Chapter 15 - The Man Behind Every Door
Victor fired again.
Charlotte dropped behind a shelf.
Grant pulled Celeste to the floor.
Ethan dragged Richard behind a cabinet.
Fire spread across the far wall.
Victor walked deeper into the archive.
“You Vale women never learn.”
Charlotte heard his footsteps.
“Your mother had everything.”
Power.
Money.
A beautiful daughter.
“And she still couldn’t leave the past alone.”
Charlotte crawled toward another aisle.
Victor continued.
“Samuel was weak.”
Charlotte clenched her jaw.
“He was honest.”
“Same thing in business.”
Charlotte reached a metal cart.
She pushed it hard.
The cart rolled across the aisle.
Victor fired toward the sound.
Charlotte ran the opposite direction.
Celeste suddenly stood behind him.
“Victor.”
He turned.
For a moment, something like affection crossed his face.
“Celeste.”
She was holding the black notebook.
“You lied about my mother.”
Victor sighed.
“Charlotte has confused you.”
“Caroline Vale.”
Celeste’s voice trembled.
“That was her name.”
Victor lowered the gun slightly.
“She was troubled.”
“You told me Eleanor killed her.”
“Eleanor abandoned her.”
“She died giving birth to me.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Who told you?”
“My aunt.”
Victor froze.
“Eleanor is alive?”
Charlotte saw genuine panic.
Celeste took one step closer.
“You failed.”
Victor raised the gun.
Charlotte screamed.
“Celeste.”
A shot exploded.
Celeste fell.
Charlotte rushed forward.
Grant tackled Victor.
The pistol skidded beneath a shelf.
Ethan joined him.
Together they forced Victor down.
Charlotte dropped beside Celeste.
The bullet had grazed her shoulder.
She was conscious.
“I’m okay.”
“You were shot.”
“I’ve had worse days.”
Charlotte almost laughed despite everything.
Sirens echoed closer.
Grant pulled Victor upright.
Victor smiled through blood on his lip.
“You think this changes anything?”
Charlotte stood.
“It changes everything.”
“No.”
Victor looked directly at her.
“Because the moment federal authorities open those files, Solmere collapses.”
Charlotte’s confidence faltered.
Victor smiled.
“Your mother financed expansion using accounts tied to my network.”
“She didn’t know.”
“Try proving that.”
Ethan had gone quiet.
Charlotte looked at him.
He was reading one of the ledgers.
His face told her Victor was not bluffing.
Thousands of innocent employees could lose everything.
Hotels could close.
Pensions could disappear.
Victor laughed.
“You can save your company.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“How?”
“Destroy the archive.”
He leaned closer.
“And let me walk away.”
Charlotte looked around at Samuel’s records.
Her mother’s evidence.
Her family’s entire buried history.
Then she heard Eleanor’s voice in her memory.
When the world gets confusing, start where the roots are.
Charlotte looked at Victor.
“No.”
May you like
His smile disappeared.
“I’m not saving Solmere by protecting the lie that poisoned it.”
