Chapter 12 - The House of Ashes
Ethan reached the estate before the firefighters.
Smoke poured from the east wing.
The family vault was located beneath Eleanor’s private library.
Firefighters broke through the front doors.
Ethan tried to follow.
Daniel pulled him back.
“You cannot run into a burning house.”
“The trust is inside.”
“So is my mother,” Ethan said.
Eleanor’s car remained in the driveway.
A firefighter reported that the library doors had been locked from the inside.
Ethan found a side entrance through the conservatory.
He entered before anyone could stop him.
Heat rolled through the corridor.
Portraits of Whitmore ancestors burned along the walls.
He reached the library.
Eleanor stood beside the open fireplace.
She held a stack of documents over the flames.
“Stop!”
She turned.
Soot streaked her face.
“You brought him back.”
“My father belongs with his family.”
“I am his family.”
“You kept him drugged in a locked room.”
“I kept this company alive.”
She dropped the papers into the fire.
Ethan lunged forward and pulled them out.
The edges burned his hands.
Most were copies.
The original trust amendment was not among them.
“Where is the vault key?”
Eleanor smiled.
“You still believe your father’s signature will save you?”
“It will expose you.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“It will expose what your father really was.”
A beam collapsed behind them.
Ethan shielded his face.
Eleanor moved toward the hidden stairwell.
He followed her into the lower level.
The steel vault door stood at the end of the passage.
One keyhole had been damaged.
Eleanor had tried to drill it open.
“You couldn’t get inside,” Ethan said.
“I did not need to.”
She held up a small remote.
Red numbers glowed across its screen.
A detonation timer.
Ethan stared at her.
“You wired the vault?”
“I wired the foundation of this wing.”
“If I press this button, there will be nothing left to prove.”
“You’ll kill both of us.”
Eleanor’s expression softened.
“For years, I wondered whether you inherited your father’s weakness.”
“Now I know.”
“You would rather destroy yourself than become me.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“You pushed Claire because she had the key.”
“I pushed her because she returned to steal you from me again.”
“You lost me the moment you tried to kill her.”
The timer showed sixty seconds.
Ethan heard firefighters shouting above them.
Eleanor’s thumb hovered over the trigger.
Then a voice came through the smoke.
“Put it down.”
Lucas Grant stood at the top of the stairs.
He had escaped federal custody during transport.
His weapon was aimed at Eleanor.
She looked at him with disgust.
“You were always weak.”
Lucas lowered his gaze.
“No.”
May you like
“I was loyal to the wrong person.”
Eleanor pressed the button.
