Chapter 12 - CHARLES BENNETT'S FINAL MOVE
Daniel walked toward the glass room.
Lucas searched him.
Vanessa watched Sarah.
“You really do have terrible luck with weddings.”
Sarah said nothing.
Vanessa smiled.
“You were sixteen when Thomas married me.”
“You looked at me during the ceremony like you knew I didn't belong there.”
Sarah's hands curled into fists.
“I didn't know what you were.”
“No.”
“But your father did eventually.”
Vanessa's smile became colder.
“He just learned too late.”
Daniel turned.
“Stop talking.”
Vanessa looked amused.
“Still protecting her?”
“I'm trying to keep myself from killing you.”
Lucas shoved Daniel forward.
Vanessa gestured toward a steel door.
“Take us to the archive.”
Daniel entered a code.
The door opened.
Behind it was not a server room.
It was an old mechanical records vault.
Rows of fireproof boxes lined the walls.
Vanessa stared.
“No.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“My father never trusted digital backups.”
Sarah understood.
Charles had duplicated everything on paper.
Vanessa rushed to the shelves.
Transaction ledgers.
Audit reports.
Photographs.
Board notes.
Private correspondence.
Evidence spanning decades.
Richard began struggling violently in his chair.
Lucas looked nervous.
“This wasn't the deal.”
Vanessa snapped, “Shut up.”
Daniel moved toward the records.
“One box is missing.”
Vanessa stopped.
“What?”
“My father stored his private evidence separately.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don't know.”
For the first time, Vanessa completely lost control.
She slapped him.
Sarah surged forward.
Lucas pointed the weapon at her.
“Don't.”
Daniel slowly turned his face back toward Vanessa.
“You should have done your research.”
Vanessa's breathing became uneven.
“I researched you for eighteen months.”
“You researched me.”
Daniel nodded.
“But you never understood my father.”
Outside, a distant siren sounded.
Lucas spun toward Vanessa.
“You said nobody followed them.”
Vanessa glared at Daniel.
“What did you do?”
Daniel looked toward his watch on the floor outside the glass room.
“My father had one more rule.”
“What?”
“Never trust a security system controlled by the person breaking in.”
The warehouse lights changed.
Emergency locks slammed down.
Metal barriers sealed the fuel storage compartment.
The fire system activated automatically.
Vanessa pressed the remote.
Nothing happened.
Again.
Nothing.
Daniel smiled.
“The moment I entered the archive code, the building switched to emergency containment.”
Lucas swore.
Police flooded the warehouse entrances.
Vanessa backed away.
Then Richard knocked his chair sideways.
He crashed into Lucas.
The gun fell.
Sarah ran.
Daniel grabbed Vanessa before she reached it.
Lucas tried to crawl toward the weapon.
Reed kicked it away.
Within seconds, officers surrounded everyone.
Vanessa stopped struggling.
She looked at Sarah.
“You think this ends because you finally caught me?”
Sarah stared back.
“It ends because you finally ran out of people to hide behind.”
Vanessa smiled.
Then looked toward Richard.
“No.”
She whispered.
“I still have him.”
Everyone turned.
Richard's face changed.
And Sarah realized Vanessa wasn't threatening Richard.
She was reminding him of something.
May you like
A secret.
One dangerous enough to make Richard suddenly stop cooperating.
