Chapter 13 - THE DEAD UNCLEShawn couldn't speak.
The voice on the phone was calm.
Almost warm.
“Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“You should have stayed home.”
Evelyn tried to take the phone.
Shawn moved away.
“You're alive.”
“Very much.”
“Where are you?”
“Watching.”
“Where is Brenda?”
“Safe.”
“And the girl?”
“With her.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Thomas laughed.
“You still ask childish questions.”
“You kidnapped children.”
“I protected assets.”
“She is a child.”
“She is leverage.”
Shawn's hands tightened.
“Where's Kane?”
Thomas paused.
“He's no longer important.”
“What does that mean?”
“Kane was a businessman.”
“And you?”
“I built the system.”
The timer continued.
01:37.
“What system?”
“You've been staring at it your entire life.”
Shawn looked around the vault.
“The trust.”
“No.”
“The money?”
“No.”
“The list?”
“No.”
Thomas's voice became colder.
“Fear.”
The line went silent.
Evelyn grabbed Shawn.
“We have to get out.”
Shawn looked at the timer.
01:11.
They ran.
The vault door slammed behind them.
They barely escaped before the underground chamber exploded.
The shockwave threw Shawn into the snow.
When he opened his eyes, Evelyn was unconscious beside him.
He dragged her away from the burning ruins.
Sirens approached.
Federal agents arrived.
Shawn screamed:
“Find Brenda!”
Nobody knew where she was.
Then his phone buzzed.
A video.
Brenda sat in a dark room.
Thomas stood behind her.
He looked exactly as he had in family photographs.
Older.
But alive.
He smiled.
“You wondered why our parents changed the house.”
Shawn stared.
“Thomas…”
“They were hiding from me.”
“You locked them underground.”
“I allowed them to live.”
“You are a monster.”
Thomas smiled.
“I am family.”
Brenda looked at the camera.
“Shawn, don't trust the agents.”
Thomas laughed.
“That won't matter.”
“Why?”
“Because half the agents outside are mine.”
Shawn looked around.
Federal agents surrounded the ruins.
Could it be true?
Thomas continued.
“The list doesn't expose my organization.”
“Then what does?”
“My organization already knows everyone on it.”
Thomas leaned toward the camera.
“You are the only person left outside the system.”
“What do you want?”
“Come to the church.”
“Which church?”
“The one where your grandfather is buried.”
“We've already been there.”
“No.”
Thomas smiled.
“You found the grave.”
“But not the church beneath it.”
The video ended.
Shawn looked at Evelyn.
She was awake.
“Is there another church?”
She nodded.
“Below the cemetery.”
“How?”
“Your grandfather built it.”
“Why?”
“To confess.”
“To whom?”
“To you.”
Shawn felt a chill.
They returned to St. Vincent's.
A hidden staircase beneath the grave opened into a massive underground chapel.
Candles burned along the walls.
Thomas stood at the altar.
Brenda sat beside a small girl.
Don was there too.
Weak.
Bruised.
But alive.
Thomas looked at Shawn.
“Welcome home.”
Shawn stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“You are not here to negotiate.”
Thomas raised a gun.
“You are here to inherit.”
Shawn stared.
“I'm not giving you anything.”
Thomas smiled.
“You already did.”
“What?”
Thomas pointed at the chapel floor.
A symbol appeared beneath Shawn's feet.
The biometric system activated.
HEIR CONFIRMED.
A wall opened.
Behind it was a vast digital archive.
Bank accounts.
Companies.
Political records.
Millions of files.
And at the center of the screen:
THOMAS MILLER NETWORK.
Thomas smiled.
“You're looking at the largest criminal financial network in the country.”
May you like
Shawn stared.
“And now it belongs to you.”
