Chapter 7 - THE MAN WITH THE GUN
Emily stood between Claire and the basement stairs.
She was twenty-six, terrified, and shaking so hard that her teeth clicked.
Still, she moved in front of her sister.
Charles stared at her as if she had betrayed him personally.
“Move.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“Emily.”
“No.”
Claire had never heard that tone from her sister.
It was small, but it did not break.
Charles raised the gun slightly.
Dominic stepped sideways.
“Charles.”
“Stay where you are.”
“You fire that weapon in this house and you lose whatever you think you are protecting.”
Charles laughed once.
“I lost it the moment you walked into my dining room.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
“You lost it fifteen years ago.”
Charles’s face changed.
Claire saw it.
Guilt.
Emily saw it too.
Her face changed as a childhood belief collapsed in real time.
For years, Charles had told his younger daughters that Claire was unstable because grief had made her suspicious.
Now Emily was watching the suspicion become evidence one confession at a time.
She whispered something Claire almost did not hear.
“You knew.”
Charles looked at her.
Emily stepped farther in front of Claire.
The movement was small, but it carried twenty-six years of obedience breaking at once.
Not grief.
Not outrage.
Guilt.
She opened the ledger to the final pages.
“Did you kill her?”
Charles looked at her.
For a moment, the gun stopped shaking.
“Your mother was going to destroy this family.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She was hysterical.”
Claire’s stomach turned.
“You have called every woman who challenged you hysterical.”
Charles’s lips curled.
“She was taking you away.”
“So?”
“She was taking my company.”
Claire felt the truth slide into place.
That was what Anne had been to him.
Ownership.
The company.
The daughter.
The house.
Everything was his because he said it was.
Dominic spoke quietly.
“Where did Daniel die?”
Charles glanced at him.
There it was again.
A flash of knowledge.
Dominic moved closer.
“Where did my brother die?”
“Back up.”
“Answer me.”
Charles pointed the gun directly at him.
“You Vale men always thought you owned the harbor.”
Dominic did not flinch.
“Daniel did not care about the harbor.”
“He cared about Anne.”
Claire looked between them.
Charles noticed.
Then he smiled.
“You still don’t understand, do you?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Charles looked at Claire.
“Your mother trusted Daniel more than she trusted me.”
Claire said nothing.
“She planned everything with him.”
“Escape routes.”
“Lawyers.”
“Federal agents.”
“She even signed papers naming him your temporary guardian.”
Claire’s chest hurt.
“And that made you angry enough to kill them?”
Charles’s eyes flickered.
“I didn’t plan the crash.”
Dominic went still.
Claire stared at Charles.
“Then what did you plan?”
Silence.
“Dad?” Emily whispered.
Charles looked at her.
For the first time, shame touched his face.
“I only wanted the ledger.”
Claire felt sick.
“What did you do?”
“I had Crane follow them.”
Dominic’s voice became deadly calm.
“What did Crane do?”
“He forced Daniel’s car toward the shoulder.”
Emily covered her mouth.
Claire could barely hear her own voice.
“My mother’s car?”
“They were in Daniel’s car.”
Charles shook his head quickly.
“He was supposed to stop them.”
“He was supposed to scare them.”
“He wasn’t supposed to hit them.”
Dominic’s face became empty.
“And after the crash?”
Charles looked away.
“My father arrived first.”
Dominic’s eyes changed.
“Vincent.”
Charles nodded once.
“He took Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Because your family could survive a missing son.”
Charles’s voice hardened.
“But not a dead son found beside a married woman carrying evidence against half the harbor.”
Dominic stepped forward.
Gabriel caught his arm.
For a second, Dominic looked capable of killing Charles with his hands.
Claire hated Charles.
But she understood something else.
He wanted Dominic angry.
He wanted chaos.
He wanted the ledger forgotten in the violence.
Claire slowly lowered the book.
“Emily.”
Her sister looked at her.
“On my phone, press the side button three times.”
Charles frowned.
Emily moved.
A sharp alarm sounded from Claire’s bag.
Charles turned instinctively.
Gabriel struck his wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Plaster exploded.
Emily screamed.
Dominic drove Charles against the wall.
The gun hit the floor.
Claire kicked it away.
Within seconds, Gabriel had Charles facedown with one arm behind his back.
Police thundered down the basement stairs.
Claire stared at her father on the floor.
He looked smaller than he ever had at the head of the dining table.
Then one of Charles’s lawyers appeared behind the officers.
“Do not question my client.”
Claire almost laughed.
Even now.
Even with a gunshot hole in the ceiling.
Even with the ledger in her hands.
Charles still believed he could negotiate reality.
As officers pulled him to his feet, he looked directly at Claire.
“You think this ends with me?”
Claire said nothing.
Charles smiled.
“Ask Vale what the initials D.V. mean.”
Dominic’s face did not move.
Charles continued.
“Ask him why the copy was missing fifty pages.”
Claire looked at Dominic.
For the first time since the basement struggle, uncertainty returned.
Charles saw it and smiled wider.
Then he delivered the final blow.
“Your mother was not only running from me.”
May you like
He nodded toward Dominic.
“She was running from them too.”
