Chapter 11 - The Choice“Nathan.”

My father's voice shook.

I couldn't move.

Richard raised his weapon.

“Daniel, put the gun down.”

My father didn't.

Victor stood behind him.

“You see?” Victor said. “Fear.”

He smiled.

“It's always fear.”

My father stared at me.

“I'm sorry.”

Those two words hurt more than the gun.

“Dad, put it down.”

“I can't.”

“Yes, you can.”

“He has Melissa and Cole.”

Victor smiled.

“They're alive.”

“For now,” my father said.

I looked at Victor.

“What do you want?”

“The original evidence.”

“I don't have it.”

Victor's eyes narrowed.

“Your mother hid it in the old warehouse.”

I realized something.

He didn't know where it was.

He was guessing.

“You don't know either.”

Victor's smile disappeared.

Richard stepped closer.

“You've lost.”

Victor raised his gun.

“Not yet.”

Then my father moved.

He turned and fired.

Not at me.

At Victor.

The shot struck Victor in the shoulder.

Victor fell.

Richard tackled him.

Police stormed through the doors.

The entire room erupted.

Then my father dropped his gun.

He looked at me.

“I should have done that sixteen years ago.”

He was arrested before midnight.

Victor was arrested too.

The next morning, the truth exploded across every news network in the state.

Victor had manipulated financial records for years.

My father had helped conceal the theft.

Melissa had accepted payments.

Cole had known about some of it.

But no one had known the full story.

Except my grandfather.

And perhaps my mother.

Ava found the original evidence in the old warehouse.

It wasn't money.

It was a recording.

A video.

My mother had filmed herself before leaving that night.

She looked tired.

Scared.

But determined.

She spoke directly to the camera.

“If Nathan ever sees this, I need him to know something.”

I sat alone in my grandfather's study watching the screen.

“You were never abandoned.”

Her voice broke.

“Your father made terrible choices. James made terrible choices. I made terrible choices.”

She wiped her eyes.

“But none of those choices were because you weren't worth protecting.”

I couldn't breathe.

Then she continued.

“There is one last thing you need to know.”

The image flickered.

She leaned closer.

“Your grandfather didn't leave you the company.”

I frowned.

“He left you something much bigger.”

The video ended.

I stared at the black screen.

Richard entered.

“What did she mean?”

“I don't know.”

Then a courier arrived.

He carried a sealed envelope.

“For Nathan Brooks.”

I opened it.

Inside was another letter from James.

Only three lines.

The company is merely the key.

The real inheritance is beneath Blackwood House.

And now that Victor is gone, the people who killed your mother will come looking for you.

I read it twice.

Then I heard something upstairs.

A heavy thud.

Richard reached for his gun.

We ran.

In the hallway, one of the portraits had fallen from the wall.

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