Chapter 18 - RICHARD RETURNED TO THE FOYER WHERE IT ALL STARTEDThe mansion lost power first.
Then the backup generator failed.
Victor whispered:
“He’s inside.”
Police tactical teams waited outside the perimeter.
Richard knew enough to avoid obvious entrances.
Evelyn stood in the foyer.
Exactly where she had collapsed days earlier.
Only this time, she wasn’t helpless.
The twins were safely off-site with Samuel.
Garrett stood near the staircase.
Victor disappeared into the shadows.
Charles waited in the library.
A floorboard creaked.
Then Richard stepped from the hallway.
Gun in hand.
“You’ve always been stubborn,” he said.
Evelyn stared.
“You barely know me.”
“I’ve watched you for years.”
The admission chilled her.
“Where’s the ledger?”
“You first.”
Richard smiled.
“You’re negotiating?”
“I’m learning from my family.”
“Victor?”
“Everyone.”
Richard moved closer.
“Charles made you sentimental.”
“He raised me.”
“He stole you.”
“From who?”
“Your mother was useful to me.”
Evelyn felt disgust.
“Anna was a person.”
“She was an employee who confused access with importance.”
Victor’s voice came from darkness.
“That’s why she hated you.”
Richard turned slightly.
“Victor.”
“You should’ve stayed dead.”
Richard smiled.
“You first.”
Evelyn kept him talking.
“Why kill my father?”
“Because Charles had no discipline.”
“He had evidence against you.”
“He had evidence against everyone.”
“And you were afraid.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
“Fear is useful.”
“You taught Eleanor that.”
“She needed teaching.”
“You terrorized her.”
“She betrayed me with Charles.”
Garrett stepped into the light.
Richard looked at him.
“You.”
Garrett stared at the man he had called father.
“You knew.”
“About Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Before you were born.”
Garrett’s face went still.
“You knew I wasn’t yours and kept me anyway.”
Richard smiled.
“To punish her.”
Evelyn saw something die in Garrett’s eyes.
Richard continued.
“Every time Eleanor looked at you, she remembered her betrayal.”
Garrett whispered:
“And every time you looked at me?”
“I remembered Charles.”
Garrett laughed softly.
“That explains a lot.”
Richard raised the gun slightly.
“Ledger.”
Evelyn held up a flash drive.
“Here.”
Richard’s attention shifted.
Garrett moved.
Richard fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Victor rushed him.
They crashed into the console table.
The gun slid across marble.
Garrett kicked it away.
Richard hit Victor with a metal lamp.
Evelyn grabbed the gun.
Richard froze.
For a second, everything became still.
Evelyn aimed at him.
He smiled.
“You won’t.”
“Don’t test me.”
“You’re Charles’s daughter.”
“Exactly.”
Sirens approached.
Richard glanced toward the door.
Then toward the stairs.
Garrett blocked him.
“No.”
Richard laughed.
“You think she’ll forgive you?”
Garrett said:
“No.”
The answer surprised Richard.
Garrett continued.
“I’m not doing this for forgiveness.”
Richard lunged.
Victor tackled him again.
This time police flooded the foyer.
Richard was forced to the floor.
Handcuffs clicked.
Evelyn lowered the gun.
Her hands shook afterward.
Only afterward.
Richard looked up from the marble.
“You don’t have the ledger.”
Evelyn smiled.
“No.”
“Then this changes nothing.”
Charles entered.
Richard stared.
For the first time, genuine fear crossed his face.
“Hello, Richard.”
Charles held a small black notebook.
The real ledger.
Richard stopped breathing.
“You…”
Charles smiled sadly.
“You spent eight years looking in banks.”
“Where was it?”
Charles looked around the foyer.
“In this house.”
Evelyn stared.
“What?”
Charles pointed toward Eleanor’s grandfather clock.
Victor opened a hidden compartment.
Empty now.
Charles had retrieved the book before the trap.
Richard laughed once.
Then began screaming.
Names.
Threats.
Promises.
Police dragged him outside.
Garrett watched.
No sadness.
No loyalty.
Just exhaustion.
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
The same doorway Garrett had once locked.
This time, it remained wide open.
Charles approached her.
“It’s over.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“No.”
He frowned.
“Richard’s caught.”
“The archive?”
“Federal investigators have it.”
“Eleanor is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Laura is cooperating.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn stared at Garrett.
“My marriage isn’t over.”
Garrett’s expression changed.
May you like
Evelyn continued.
“That part comes next.”
