Chapter 16 - THE ISLAND OF LIES
I entered the underwater tunnel alone.
Ruiz’s team waited beyond the security perimeter.
The passage emerged beneath the old swimming pavilion.
Photographs covered the walls.
Arthur had kept images of our childhood on the island even after removing me from Vale Manor.
One showed Marcus teaching me to sail.
Another showed Vivienne asleep against my shoulder.
We had not always been enemies.
Arthur had taught us that love was a competition.
Only one child could inherit his approval.
Only one could be safe.
I found him in the library.
Vivienne stood near the windows holding a pistol.
Arthur remained tied to the chair.
“You came alone,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You always did love dramatic entrances.”
“I came to take you both out alive.”
Arthur tried to speak through the cloth.
Vivienne removed it.
“She is lying,” he said.
“She will let the government destroy everything.”
“You already destroyed it,” I replied.
Arthur looked toward the hard drive.
“Vivienne does not understand the accounts.”
“I understand them better than Marcus ever did,” she said.
“You understand theft.”
“I learned from you.”
The explosives were connected to a pressure switch beneath Vivienne’s foot.
If she moved, the estate would detonate.
She believed the device gave her control.
I recognized the wiring.
Harlan had built the system using naval demolition components.
The switch contained a four-second delay.
“Mother loved you,” I said.
Vivienne’s expression changed.
“She feared me.”
“She feared what Father was turning you into.”
“You were always her favorite.”
“She chose me because she believed I would give the company away.”
“Exactly.”
“You could have chosen something different.”
“It is too late.”
“No.”
“It was too late when you opened my jacket in that ballroom.”
Vivienne’s eyes filled with shame.
For a moment, she was my younger sister again.
Then Arthur spoke.
“She was always weak.”
Vivienne turned the pistol toward him.
I moved.
She fired.
The bullet struck Arthur’s chair.
I kicked the weapon from her hand and pulled her off the switch.
Four seconds.
I tore the hard drive from the control unit.
Three seconds.
Arthur shouted.
Two seconds.
I ripped the primary wire free.
One second.
The lights went dark.
Nothing exploded.
Ruiz’s team entered.
Vivienne collapsed against the wall.
Arthur demanded that agents arrest me for destroying private property.
Ruiz laughed for the first time since I met him.
They led Arthur and Vivienne toward separate boats.
Before boarding, Vivienne looked at me.
“You should have let the island burn.”
“Why?”
“Because Father never told you where Grace’s letters went.”
Arthur stopped walking.
Vivienne smiled through her tears.
“Mother found every letter.”
“She did not keep them from you.”
“She gave them to Marcus.”
I returned to the hospital.
Marcus had awakened.
When I asked about the letters, he reached toward the drawer beside his bed.
Inside was a small key.
“The letters are in Father’s courthouse safe,” he whispered.
“Mother wanted you to read them after the verdict.”
May you like
“Why wait?”
“Because one letter changes who legally owns Vale Maritime.”
