Chapter 17 - SERENA’S LAST BARGAIN
Jonathan Hartwell looked older than Lily remembered.
His hair had turned silver.
His posture remained straight.
His eyes remained without warmth.
Victor raised his weapon.
Jonathan pressed the gun harder against Serena’s head.
“She dies if you move.”
Victor’s expression did not change.
“I will survive the disappointment.”
Serena looked at him in horror.
“Victor, please.”
“You tried to murder my child.”
“Adrian forced me.”
Lily stared at her.
“No one forced you to hurt Ethan.”
Serena’s tears appeared.
This time, they were real.
“Jonathan said the child would be sent away.”
“You believed him?”
“I believed I would become powerful enough to protect myself.”
Victor’s voice became colder.
“You abused a baby because you wanted power.”
Jonathan smiled.
“This moral transformation is touching.”
Victor turned the gun toward him.
“You killed Grace.”
“I corrected a mistake.”
Lily’s breathing stopped.
Jonathan continued.
“Grace should never have married you.”
“She had access to my accounts.”
“She became sentimental.”
Lily stepped forward.
“She was your daughter.”
“She was a liability.”
Serena suddenly laughed.
Jonathan looked down at her.
“What is amusing?”
“You still think you control the evidence.”
Jonathan’s expression changed.
Serena raised her bound hands.
A small transmitter blinked beneath her sleeve.
“I recorded everything.”
Jonathan fired.
Victor moved at the same moment.
His bullet struck Jonathan’s shoulder.
Jonathan’s shot missed Serena and shattered a window.
Evelyn entered through the rear door.
“Federal agents.”
Jonathan ran toward the stairs leading beneath the boathouse.
Lily followed before Victor could stop her.
The underground level contained steel vaults and computer servers.
Jonathan reached a control panel.
“If I cannot have the files, no one will.”
He entered a destruction code.
Red lights began flashing.
The room would be flooded from the lake.
Lily saw a glass compartment containing Grace’s journals.
She ran toward it.
Victor grabbed Jonathan.
The two men crashed against the railing.
Water burst through vents in the walls.
Serena reached the lower stairs.
She could escape.
Instead, she grabbed Jonathan’s dropped gun.
She aimed at Victor.
May you like
Lily screamed.
Serena pulled the trigger.
