Chapter 13 - Seven Minutes
“RUN!”
Marcus dragged Arthur toward the exit.
Dominic ripped Margaret’s chair backward.
Cassandra cut the rope with a broken piece of metal.
I stared at the remote.
Two.
One.
Nothing happened.
We froze.
Arthur started laughing.
“There are no explosives.”
Marcus slammed him against the floor.
“You think this is funny?”
“I wanted to see what you'd do.”
Dominic walked toward his father.
“You really are sick.”
Arthur smiled up at him.
“No. I'm practical.”
Sirens filled the distance.
This time, Dominic didn't stop them.
Police entered the warehouse.
Arthur Sterling was arrested alive.
So was Margaret.
Neither looked powerful in handcuffs.
That mattered to me.
People like them spend their lives building myths around themselves.
Untouchable.
Connected.
Dangerous.
In the end, they were two old people standing under fluorescent lights while someone read them their rights.
Cassandra sat on a loading crate.
Her hands were shaking.
I walked over.
“You saved us.”
She laughed weakly.
“Don't sound so surprised.”
“You hit your grandfather with a pipe.”
“Our father.”
I looked at her.
She corrected herself.
“Biological father.”
Arthur wasn't our grandfather.
He was our father.
The word felt wrong.
Everything did.
Dominic sat beside us.
For the first time, the three of us were together without anyone shouting.
He looked at Cassandra.
“You knew Arthur was alive?”
“No.”
“You knew enough to investigate Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
She stared at him.
“Because I was afraid you'd choose her.”
Dominic looked at me.
Then back at Cassandra.
“You are both my sisters.”
“I know that now.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“You knew it then too.”
Cassandra cried silently.
She didn't argue.
I looked out toward the harbor.
The sky was beginning to lighten.
My birthday.
Twenty-nine years old.
And I had gained a brother, a twin sister, four billion dollars, a criminal investigation, and enough trauma to keep a therapist employed for life.
Dominic sat beside me.
“What will you do?”
“Sleep.”
He smiled.
“After that?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't have to decide today.”
“Good.”
Cassandra wiped her face.
“Elena?”
“What?”
“I'm sorry.”
I said nothing.
She continued.
“What I did in that ballroom was disgusting.”
“Yes.”
“I hated you before I knew you.”
“Yes.”
“I can't undo it.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Can you ever forgive me?”
I thought about Lucia.
She used to tell me forgiveness wasn't a door you opened because someone knocked.
It was something people earned by what they did after they hurt you.
“I don't know.”
Cassandra nodded.
“That’s fair.”
I stood.
Then noticed something stuck under Arthur's coat where police had searched him.
An envelope.
My name was written across the front.
ELENA.
I picked it up.
“Whose handwriting is this?”
Victor looked.
His face changed.
“Lucia’s.”
My hands began trembling again.
Inside was a letter.
And the first line made me stop breathing.
May you like
My sweet Elena,
If you are reading this, Arthur Sterling is alive.
