Chapter 17 - The CompassEthan survived.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder.
But the compass was gone.
Lucas had taken it.
Without it, Martin could access Northstar.
My father's team traced the signal.
Downtown.
Northstar Tower.
We arrived to find every elevator locked.
Martin had taken control.
The building's screens switched on.
His face appeared.
“Claire.”
I stared at the screen.
“You're finished.”
He smiled.
“You signed the divorce.”
“Yes.”
“You gave Ethan control.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“The transfer wasn't validated.”
He looked amused.
“You think legal details can save you?”
“I know something else can.”
“What?”
I held up a small metal key.
The key from Pier 47.
His smile vanished.
“The old password.”
“Yes.”
“It was deactivated.”
“No.”
I inserted it into a panel.
The screen flashed.
NORTHSTAR ACCESS GRANTED.
Martin stared.
“How?”
I smiled.
“My father changed the system.”
The building doors unlocked.
Security alarms screamed.
Ethan's father appeared on another screen.
Then Lucas.
Then Vanessa.
Everyone.
It was a trap.
Not theirs.
Ours.
My father had planned it.
The ledger was loaded onto the building's internal server.
Every name.
Every transfer.
Every order.
Every murder.
We released it.
Across Seattle.
Across the country.
News sites crashed.
Politicians began resigning within minutes.
Judges disappeared from public view.
Banks froze accounts.
Martin's empire collapsed in real time.
He stared at the screen.
“You stupid girl.”
I looked directly at him.
“You underestimated me.”
He laughed.
“You think this ends tonight?”
“No.”
I turned toward the cameras.
“It ends now.”
Then Lucas walked into the room.
Holding the compass.
“I don't think so.”
He pointed a gun at Ethan.
“Choose.”
I stared.
“Choose what?”
“Him.”
Lucas looked at Ethan.
“Or your mother.”
The doors behind him opened.
My mother stood there.
A gun against her head.
I froze.
Martin's voice came over the speakers.
“You want your mother alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then give us the ledger.”
I looked at the server.
Then at Ethan.
Then my mother.
Then the compass.
I reached into my pocket.
Pulled out the final thing I had brought from home.
The walnut box.
Lucas stared.
“What is that?”
I opened it.
Inside was the original four-page letter I had never given Ethan.
But beneath it was another document.
Lucas's face changed.
“What did you do?”
I smiled.
“I got something from you before you even met me.”
“What?”
“Your DNA.”
He laughed.
“Impossible.”
I held up a sealed report.
“Your father had two sons.”
I looked at Ethan.
“One of them was born with a rare genetic mutation.”
Then I looked at Lucas.
“And only one of you has it.”
Lucas stopped smiling.
Because the report wasn't about Ethan.
May you like
It was about him.
And I already knew which brother was the original.
