Chapter 18 - The River House
Victor had taken refuge in a small house beside the river.
The same river that ran behind the warehouse.
The same water that had hidden so many secrets.
By the time we arrived, police had surrounded the property.
But Victor wasn't alone.
He had Samuel.
The boy stood in an upstairs window.
I saw him first.
Evan did too.
“Samuel.”
The boy looked down.
His face was pale.
Then Victor appeared behind him.
He held the gun against the glass.
“Stay back!”
Evan stepped forward.
“Let him go.”
Victor shouted, “You still don't understand!”
“Then tell me.”
“Your father planned to destroy everything.”
David, barely conscious, had been brought in an ambulance nearby.
Victor continued.
“He knew the merger would expose the trust.”
“What trust?”
“The original one.”
I looked at Evan.
Victor laughed.
“Your wife knows.”
He pointed toward me.
“She knows why she was chosen.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You were never supposed to be a wife.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Victor continued.
“You were supposed to be a key.”
Evan turned toward me.
“What does that mean?”
I didn't know.
Victor said, “Your father's trust required a Lane heir and a Brooks heir to act together.”
“So?”
“You married Evan.”
Silence.
“The merger happened.”
My chest tightened.
“Through our marriage?”
“Yes.”
“And what did that activate?”
Victor smiled.
“Control.”
The investigator stepped closer.
“Victor, you have nowhere to go.”
“I have one thing you want.”
He pulled Samuel closer.
The boy looked terrified.
Evan shouted, “Don't touch him!”
Victor looked at Samuel.
“Tell him.”
The boy swallowed.
“I found the file.”
“What file?”
“The trust file.”
Evan stared.
“Where?”
“At school.”
“What did it say?”
Samuel whispered, “It said my father gave control to someone after his death.”
“Who?”
Samuel looked at me.
“You.”
The world stopped.
Me.
Control.
The investigator looked at me.
Victor laughed.
“You see?”
Evan stared.
“You didn't know.”
“No.”
Samuel continued.
“But that wasn't the worst part.”
“What was?”
“There was another name.”
“Whose?”
“My mother’s.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“Anna?”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“My mother was alive.”
Diane gasped.
“What?”
“I met her.”
Evan's face went white.
“That’s impossible.”
“She came to the school six months ago.”
I looked at Victor.
“You knew.”
Victor's expression changed.
“I knew.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Samuel cried.
“She said she was coming back.”
Rachel began sobbing.
The investigator ordered Victor to release him.
Instead, Victor opened the side door.
“Come inside.”
“No.”
“Then your brother stays.”
Evan stepped toward the house.
I grabbed him.
“No.”
“He has Samuel.”
“We need another way.”
The investigator whispered to his team.
Then the building lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the house.
A gunshot sounded upstairs.
I screamed.
Evan ran.
Police stormed the building.
Within seconds, shouting filled the air.
Then silence.
The officers emerged.
Samuel was with them.
Alive.
Victor was gone.
And on the second floor, they found a blood trail.
It led to an open window.
Evan grabbed Samuel.
The boy clung to him.
“You're safe.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“She was here.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Evan froze.
May you like
Samuel whispered:
“She watched everything.”
