Chapter 12 - The Choice Lydia Never Expected
My mother’s face was streaked with tears.
The man holding her was Paul’s accomplice, a former Halston security officer named Vincent Rusk. He had escaped through the woods after the fire and returned to the only employer willing to protect him.
Agent Bell sat several feet away with his hands bound behind the chair. Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
Lydia entered the vault and locked the elevator.
“No police,” she said. “No brother. No cameras.”
“You’re wrong about the cameras.”
She smiled.
“This room is shielded.”
“Then why are you afraid of the trust opening?”
“I’m not afraid of the files.”
“That’s all you’ve ever been afraid of.”
She pointed the gun at my chest.
“The files implicate hundreds of people. Judges, senators, police commissioners, union leaders. Do you think exposing them creates justice? It creates chaos.”
“It creates consequences.”
“Consequences are for people without power.”
My mother looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
Lydia rolled her eyes.
“She has been apologizing for eleven years. It becomes exhausting.”
“You used her fear.”
“I offered her a choice.”
“No,” I said. “You offered her two versions of terror and called it a choice.”
For the first time, my mother straightened.
“You told me Daniel would die if Evelyn refused the wedding.”
“And he still might.”
“You never intended to let either of them live.”
Lydia looked amused.
“Margaret finally understands.”
Agent Bell shifted in the chair.
Vincent struck him across the face.
“Keep still.”
I watched Bell’s hands.
One wrist was almost free.
Lydia held up the second key.
“Place your strip into the console.”
A steel terminal stood at the center of the vault. It contained two narrow slots and a biometric scanner.
“What happens after I do?”
“The trust opens. Martin transfers the assets. The archive disappears.”
“You can’t delete every copy.”
“We don’t need to. We only need enough uncertainty to challenge the evidence.”
“And then?”
“You record a confession admitting you fabricated the investigation and murdered your father.”
I laughed.
The sound echoed through the vault.
Lydia’s face changed.
“What is funny?”
“You planned all of this, but you still don’t understand me.”
“I understand you perfectly.”
“You thought I would become obedient because Gregory raised his hand. You thought I would protect him because we were married. You thought threatening my mother would make me surrender.”
I removed the metal strip from my dress.
“What should it make you do?” Lydia asked.
“Remember what my father taught me.”
I held the strip above the first slot.
“When someone demands the key, make sure they’re standing inside the lock.”
I inserted it.
Red lights flashed.
Lydia pushed her chip into the second slot.
The terminal activated.
She grabbed my hand and forced my palm against the biometric scanner.
ACCESS DENIED appeared on the screen.
Her smile vanished.
“What did you do?”
“The first key is blood,” I said. “Not mine alone.”
Daniel stepped from behind the vault’s rear partition.
Two tactical officers appeared with him.
Vincent swung his gun toward them.
Agent Bell freed his hand, pulled Vincent backward, and overturned the chair. A shot struck the ceiling.
My mother dropped to the floor.
I hit Lydia’s wrist.
The pistol skidded beneath the terminal.
Lydia grabbed my hair and drove me against the console. Pain exploded through my shoulder.
She was stronger than she looked.
We struggled beside the scanner while officers subdued Vincent.
Lydia reached for the gun.
Gregory’s voice came from the elevator.
“Mother!”
The doors opened.
He stood beside Martin, who had a weapon pressed against Gregory’s back.
Martin dragged him into the vault.
“Everyone stop.”
The officers raised their weapons.
Martin placed the barrel against Gregory’s neck.
“Take your hands away from the console.”
Lydia rose slowly.
“Martin, give me the chip.”
“You lied to me too.”
“We can discuss compensation.”
“I don’t want compensation.”
Martin’s eyes were wild.
“I want the trust.”
He had spent eleven years serving Halston while believing Lydia would eventually grant him control of part of the fortune.
She never intended to.
“You’re a lawyer,” Lydia said. “Nothing more.”
Martin’s face twisted.
Gregory suddenly drove his elbow backward.
The gun fired.
For a second, nobody moved.
Then Gregory collapsed.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
I caught him before his head struck the floor.
His eyes found mine.
“I didn’t know she would kill you,” he whispered.
“You knew enough.”
“I thought I could control it.”
“That was your mistake.”
He coughed.
Martin attempted to fire again, but Agent Bell struck him from the side. Officers forced him to the ground.
Daniel knelt beside the console.
“The scanner needs both Hart descendants.”
I placed my palm on the glass.
Daniel placed his beside mine.
The screen turned blue.
IDENTITIES CONFIRMED.
The vault doors sealed automatically.
Lydia screamed and lunged toward the terminal.
Daniel pressed the final command.
UPLOAD INITIATED.
Across the screen, thousands of files began transferring to government servers, news organizations, and victim representatives.
Lydia clawed at the controls.
“Stop it!”
“It’s already done,” Daniel said.
Every screen in the vault displayed the same message.
WIDOWMAKER ARCHIVE RELEASED.
Lydia stood motionless.
For the first time in her life, control had left her hands.
Then the lights went out.
Emergency sirens sounded.
In the darkness, someone grabbed the pistol from beneath the terminal.
A single gunshot echoed.
May you like
When the lights returned, my mother was lying on the floor.
And Lydia was gone.
