Chapter 18 - THE CHOICE SERENA MADE
The bullet struck the control panel beside Victor.
Sparks exploded.
The flooding mechanism stopped.
Serena stared at the weapon in her hands.
“I wasn’t aiming at you.”
Victor looked toward the disabled panel.
For the first time, Serena had saved his life.
Jonathan used the distraction to reach for a hidden knife.
Lily saw it.
“Victor.”
Victor turned and blocked the blade.
He struck Jonathan hard enough to send him across the floor.
Evelyn placed him in handcuffs.
“It’s over.”
Jonathan laughed through the blood on his lips.
“You have no idea how many people work for me.”
Victor pulled Lily away from the rising water.
Serena remained near the stairs.
Federal agents surrounded her.
She dropped the gun.
“I want immunity.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You abused a child and participated in murder.”
“I can give you judges, politicians, bankers, and every person Jonathan paid.”
“You will still go to prison.”
Serena looked at Victor.
“Tell them I helped you.”
Victor stepped close.
“You want credit because you stopped one death after causing so many?”
“I saved you.”
“No.”
Victor looked toward Lily.
“She saved me.”
Serena’s face collapsed.
Agents took her away.
Lily opened the glass compartment.
Grace’s journals remained dry.
A final envelope rested on top.
It was addressed to Victor.
He stared at it without touching it.
Lily handed it to him.
“You should read it.”
Victor opened the letter.
Grace’s words were simple.
Victor,
I know what people call you.
I know what you have done.
But I also know the man you become when you hold our son.
Choose that man.
Do not give Ethan your empire.
Give him the freedom to become better than both of us.
Victor folded the letter.
His hands shook.
Sirens echoed above the boathouse.
Jonathan was taken into federal custody.
His servers were seized.
His accounts were frozen across six countries.
Adrian agreed to testify in exchange for avoiding a life sentence.
Serena refused to speak until she learned Jonathan had called her disposable.
Then she gave the government everything.
Lily believed the nightmare had ended.
Three days later, Evelyn entered Ethan’s hospital room carrying a sealed laboratory report.
Her face was troubled.
“This was hidden inside Grace’s second vault.”
Victor looked at the report.
“What is it?”
“A DNA analysis.”
Lily felt her stomach tighten.
May you like
Evelyn placed it on the table.
“It concerns Ethan’s biological father.”
