Chapter 11 - VANESSA’S LAST MOVE
Vanessa looked calm.
Too calm.
“You always were difficult to kill,” she said to Emily.
Lily stood in front of her sister.
“You ruined her life.”
Vanessa struck the match.
“She ruined mine first.”
David stepped forward.
“Put it out.”
“You still think you can order me around?”
“You’re surrounded.”
Vanessa glanced behind him.
The basement door had been locked.
Nathan checked his gun.
Vanessa laughed.
“You don’t understand. None of you are leaving this house.”
She dropped the match onto a pile of old papers.
Flames spread quickly.
David kicked the papers away and grabbed a fire extinguisher.
Nathan rushed toward Vanessa.
She pulled a second weapon from her coat and fired into the ceiling.
The sound stunned everyone.
“Back away,” she ordered.
Nathan lowered his gun.
Vanessa grabbed Emily by the hair.
“Where is the recording?”
Emily winced.
“You burned it.”
“No. You sent it to David.”
David’s eyes narrowed.
The memory card.
Vanessa had been searching for it.
“Give it to me,” she said.
“No.”
She pointed the weapon at Lily.
David removed the card from his pocket.
“Take it.”
Vanessa reached for it.
David threw it across the room.
As Vanessa turned, Nathan lunged.
They crashed into the wall.
The gun slid beneath a cabinet.
Lily pulled Emily toward the exit.
David grabbed Vanessa’s wrist.
She slammed her elbow into his chest and escaped his grip.
The fire grew larger.
Smoke filled the basement.
Vanessa crawled toward the gun.
David kicked it away.
“You’re finished.”
She stared at him.
“You think the police will believe you? You have no money, no house, and no evidence.”
David pointed toward the ceiling.
A tiny red light blinked above them.
Vanessa’s face changed.
“The basement camera.”
David nodded.
“It’s been recording everything.”
Police sirens approached outside.
Vanessa looked at the burning papers.
Then she smiled.
“Check the recording.”
David frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you still don’t know who betrayed you.”
May you like
She pointed at Nathan.
CLIFFHANGER: “Ask him what he did with your mother’s inheritance,” Vanessa whispered.
