Chapter 8
Smoke filled the lower hallway within seconds.
Security moved Emily toward the rear exit.
She resisted.
“Where’s Victoria?”
“Moving with another team.”
“Catherine?”
“With her.”
“Charles?”
“Behind us.”
Gabriel was dragged through a separate corridor in handcuffs.
Richard disappeared from Emily’s sight.
The mansion’s fire suppression system activated.
Water poured from the ceilings.
An explosion sounded somewhere below.
Not large.
But enough to shake the windows.
Mitchell shouted, “Move!”
Emily ran.
They reached the rear terrace.
Snow covered the lawn.
Armored vehicles waited near the service road.
Then the lights inside the mansion returned.
Every window illuminated at once.
A voice came through the outdoor speakers.
“Emily.”
Everyone stopped.
Gabriel shouted from across the terrace.
“Don’t listen!”
The voice continued.
“Your mother was always difficult too.”
Emily stared at the house.
Peter Caldwell.
Mitchell signaled tactical teams.
The speakers crackled.
“Agent Mitchell, I wouldn’t send anyone into the west stairwell.”
Mitchell froze.
“Pressure sensors.”
Gabriel shouted, “He’s bluffing!”
Caldwell laughed through the speakers.
“Gabriel. Still pretending to be useful.”
Emily looked toward him.
Gabriel’s face twisted with hatred.
Caldwell continued.
“I suppose congratulations are appropriate, Emily.”
“For what?”
Her voice carried across the terrace.
“For inheriting a war.”
Charles moved closer.
“Don’t engage him.”
Emily ignored him.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
Emily looked at Mitchell.
Caldwell laughed again.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“No.”
“It belonged to Grace.”
“Then it definitely doesn’t belong to you.”
Silence.
Emily could almost feel his irritation.
“You sound like her.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Charles whispered, “Emily.”
She lifted one finger.
Caldwell continued.
“Bring the key into the house.”
“No.”
“Alone.”
“No.”
“Then someone dies.”
Victoria screamed from the far side of the terrace.
Emily spun.
Catherine was gone.
Richard grabbed Victoria.
“Where is she?”
Victoria pointed toward the mansion.
“She went back inside!”
Emily’s heart stopped.
“Why?”
Victoria sobbed.
“She said she knew where Caldwell would be.”
Gabriel shouted, “Basement!”
Everyone looked at him.
“Catherine knows the tunnels.”
Arthur appeared from behind the security line.
“What tunnels?”
Richard stared.
“You know.”
Arthur looked confused.
Richard grabbed his shoulders.
“The old service tunnels.”
Arthur’s eyes widened.
“They were sealed decades ago.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Nothing is sealed if Peter Caldwell wants it open.”
Mitchell organized teams.
Emily looked at Victoria.
“I’m going with them.”
“No,” Charles said immediately.
Emily turned.
“My life is apparently the reason everyone keeps walking into danger.”
“That doesn’t mean you join them.”
“It means I stop standing behind everyone else.”
Charles grabbed her arm.
Emily stared at his hand.
He released her.
“I already lost Grace.”
His voice cracked.
“I will not lose you.”
Emily softened.
“You don’t get to keep me by locking me away.”
Charles closed his eyes.
She continued.
“Mom tried hiding.”
She looked toward the burning house.
“Gabriel hid.”
Catherine hid.
Daniel hid the truth.
Everyone had spent decades hiding.
“And look what hiding did to all of us.”
Charles stared at her.
Then he nodded.
“If Mitchell permits it.”
Mitchell looked furious.
“I absolutely do not.”
Emily almost smiled.
“Then I’ll stay exactly where your security can protect me.”
Mitchell knew she was being manipulated.
“I hate this family.”
Richard said, “Get in line.”
They entered through the east service corridor after the fire was contained.
Gabriel remained handcuffed between agents.
Victoria insisted on coming.
Richard insisted on staying with Victoria.
Charles refused to leave Emily.
Mitchell muttered something about arresting everyone for being impossible.
Arthur led them toward the wine cellar.
Behind a shelving unit was an iron door.
Catherine had apparently opened it.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
They descended.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone.
Emily’s flashlight shook slightly.
After fifty yards, they heard voices.
Catherine.
Then Caldwell.
Emily moved faster.
Mitchell stopped her.
“Stay behind me.”
They reached a chamber beneath the old carriage house.
Catherine stood near a metal table.
Caldwell held a gun.
He looked nothing like the photographs from his supposed funeral.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
Very alive.
He held the weapon against Catherine’s side.
“Stop there.”
Everyone stopped.
Victoria whispered, “Mom.”
Catherine looked at her.
“I’m okay.”
Caldwell smiled.
“No one here is okay.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“You always did enjoy drama.”
Caldwell looked at him.
“You taught me.”
“I taught you accounting.”
“You taught me power.”
Mitchell raised her weapon.
“Put the gun down.”
Caldwell pressed it harder against Catherine.
“No.”
Emily stepped forward.
“Peter.”
His eyes moved to her.
For the first time, he seemed almost emotional.
“Grace.”
Emily’s stomach turned.
“I’m Emily.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t call me her.”
Caldwell smiled.
“The resemblance is unpleasant.”
“Good.”
Catherine said, “Emily, don’t.”
Emily looked at Caldwell.
“You want the key.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To open the locker.”
“What’s inside?”
Gabriel answered.
“Proof.”
Caldwell looked at him.
“Always desperate to make yourself the hero at the end.”
Gabriel laughed.
“I gave up on heroism years ago.”
Emily stared at Caldwell.
“Proof of what?”
Caldwell’s eyes hardened.
“Proof that families like yours are frauds.”
Charles stepped forward.
“You stole from dying children.”
Caldwell looked amused.
“No, Charles. Your wife stole from dying children.”
Charles froze.
Caldwell continued.
“I simply learned the system she built.”
Catherine whispered, “Margaret started it.”
“Yes.”
Emily asked, “Did Margaret order my mother killed?”
Everything changed.
Caldwell’s smile faded.
Gabriel looked down.
Charles stopped breathing.
Catherine closed her eyes.
Emily knew.
“You all know.”
Gabriel said, “Emily.”
“Tell me.”
Caldwell smiled again.
“Your grandmother ordered Grace frightened.”
Emily clenched her fists.
“And?”
“I arranged the car.”
Charles staggered.
Victoria covered her mouth.
Emily felt strangely calm.
“What did you do?”
“I hired someone to tamper with the brakes.”
Catherine began crying.
Richard looked murderous.
“You killed her.”
Caldwell shrugged.
“The intention was to cause a minor accident.”
Gabriel shouted, “Liar.”
Caldwell’s gun moved toward him.
“You were supposed to handle Grace.”
Gabriel stared.
“I refused.”
“You lost your nerve.”
“I loved her.”
“You obsessed over her.”
Emily said, “Stop.”
Both men looked at her.
She stared at Caldwell.
“My mother died because my grandmother wanted to scare her?”
“Yes.”
Charles whispered, “Margaret.”
Caldwell looked at him.
“She called me from your bedroom, Charles.”
Charles looked physically ill.
“She said Grace needed to remember who held the family together.”
Emily’s eyes burned.
“And when Mom died?”
“Margaret panicked.”
“So you helped cover it up.”
“Yes.”
“Richard?”
Caldwell looked toward him.
“Coward, not killer.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Charles?”
“Oblivious.”
Charles absorbed it.
“Gabriel?”
Caldwell smiled.
“Complicated.”
Emily turned toward Gabriel.
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“I found out about the brakes after the crash.”
“Did you know who did it?”
“Within twenty-four hours.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I wanted evidence.”
Emily laughed in disbelief.
“Another man protecting me with silence.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“I was trying to destroy Margaret.”
“She was my grandmother.”
“She was a monster.”
“And you were what?”
Gabriel said nothing.
Caldwell looked amused.
Emily turned back.
“Why do you need the ledger?”
“Because Grace recorded everything.”
“Margaret’s orders?”
“Yes.”
“Your crimes?”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel’s?”
“Yes.”
Caldwell glanced at Gabriel.
“Especially his.”
Gabriel looked uneasy.
Emily noticed.
“What did he do?”
Caldwell smiled.
“There it is.”
Gabriel said, “Emily, this isn’t the place.”
She laughed.
“Apparently nowhere is ever the place.”
Caldwell continued.
“Gabriel didn’t kill your mother.”
Emily looked at him.
“But he did kill your father.”
Silence.
Emily stopped breathing.
“No.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Caldwell smiled.
“Daniel Monroe’s highway accident wasn’t an accident either.”
Emily stared at Gabriel.
“No.”
Gabriel whispered, “Emily.”
She stepped backward.
“You killed Daniel?”
“I can explain.”
Her voice broke.
“Did you kill my father?”
Gabriel looked directly at her.
“Yes.”
Charles lunged.
Agents restrained him.
Emily stood frozen.
Gabriel continued quickly.
“He was going to expose everything.”
“So you murdered him.”
“He had evidence that would have put you in danger.”
Emily screamed, “Stop saying you protected me!”
The chamber fell silent.
Her voice echoed from the stone.
“You killed my father.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You let me bury him.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me grow up without him.”
“Yes.”
Emily cried openly.
“You don’t love me.”
Gabriel looked destroyed.
“You love the idea that I belong to you.”
He said nothing.
Caldwell laughed softly.
“That sounds like Grace.”
Emily looked at him.
Caldwell’s attention shifted for one second.
That was enough.
Catherine drove her elbow backward.
The gun moved.
Mitchell fired.
Caldwell fell.
Agents rushed him.
Victoria ran to Catherine.
Emily stood staring at Gabriel.
He did not resist when agents pulled him away.
He only looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily wiped her tears.
“Daniel died because you couldn’t accept that my mother chose him.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“And you still think you’re my father?”
His face broke.
Emily stepped closer.
“You were never my father.”
Agents led him away.
Caldwell survived the gunshot.
As paramedics carried him out, he looked at Emily.
“You still need the locker.”
Emily held the metal key.
“Why?”
Caldwell smiled weakly.
“Because Grace wasn’t the only Harrington keeping records.”
Emily frowned.
“What does that mean?”
He was carried past her.
May you like
Then he whispered something only Emily heard.
“Ask Charles what happened to your grandmother.”
