Chapter 13 - The Witness ListSerena came running down the hallway.
Blood still stained her sleeve.
She wasn't running from us.
She was running toward Meadow.
“Tori!”
I pulled Meadow behind me.
Serena stopped.
“Listen to me.”
“Who shot you?”
“Marianne.”
“Why?”
“Because she knows what I know.”
“What do you know?”
Serena looked at Daniel.
“You didn't tell her.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Tell me.”
Serena stepped closer.
“Your mother didn't die of natural causes.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She was poisoned.”
I stared.
“By whom?”
Serena looked at Vance.
Vance's face hardened.
“He ordered it.”
Daniel whispered:
“Serena…”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Your mother was going to expose the entire network.”
Vance raised his gun.
“You're lying.”
Serena laughed.
“You always said the same thing.”
She reached into her pocket.
Pulled out a small recorder.
“I recorded everything.”
Vance raised his weapon.
I moved.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
I tackled Serena.
The hallway erupted.
Officers shouted.
Patients screamed.
Vance ran.
Daniel grabbed Meadow.
“Stay with me!”
I chased Vance.
He disappeared through the stairwell.
I followed.
Down one floor.
Then another.
He moved fast.
But I knew pursuit.
I knew how frightened men ran.
They looked backward.
They made bad decisions.
At the basement level, Vance stopped.
A door slammed.
I opened it.
He was standing beside a generator.
“You should have left this alone.”
I kept my distance.
“You murdered my mother.”
“She knew what she signed.”
“You killed Caleb Bell.”
“He was going to expose us.”
“You hurt Meadow.”
“She was collateral.”
The word nearly broke something in me.
“You call my daughter collateral?”
He smiled.
“You still don't understand the scale.”
He pulled a detonator.
“This hospital is wired.”
My blood froze.
“Every floor?”
“Enough.”
“You'll die too.”
He laughed.
“I don't care.”
Then a voice came through the basement door.
Dennis.
“Neither do I.”
Vance turned.
Dennis stood there.
Blood on his shirt.
Hands raised.
I stared at him.
“Why are you here?”
Dennis looked at me.
“To finish what I started.”
Vance laughed.
“You're finished.”
Dennis shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the detonator.
“You don't understand.”
Vance frowned.
Dennis stepped forward.
“The witness list is already online.”
Vance went still.
“The files are encrypted.”
“Not anymore.”
I looked at Dennis.
“You released them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He stared at me.
“Because I finally understood what my father built.”
Vance said:
“You betrayed us.”
Dennis looked at him.
“I betrayed everyone.”
Then he turned to me.
“Tori…”
I couldn't speak.
“I loved Meadow.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You threw her down the stairs.”
“I know.”
“I will never forgive you.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
He looked at me.
“Because they told me if she saw the ledger, they'd kill her.”
“You hurt her to save her?”
His eyes filled.
“I made the worst choice of my life.”
Before I could answer, the floor shook.
An explosion erupted somewhere upstairs.
Smoke filled the stairwell.
Vance dropped the detonator.
I kicked it away.
Dennis tackled him.
The three of us crashed into the wall.
Then the basement door opened.
Marianne stood there.
She held a gun.
“Enough.”
Everyone froze.
She looked at me.
Then at Dennis.
Then Vance.
“My father built this family to own the county.”
She lowered the gun.
“My mother died because of it.”
She looked at me.
“And tonight, we end it.”
She pulled the trigger.
Not at us.
At the generator.
The lights went out.
Every lock in the building clicked open.
The hospital doors released.
Phones began ringing.
Police sirens approached from outside.
And on every television screen in the county, the same file appeared.
Names.
Payments.
Land transfers.
Disappearances.
Murder.
At the top of the list was one final name.
RICHARD HAWTHORNE.
Then another.
VICTORIA HAWTHORNE.
My name had been highlighted.
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
Marianne said quietly:
“It means your father never intended for you to survive the trust.”
