Chapter 13 - The Last DoorHarrison took Lily and Beatrice beneath the estate.
The tunnel narrowed until they reached a giant steel door.
The door required two keys.
Harrison held one.
Beatrice held the other.
“You don't have to do this,” she said.
Harrison laughed.
“You still think you have a choice.”
Lily trembled.
Beatrice knelt.
“Look at me.”
Lily did.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then when I tell you to run, you run.”
Lily nodded.
Harrison opened the door.
Beyond it was a room filled with servers.
Screens covered the walls.
Names flashed across them.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Businessmen.
Criminal organizations.
Every secret.
Every transaction.
Every betrayal.
Harrison smiled.
“The world belongs to whoever controls information.”
Beatrice stared.
“And you want this.”
“I want power.”
“You already have it.”
“Not enough.”
He approached the main console.
Then stopped.
“Your mother understood something.”
“What?”
“That power is worthless if no one can love you.”
Beatrice frowned.
Harrison looked at Lily.
“You were the only reason Maria betrayed us.”
Lily stepped closer to Beatrice.
Harrison raised a gun.
“Maria chose her children over everything.”
Beatrice's eyes hardened.
“You're angry because she chose love.”
For the first time, Harrison looked wounded.
“Yes.”
Suddenly every screen went black.
A voice came through the speakers.
“Move away from them.”
Harrison spun.
Leo stood in the doorway.
Blood soaked his shirt.
Gun in hand.
Beatrice's eyes widened.
“You came.”
Leo looked at her.
“I told you.”
He raised the gun.
“I don't break promises.”
Harrison fired.
Leo fired back.
Harrison fell.
Silence.
Beatrice ran to Leo.
“You're bleeding.”
“I've had worse.”
“No, you haven't.”
He smiled faintly.
Then the room began shaking.
Harrison had activated a failsafe.
The servers were overheating.
“Take Lily,” Leo said.
“What about you?”
“Go.”
She refused.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Beatrice.”
She grabbed his face.
“You said trust me.”
Leo stared.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
They ran.
The tunnel began collapsing.
Stone fell behind them.
Lily screamed.
Beatrice carried her until her legs shook.
Leo supported her with one arm.
They reached the estate.
Then everything exploded beneath them.
They fell.
Beatrice hit the ground.
Leo landed beside her.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Lily cried.
“Daddy?”
Leo opened his eyes.
“I'm here.”
A strange silence followed.
The mansion remained standing.
But the secret beneath it was gone.
Every file.
Every server.
Every record.
Destroyed.
Or so they thought.
Because outside the gates, a black car waited.
Inside sat Maria.
And beside her was Gabriel Vale.
Maria looked toward the burning estate.
“It is done.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
He smiled.
“The vault was never the real prize.”
He handed her a photograph.
It showed Beatrice.
Walking beside Leo.
Lily between them.
Maria looked at it.
“What is the prize?”
May you like
Gabriel answered:
“Her.”
