Chapter 10 - Rachel Lied Again
David kicked the door.
Nothing.
Daniel grabbed the desk chair and smashed the glass panel beside it.
Alarm screamed.
Marcus pulled Emily through first.
They reached the hall before smoke started pouring from Sloan’s office vent.
Not fire.
Chemical suppressant.
Enough to knock them down.
Police cleared the building.
The camera system had already wiped itself.
One message remained on the local server.
TWELVE DAYS BECOME TEN.
Marcus stared.
“He’s counting.”
David nodded.
“To your birthday.”
Rachel sat in the ambulance bay.
Marcus stood in front of her.
“No more.”
She looked up.
“No more what?”
“Lies.”
Rachel nodded.
“Did you see David six months ago?”
“Yes.”
“Did he meet me?”
“Yes.”
Marcus recoiled.
“When?”
“Three games.”
He went still.
“The man behind left field.”
David looked down.
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You were twenty feet away.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You keep saying couldn’t when you mean chose not to.”
David flinched.
Rachel said, “He needed proof.”
Marcus turned.
“Of what?”
“Your bloodline.”
Daniel frowned.
“What proof?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“The trust required a paternal sample before David could challenge the succession.”
Marcus looked at David.
“So those questions about my blood type—”
“I was trying to verify without putting your name into the system.”
Rachel continued.
“David believed someone would kill Marcus before he turned eighteen.”
Emily whispered, “Ten days.”
Nobody corrected her.
Daniel pulled the original trust from Sloan’s recovered archive.
Activation clause.
David’s first legitimate male descendant at eighteen.
Voting block.
Control rights.
Then succession if descendant dies before activation.
Emily Carter.
Daniel stared.
Emily shook her head.
“I don’t want anything.”
“That is not the point.”
David said, “They don’t need you to want it.”
“They need you to look like motive.”
Emily’s face drained.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown sender.
A screenshot.
Fake messages from her account.
MARCUS IS RUINING EVERYTHING.
I WISH HE’D JUST DISAPPEAR.
Emily’s hand shook.
“I never wrote these.”
Daniel took the phone.
Then another message appeared.
A photo.
Marcus’s car.
Hood open.
Caption:
NEXT TIME DAVID WON’T GET THERE FIRST.
Marcus stared at David.
“You touched my car?”
David nodded.
“Yes.”
Rachel gasped.
Marcus backed away.
“You did?”
“I disabled it.”
“Why?”
David’s face hardened.
“Because it was wired to explode when you started the engine.”
Silence.
Marcus’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
David reached into his jacket.
A small device in an evidence bag.
Remote ignition module.
“Found under your dashboard.”
Daniel’s pulse hammered.
“Who installed it?”
David looked at the serial code.
“Sloan’s contractor.”
Marcus whispered, “So Charles tried to kill me.”
David shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone stared.
“This order did not come from Charles.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Then who?”
David looked at Margaret.
Her face went white.
May you like
“The authorization code belongs to Mom.”
CUT.
