Chapter 8 - The Girl Who Was the KeyCharles's eyes softened when he looked at Ellie.
That was somehow worse than hatred.
“Come here.”
Ellie hid behind me.
“No.”
He sighed.
“She really is Mara's granddaughter.”
I turned toward Mara.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“I knew what she would become.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire lowered her gun.
“Tell him.”
Charles looked amused.
“She's the key.”
“To what?”
“The ownership of the Vale ports.”
I laughed.
“This is about shipping contracts?”
“No.”
Charles's expression sharpened.
“This is about control.”
He walked toward a steel table.
A stack of documents waited there.
One was stamped with the seal of an old maritime trust.
The Vale Trust.
I knew the name.
Everyone in Chicago knew it.
For decades, the trust had owned the family terminals.
But I had never seen the original documents.
Charles turned the top page.
“Your grandfather created the trust in 1974.”
He pointed at a paragraph.
“Ownership passes to his direct descendants.”
I frowned.
“I am the direct descendant.”
“Not according to the original blood registry.”
He slid another document toward me.
Two names.
Damon Vale.
Claire Vale.
I stared.
Then a third.
Ellie Mercer.
“Ellie isn't your granddaughter,” Charles said.
I looked up.
“What?”
“She is the final legal heir.”
Claire spoke quietly.
“Because Daniel changed the trust before he died.”
I looked at Mara.
She shook her head.
“I didn't know.”
Charles smiled.
“And now you see why everyone wanted the girl dead.”
Petr stepped forward.
“Who is everyone?”
Charles's smile widened.
“Your employers. Your competitors. The federal investigators. Your brother. Your father.”
I stared at him.
“You?”
“Especially me.”
Claire raised her gun again.
“You forgot one person.”
Charles turned.
“Who?”
“Me.”
She fired.
Not at me.
At Charles.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
He crashed against the wall.
Everyone froze.
Claire grabbed Ellie's hand.
“Run.”
I moved immediately.
We raced through the basement tunnels.
Petr followed.
Mara behind us.
Shots echoed.
Charles's men chased.
The tunnel split.
Claire pointed left.
“No.”
Ellie pointed right.
“Mommy said right.”
Mara grabbed her.
“Why?”
“Because the left one floods.”
A second later, a steel door slammed shut behind us.
Water erupted into the left corridor.
I stared at Ellie.
“How did you know?”
“She listens.”
“Who?”
“My daddy.”
Elias stepped from the darkness.
He had been waiting.
I froze.
“You followed us.”
“I never left.”
He looked at Claire.
For the first time, the twins saw each other.
They didn't speak.
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
Mara started crying.
I had never seen her cry before.
Not even when Daniel died.
I looked at the three of them.
Then Ellie pointed toward Elias.
“My mommy said he knows where the last button is.”
Elias reached into his coat.
He pulled out a brass button.
Different from the others.
Blackened.
Stamped with the number zero.
He handed it to me.
“This opens the vault.”
“What vault?”
“The one your father hid before his stroke.”
“And what's inside?”
Elias looked at Mara.
She shook her head.
“Tell him.”
He swallowed.
“Your mother's murder confession.”
My hands tightened.
“Whose confession?”
Elias looked directly at me.
“Victor's.”
A noise echoed down the tunnel.
Footsteps.
Charles's men.
We ran.
The vault door appeared at the end.
I fitted the button into the lock.
Nothing happened.
Ellie stepped forward.
She took my hand.
Then she placed my palm against the metal.
“Open your hand.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Like before.”
I slowly opened my fingers.
The lock clicked.
The door swung open.
Inside was one chair.
One recorder.
One file.
And a woman tied to the floor.
She lifted her head.
May you like
I stopped breathing.
It was my mother.
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