Chapter 10 - The RingMaxwell went straight to the family estate.
Chief was in the study.
He looked up.
“You came.”
Maxwell placed the photograph on the desk.
“Explain the ring.”
Chief stared at it.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he slowly removed the ring.
Maxwell noticed an engraving on the inside.
A number.
“What's that?”
Chief answered quietly.
“Your grandfather's private code.”
“What does it open?”
Chief looked at him.
“Nothing anymore.”
Maxwell took the ring.
He turned it over.
Something clicked.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a microchip.
Clara stepped forward.
“What is that?”
Chief's face became pale.
“The original trust key.”
Maxwell stared.
“You had it all these years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was ordered to protect it.”
“By whom?”
Chief hesitated.
“My mother.”
Maxwell's anger returned.
“Everyone keeps saying they protected me.”
Chief closed his eyes.
“Because that was the truth.”
“Then why did you destroy my life?”
“I didn't.”
“You took my passport.”
“Yes.”
“My certificates.”
“Yes.”
“My money.”
“Yes.”
“Then you did.”
Chief looked directly at him.
“I wanted Alexander to believe I had cut you off.”
Maxwell's expression changed.
“He was watching me.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew.”
“Yes.”
Chief sat down.
“You thought you were being punished.”
“I was.”
“No.”
Chief shook his head.
“You were being hidden.”
Maxwell stared at him.
“From whom?”
“From the people who killed Samuel.”
Clara stepped forward.
“Then why did my father die?”
Chief looked at her.
“Because he found the fraud.”
“And Alexander?”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Clara's eyes filled with anger.
“You let my father die.”
Chief lowered his head.
“I was too late.”
Silence.
Maxwell looked at the microchip.
“What does this do?”
“It contains the ownership code.”
“For the trust?”
“For the entire company.”
Maxwell's heart pounded.
“So Alexander can't take it.”
“He can if he gets the second key.”
“Where is it?”
Chief looked at him.
“With your mother.”
Maxwell froze.
Lolo had the second key.
Which meant she was in greater danger than all of them.
Chief suddenly stood.
“We need to move her.”
The lights went off.
Again.
Chief turned toward the door.
“Not again.”
A loud crash echoed from downstairs.
Security alarms began screaming.
Clara grabbed Maxwell.
“Someone's here.”
Chief opened a drawer.
He removed a handgun.
Maxwell stared.
“You kept a gun here?”
Chief nodded.
Then they heard a voice in the hallway.
“Chief Onochie.”
Alexander.
“You should have given me the key years ago.”
Chief whispered.
“He found us.”
Maxwell looked at the door.
Alexander continued.
“You can keep pretending your family is loyal.”
He laughed.
“But your wife already knows what happens when people refuse me.”
Maxwell's blood ran cold.
“Mum.”
They rushed toward the bedroom.
The door was open.
The room was empty.
Her phone lay on the bed.
A message glowed on the screen.
COME TO THE OLD FACTORY.
ALONE.
Maxwell looked at Chief.
“What factory?”
Chief's face became pale.
“The one where Samuel died.”
Clara stepped forward.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Chief shook his head.
“No.”
Maxwell picked up the phone.
“I'm going.”
Chief grabbed his arm.
“You don't understand.”
Maxwell pulled away.
“No.”
He looked at his father.
“For six months, you told me to become a man.”
His eyes hardened.
“Now I'm going to act like one.”
He walked toward the door.
Clara followed.
Chief stood alone.
Then he whispered to himself:
“God help us.”
May you like
Because the old factory had been abandoned for seven years.
And nobody who entered it after midnight had ever left with the same life they walked in with.
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