Chapter 7
I watched the video three times.
Each time, I hated Chloe and loved her at the same time.
She had attacked my wife.
She had threatened my unborn child.
Yet seeing her terrified woke memories I thought were gone.
Chloe at seven, hiding behind me during thunderstorms.
Chloe at ten, crying when she broke her arm.
Chloe at seventeen, calling me because she was stranded after a party.
Somewhere along the way, greed had changed her.
Or maybe our parents had.
But I couldn’t let Victor kill her.
“We’re not giving him Margaret,” Emily said.
Margaret nodded.
“We might have to.”
“No.”
Emily’s voice sharpened.
“You are not sacrificing yourself.”
Margaret smiled sadly.
“Your grandfather protected me for years. Maybe it’s my turn.”
I looked at Harris.
“There has to be another way.”
“There is.”
He placed a tracking device beside the trust documents.
“We make Victor believe he’s getting what he wants.”
Margaret would not go.
Instead, police would use me.
Victor sent instructions two hours later.
Come alone.
Bring the documents.
Old Lakewood manufacturing plant.
Midnight.
The plant had been abandoned for fifteen years.
Police surrounded the area before I arrived.
I wore a hidden microphone.
Harris’s final words stayed in my head.
“Do not try to be a hero.”
I entered through a broken side door.
“Victor!”
My voice echoed.
A light clicked on.
Chloe sat tied to a chair.
Victor stood behind her.
“You came.”
“I brought the papers.”
“Put them down.”
I did.
Chloe looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
Victor slapped the back of her chair.
“Quiet.”
My fists clenched.
“You wanted the trust. Let her go.”
He laughed.
“The trust is worthless now.”
“Then why bring me here?”
“To fix your grandfather’s final mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“You.”
He stepped closer.
“Robert was always weak. Chloe is worse. But you?”
He smiled.
“You were supposed to understand.”
“Understand what?”
“That families like ours don’t survive by being good.”
I almost laughed.
“You sound insane.”
“No. I sound rich.”
He pointed toward Chloe.
“She thought twelve million mattered.”
Chloe started crying.
Victor continued.
“Your father thought thirty million mattered. They’re children.”
“What do you want?”
“Lakewood.”
“You can’t have it.”
“I can if the foundation clause disappears.”
“The clause is legally filed.”
“But the original documents prove its authority.”
I understood.
He planned to destroy them and challenge the copies.
“You killed Keller.”
Victor’s expression changed.
That was enough.
“He was going to talk,” I said.
“Keller was always a coward.”
“You killed Grandpa too?”
Chloe stared at him.
Victor smiled.
“Robert let him die.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Silence.
Then Victor said, “Your grandfather should have understood when to surrender.”
Harris was hearing everything.
I only needed to keep Victor talking.
But Chloe suddenly shouted.
“Ryan, run!”
Victor turned.
She kicked backward.
The chair struck his knees.
He stumbled.
I rushed him.
We hit the concrete floor.
Victor reached inside his jacket.
I grabbed his wrist.
A handgun slid across the floor.
Chloe screamed.
Police flooded the building.
“Hands!”
Victor froze.
Red laser dots covered his chest.
It was over.
At least I thought it was.
Then Victor started laughing.
Harris handcuffed him.
“What’s funny?”
Victor looked at me.
“You really think I came here for documents?”
My stomach dropped.
He turned toward Chloe.
“Tell him.”
Chloe looked away.
“Tell me what?”
She started sobbing.
“Ryan, I didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“The attack.”
“What about it?”
“It wasn’t supposed to end with the papers.”
Emily.
I grabbed Chloe’s shoulders.
“What did they plan?”
“Victor told Mom to put something in Emily’s tea.”
My blood went cold.
“When?”
“The day you came home.”
I immediately called Emily.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I ran toward the exit.
Harris followed.
My phone finally connected.
But it wasn’t Emily.
Margaret answered.
“Ryan?”
“Where is Emily?”
“She went into labor.”
Everything around me disappeared.
“What?”
“The doctors took her upstairs.”
“Is she okay?”
Margaret hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The hospital tested her blood because of the insurance policy.”
I stopped moving.
May you like
Margaret’s next words nearly destroyed me.
“They found a drug in her system.”
