Chapter 12 - A MOTHER’S FINAL CHOICE
Eleanor fell into Evelyn’s arms.
A dark stain spread across the front of her silver gown.
Julian stared at the gun in his hand.
“Mother?”
Eleanor looked up at him.
“You were supposed to be better than him.”
Julian lowered the weapon.
“You should not have moved.”
“You were going to kill her.”
“She is destroying us.”
“No.”
Eleanor struggled to breathe.
“You destroyed us.”
Water poured beneath the vault door.
The tunnel outside was filling rapidly.
Evelyn pressed both hands against Eleanor’s wound.
“Stay with me.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Box seventeen.”
Julian moved toward the shelf.
Evelyn grabbed the fallen gun.
“Stop.”
Julian froze.
She aimed at his chest.
“You killed my father.”
“I was seventeen.”
“You cut his brakes.”
“My father ordered me to do it.”
“You still did it.”
Julian’s face twisted with anger.
“You have no idea what he was like.”
“I know exactly what men like him are like.”
“They make weak people believe cruelty is strength.”
“And you believed him.”
Julian took one step forward.
Evelyn raised the gun higher.
“Do not move.”
The vault’s computer suddenly powered on.
The chip had activated an automatic upload.
Files began transferring to a remote server.
Julian looked at the screen.
“No.”
He rushed toward it.
Evelyn fired into the ceiling.
Julian stopped.
“You cannot stop it,” Eleanor whispered.
“The chip was never designed to store the evidence.”
“It was designed to release it.”
Julian stared at her.
“You knew?”
“Margaret told me.”
“You let me find it.”
“I needed you to confess.”
A red light blinked on the computer.
Every word inside the vault had been recorded.
Julian looked toward the camera hidden above the door.
His face filled with horror.
Eleanor smiled weakly.
“For once, I chose the right child.”
She looked at Evelyn.
“Get out.”
The water had reached their knees.
Evelyn lifted Eleanor.
Julian grabbed box seventeen.
He ran toward the tunnel.
A steel emergency door began descending from the ceiling.
The upload had triggered the vault’s lockdown system.
Julian tried to slide beneath it.
The box caught under the door.
Documents spilled into the water.
Evelyn dragged Eleanor toward the opening.
Julian reached back.
“Help me!”
Evelyn pulled Eleanor beneath the descending door.
Julian remained on the other side.
He struck the steel with both fists.
“Evelyn!”
The door sealed.
His screams became muffled.
Eleanor’s eyes widened.
“There is another exit in the vault.”
Evelyn looked back.
“Then he may survive.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“He always does.”
A violent surge of water rushed through the tunnel.
May you like
Evelyn lost her footing.
She and Eleanor were pulled into the darkness.
