecca grabbed my wrist.
“Emily, listen to me.”
I stared at her.
“Who are they?”
“Victor's men.”
“Then why are they shooting at Thomas?”
“Because Victor is no longer taking orders from him.”
Thomas turned toward her.
“You think you've won?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I think you've lost control.”
James fired once toward the ceiling.
Everyone froze.
“Drop your weapons.”
The men laughed.
James didn't.
He moved with the calm precision I had seen countless times before.
“Last warning.”
A man raised his weapon.
James struck the stone pillar beside him, forcing him back.
Another man rushed down the stairs.
James intercepted him.
The struggle lasted seconds.
The man's weapon hit the floor.
James kicked it away.
Then everything became chaos.
I pulled Anna behind the stone table.
Rebecca moved beside us.
Thomas disappeared through a side passage.
I saw him.
“Thomas!”
He stopped.
For a moment, our eyes met.
He smiled.
Then he vanished.
James shouted:
“Don't follow him!”
But I wasn't thinking about Thomas.
I was thinking about the will.
The metal box.
The trust.
Everything our family had destroyed itself trying to protect.
A man reached the vault table.
He grabbed the envelope.
Anna moved before I could stop her.
She slammed into him.
The envelope fell.
The man shoved her hard.
She hit the wall.
“Anna!”
I ran toward her.
The man turned.
James tackled him from behind.
They crashed onto the stone floor.
I grabbed Anna.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
Then she looked behind me.
“Emily.”
I turned.
Rebecca was standing beside the open vault.
She had found another compartment.
Inside was a small black recorder.
She stared at it.
“No.”
“What?”
She whispered:
“He found it.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
The chapel doors suddenly slammed shut.
A voice echoed through the room.
“Rebecca.”
Everyone froze.
Victor Hale appeared on the upper balcony.
Older.
Elegant.
Completely calm.
He didn't look like a criminal.
He looked like a man attending a business meeting.
“You always were sentimental.”
Rebecca raised her weapon.
Victor smiled.
“You won't shoot me.”
“Try me.”
“You need me alive.”
Rebecca's face tightened.
“For what?”
“To open the final account.”
Victor looked directly at me.
“Your daughter.”
My stomach turned.
“Emma?”
“Yes.”
“You're not getting her.”
Victor laughed softly.
“I don't need to.”
He lifted a phone.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Emma.
Sleeping.
In our house.
My blood turned cold.
James saw it.
His expression changed instantly.
“When?”
Victor smiled.
“Twenty minutes ago.”
James stepped toward him.
Victor raised a finger.
“Captain, don't.”
James stopped.
Victor looked at me.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Your daughter isn't valuable because she's the heir.”
He paused.
“She is valuable because she is proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“Who your grandmother really stole the company from.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Victor continued.
“Eleanor Walker didn't build Walker Consolidated.”
My father whispered:
“Rebecca did.”
Victor smiled.
“Not Rebecca.”
He looked at me.
“Her father.”
Silence.
I felt something inside me shift.
“My grandfather?”
Victor nodded.
“Thomas was the inventor.”
Rebecca immediately shook her head.
“That's a lie.”
Victor laughed.
“Ask him.”
I looked toward the passage where Thomas had disappeared.
My father spoke.
“Don't believe him.”
Victor's smile widened.
“Then let's ask Thomas himself.”
A door opened behind him.
Thomas stepped onto the balcony.
He was holding a folder.
He looked at me.
“Your father is right.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
Thomas opened the folder.
“Victor has been lying.”
Victor's face hardened.
Thomas pulled out a photograph.
“Because the company was never mine.”
He looked at me.
“It was Rebecca's.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You finally admit it.”
Thomas nodded.
“I should have admitted it twenty-eight years ago.”
Victor's expression changed.
“You idiot.”
Thomas ignored him.
He looked at me.
“Your grandmother didn't create the company.”
He pointed at Rebecca.
“She did.”
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
“I built it with Elias.”
Thomas nodded.
“And I stole it.”
The confession echoed through the chapel.
Victor's face turned white.
“You can't.”
Thomas looked at him.
“I already did.”
Victor raised his weapon.
James immediately moved.
But Thomas spoke first.
“You shoot me, Victor, and the recording goes public.”
Victor froze.
“What recording?”
Thomas smiled.
“The one you've spent twenty-three years trying to find.”
He held up the black recorder.
Victor stared.
“You don't have it.”
Thomas tapped his pocket.
“I do.”
Rebecca whispered:
“Thomas…”
He looked at her.
“I was a coward.”
Then he looked at me.
“I let you believe I hated your mother.”
My voice shook.
“Why?”
“Because Victor threatened your life.”
“That's not enough.”
“No.”
Thomas's eyes filled with tears.
“I also believed I could control everything.”
He looked toward Victor.
“I was wrong.”
Victor suddenly fired.
James shoved me aside.
The bullet struck Thomas in the chest.
Thomas fell.
“NO!”
Rebecca fired back.
Victor disappeared behind the balcony.
The remaining men scattered.
James shouted:
“Everyone out!”
I ran toward Thomas.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He grabbed my wrist.
“Listen.”
“You're going to be okay.”
“No.”
He coughed.
“I'm not.”
“Don't say that.”
He pushed the black recorder into my hand.
“The recording.”
“What recording?”
“The night your mother disappeared.”
My heart stopped.
“Where is Elias?”
Thomas looked at Rebecca.
She was crying.
“He's alive.”
“Where?”
Thomas whispered:
“Your father never abandoned you.”
He closed his eyes.
“Your mother ordered him to disappear.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
I looked at her.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“I did.”
“Why?”
Rebecca stared at me.
“Because Elias was the only person Victor feared.”
A siren sounded outside.
James looked toward the entrance.
Police.
More vehicles.
Victor had escaped.
But he had made one mistake.
He had come for the original will.
And left the evidence behind.
James looked at me.
“Give me the recorder.”
I handed it to him.
He pressed play.
Static.
Then a woman's voice.
Rebecca.
Young.
Terrified.
“Elias, if you're hearing this, take the girls and disappear.”
A man's voice answered.
“I won't leave you.”
“You have to.”
“Rebecca—”
“If Thomas finds them, he'll kill them.”
Silence.
Then Rebecca whispered:
“I started the fire.”
I stopped breathing.
James looked at me.
The recording continued.
“I did it so everyone would believe the girls were dead.”
Rebecca covered her face.
“I had no idea Victor had already betrayed us.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then my mother whispered:
“That night changed everything.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“You sacrificed yourself.”
She nodded.
“I sacrificed all of us.”
Outside, another siren approached.
James stood.
“Then it's time we finish what you started.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“How?”
May you like
James looked at the will.
“By making Victor believe the vault is still empty.”
