Chapter 14 - The Last DoorMy mother pushed Sebastian's gun away.

A shot exploded.

She dropped.

"No!"

I ran forward.

Andrew fired.

Sebastian disappeared behind the doorway.

Chaos filled the mansion.

Security guards stormed the halls.

Clara dragged Noah into the safe room.

Vanessa grabbed my mother's hand.

"She's alive."

I knelt beside her.

Blood covered her shoulder.

"Mom."

She looked at me.

"Listen."

"I'm listening."

"Santa Barbara."

"What about it?"

"The lighthouse."

"What lighthouse?"

"Your grandfather's."

Andrew heard.

"The old lighthouse?"

She nodded.

"The second ledger."

We had been looking in the wrong place.

The ledger was never hidden inside the mansion.

It was hidden in a place Sebastian couldn't access.

A place my grandfather controlled personally.

The lighthouse.

We drove through the night.

Andrew.

Vanessa.

Clara.

Noah.

And me.

My father stayed behind with my mother.

At the coast, the lighthouse stood black against the moonlight.

We entered through a rusted iron door.

The stairs spiraled upward.

Halfway up, Noah stopped.

"I remember this."

Andrew turned.

"What?"

Noah pointed at the wall.

"There."

A small carving.

A boat.

And beneath it:

217.

I remembered the motel key.

Room 217.

The number wasn't a room.

It was a reference.

Two levels.

Seventeen steps.

We counted.

Seventeen steps.

A loose stone.

Behind it was a narrow metal compartment.

Inside lay a hard drive.

And a handwritten letter.

Andrew opened it.

His hands trembled.

It was from our grandfather.

Sebastian never worked for me.

He was chosen by me.

The operation was mine.

When Daniel discovered the truth, I ordered him silenced.

Andrew learned too much.

Alexander must never know.

If you are reading this, the family has already lost control.

I stared.

"Grandfather ordered all of it."

Andrew's jaw tightened.

"But he wasn't the one who arranged the accident."

"No."

Clara pointed to the last line.

There was another name.

DANIEL.

Our father.

Andrew looked at me.

"He's lying."

Suddenly the lighthouse door slammed shut below us.

We heard footsteps.

Sebastian.

He had followed us.

We ran upstairs.

The lighthouse room had nowhere else to go.

Sebastian entered.

He raised his weapon.

"Give me the drive."

Andrew stepped forward.

"No."

Sebastian smiled.

"Your grandfather was a coward."

"You killed people."

"Your grandfather started it."

"You continued it."

"I perfected it."

He pointed at Noah.

"The boy belongs to me."

I stepped between them.

"No."

Sebastian laughed.

"Do you know why I needed your family?"

I said nothing.

"Because your bloodline gives me access to accounts that no government can touch."

"You're delusional."

"No."

He smiled.

"I'm your uncle."

I froze.

"You aren't."

"Ask your father."

I stared at him.

Then Sebastian's smile vanished.

"Wait."

He looked behind me.

Clara had disappeared.

So had Vanessa.

I turned.

Noah was gone.

Andrew's face changed.

"Where is my son?"

Sebastian smiled.

"Now you understand."

A speaker crackled.

Vanessa's voice came through.

"Alex."

I grabbed the radio.

"Where are you?"

There was a pause.

Then she whispered:

"I'm sorry."

A gunshot.

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Static.

And Noah screamed.