Chapter 8 - Blood Brothers
Jonas struck me from the side before Victor fired.
The bullet tore through my shoulder instead of my chest.
I hit the floor as gunfire erupted around the surgical theater.
Jonas returned fire.
Victor disappeared behind the concrete wall.
Above us, Madison screamed at him.
“You weren’t supposed to shoot Damian!”
That single sentence revealed the truth.
Victor had not betrayed us at the safe house.
He had been part of the plan from the beginning.
Detective Reyes and the tactical team entered through the western corridor. Officers exchanged shots with armed men hidden in the former patient rooms.
I dragged myself toward Elena’s bed.
Blood soaked my sleeve, but I could still move my hand.
“Elena, stay down.”
Her eyes widened when she saw the wound.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve had worse.”
It was a lie, but not one she needed to challenge.
Madison descended from the observation level.
The rifle remained in her hands, yet she looked as betrayed as I felt.
“Victor told me he only wanted the ledger,” she said.
“You trusted him?”
“I trusted his hatred of you.”
Victor’s voice echoed from behind the wall.
“My hatred is the only honest thing in this family.”
He stepped into view with the pistol pressed against Detective Reyes’s side. Blood ran from a cut on his forehead.
Two officers lay wounded behind him.
“Drop the rifle, Madison.”
She stared at him.
“You said Elena would live.”
“She was never going to leave this building.”
“You used me.”
Victor smiled.
“Everyone uses everyone. You taught me that.”
Madison slowly lowered the rifle.
Victor pushed Detective Reyes toward the center of the room.
“Damian built his empire while I cleaned his disasters. Father saw him as the heir and me as an assistant. Elena treated me like a messenger. Even you only wanted access to the Ashford name.”
“You poisoned Elena,” I said.
“Vale did.”
“On your orders.”
Victor shrugged.
“The baby complicated things.”
“The baby is your nephew.”
“The baby is another Ashford heir standing ahead of me.”
The motive was smaller and uglier than revenge.
Greed.
Our father had structured the family trust so that my biological children would inherit controlling ownership. If I died without an heir, Victor received everything.
Elena’s pregnancy threatened his future.
“You arranged our divorce,” I said.
“I encouraged existing weaknesses.”
“You intercepted her calls.”
“Madison handled those.”
Madison flinched.
Victor continued.
“I told Elena you had ordered her disappearance. I gave Madison recordings of my voice to create the message. I convinced Crane that the pregnancy could help expose Haven.”
“You made every person believe they were controlling the plan.”
“That is leadership, brother.”
“No. That is cowardice.”
His smile faded.
“You always spoke to me like Father.”
“Elena has nothing you need.”
“She has access to the trust.”
“She lost that in the divorce.”
“Not if the divorce was fraudulent.”
I stared at him.
Victor laughed.
“You never read the final decree carefully. The attorney who processed it worked for me. Elena never signed the last amended page.”
Our divorce had never been legally completed.
The doctor at the hospital had called her Mrs. Ashford because legally, she still was.
And our son had become the immediate heir to the controlling trust.
“Kill Elena and the child,” Victor said, “and everything returns to me.”
“You’ll never reach him.”
“I already have someone inside the neonatal unit.”
Fear cut through the pain in my shoulder.
Jonas reached for his phone.
Victor pressed the gun harder against Detective Reyes.
“No calls.”
Madison raised the rifle again.
Victor turned toward her.
“You shoot me, the hospital team receives an automatic message.”
“What team?” she demanded.
“The one standing beside the incubator.”
Madison looked at me.
For the first time, I saw guilt overpower her obsession.
She had poisoned Elena, manipulated my life, and helped create the nightmare around us.
But she had not planned to kill a premature child.
“Give me your phone,” she told Victor.
He laughed.
“You were always too sentimental.”
She fired.
The bullet struck Victor’s hand.
His pistol fell.
Detective Reyes drove her elbow into his throat and dropped to the floor.
Jonas tackled Victor.
The tactical team surged forward.
Madison lowered her rifle.
Then Dr. Vale, bleeding beside the surgical table, lifted a hidden handgun and fired at her.
Elena screamed.
Madison staggered backward with blood blooming across her abdomen.
Officers shot Vale before he could fire again.
The room filled with shouting.
I crawled to Madison.
“Who is at the hospital?” I demanded.
She gasped for breath.
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with Victor.”
“Not everyone. He kept names from me.”
“Give me something.”
Her eyes began to close.
“His phone.”
Detective Reyes picked up Victor’s damaged phone.
The screen required facial recognition.
Jonas forced Victor’s face toward it.
The phone unlocked.
Inside was a live video feed from the neonatal intensive care unit.
A nurse stood beside my son’s incubator holding a syringe.
May you like
The timestamp was current.
And the needle was already entering the intravenous line.
