Chapter 10 - The Black TrustDarkness swallowed the corridor.
People screamed.
Victor fired toward the muzzle flashes.
When the emergency lights returned, Serena was gone.
So was Adrian.
Gabriel helped Evelyn stand.
Victor turned toward Lily.
“You knew nothing?”
She shook her head.
“My mother never told me.”
Victor stared at the pendant.
The photograph had been hidden inside all these years.
“Why me?”
Lily looked at him.
“You were the eldest.”
Gabriel interrupted.
“The eldest was never supposed to inherit.”
Victor looked confused.
“The trust chooses based on sacrifice.”
“What?”
“It requires one heir to surrender the claim.”
Evelyn nodded weakly.
“That was the condition your grandfather built into it.”
Victor looked at her.
“Why?”
“To prevent the family from destroying itself.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“And look how well that worked.”
Victor helped Evelyn into a chair.
“Where is the trust?”
Evelyn looked toward Lily.
“Inside the mansion.”
“The room with the golden key.”
“Yes.”
They returned to the estate before dawn.
The hidden room remained open.
Victor inserted the golden key into the floor beneath the music box.
A section of marble moved.
Inside was a metal case.
The Black Trust.
Victor opened it.
There was no money.
No documents.
Only a handwritten letter.
He unfolded it.
The first sentence made his hands shake.
To the child who survives the family,
Victor continued reading.
The letter explained that the trust was not a traditional inheritance.
It was a test.
The family fortune belonged to whoever could protect the other heirs.
If one heir killed another, the trust would transfer control to an outside foundation.
Victor looked at Lily.
“So all of this…”
“Was designed to stop us from becoming monsters,” Evelyn whispered.
Then Victor noticed a final paragraph.
His blood froze.
There is one exception.
The trust would activate immediately if the eldest heir died.
Victor stared.
Evelyn whispered:
“Your father wants you dead.”
A sound came from upstairs.
A child screaming.
“Daddy!”
Ethan.
Victor ran.
They reached the ballroom.
Ethan stood on the balcony.
Adrian held him.
And behind Adrian stood Victor’s father.
His father smiled.
“Choose, Victor.”
He placed a knife against Adrian’s throat.
“Your son…”
He moved the knife.
“…or your brother.”
Victor stopped.
The old man laughed.
“You cannot save both.”
Adrian whispered:
“Don’t choose me.”
Ethan cried.
“Daddy!”
Victor looked at them.
Then he noticed the chandelier above Adrian.
The support cable was damaged.
He smiled.
His father frowned.
“What?”
Victor answered:
“I don’t need to choose.”
He shot the cable.
The chandelier crashed.
The balcony railing shattered.
May you like
Everyone screamed.
And Ethan fell.
