Chapter 7 - THE ABANDONED FACTORY
Eleanor had escaped through a tunnel connecting the cellar to the old carriage house.
Security footage showed her stealing a groundskeeper’s truck and heading east.
Toward the factory.
Detective Morales ordered us to remain at the manor.
Ethan and I left five minutes later.
“That detective will arrest us,” he said as he drove.
“She can arrest us after we find the video.”
The Hawthorne factory stood beside the river, abandoned for nine years. Broken windows stared across the empty lot. Demolition crews had already placed warning barriers around the main building.
We found Eleanor’s truck behind a loading dock.
Inside, dust covered the floor except for fresh footprints leading toward the production wing.
“Claire,” Ethan said, “stay behind me.”
“I have spent seven years staying away from this family. I’m done standing behind anyone.”
We entered together.
Old assembly lines stretched beneath rusted beams. My father’s company logo remained on the wall, faded but recognizable.
A voice echoed from the far end.
“You always were stubborn.”
Victor stepped from behind a machine.
Blood stained one sleeve, but he held a pistol steadily.
Eleanor stood beside him.
“You told me he attacked you,” I said.
“He needed the police to think he was injured and hiding,” Eleanor replied.
Victor smiled. “And they did.”
Ethan moved slightly in front of me.
Victor pointed the gun at him. “Do not be heroic.”
“Where is the video?” I asked.
“In the only place it can no longer hurt us.”
A steel furnace door stood open behind him. Fire burned inside, part of the demolition team’s disposal system.
Victor held up a small memory card.
Eleanor grabbed his wrist.
“You promised we would use it for a deal.”
“There is no deal,” he said. “There is only evidence and fire.”
She realized too late that Victor intended to sacrifice her along with everyone else.
“You said we were leaving together.”
“I said what you needed to hear.”
He shoved her aside and moved toward the furnace.
Ethan kicked a loose metal bar across the floor. It struck Victor’s ankle. The gun fired into the ceiling.
I lunged for the memory card.
Victor caught my coat and pulled me toward him. Ethan tackled him from the side. The gun skidded beneath the assembly line.
Eleanor reached it first.
She raised the weapon.
For one terrible second, I could not tell who she intended to shoot.
Then demolition sirens began blaring outside.
A recorded voice announced:
STRUCTURAL CHARGE TEST IN FIVE MINUTES.
Victor laughed.
“You brought them to a building that is about to come down.”
Eleanor pointed the gun at him.
“Give Claire the card.”
He smiled at his sister.
Then he pressed a red switch on the wall.
May you like
Steel fire doors began closing between us and the exit.
She Came Back
