Chapter 13 - THE DEAD MAN
Christopher forgot how to breathe.
His father stood twenty yards away.
Alive.
Jonathan Pierce smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Christopher’s hands began to shake.
“You’re dead.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Emma appeared in the doorway behind Yvette.
Christopher moved immediately.
“Take her inside.”
Jonathan looked at Emma.
“So that’s the famous little girl.”
Christopher raised the shotgun.
“Don’t look at her.”
Jonathan’s smile vanished.
“You always were emotional.”
Those words.
The same words Estelle used.
Christopher suddenly understood where she had learned them.
“You faked your death.”
Jonathan tapped his cane against the ground.
“My doctors gave me six months. I preferred privacy.”
“Twelve years of privacy?”
“Twelve productive years.”
Victor backed toward Christopher.
Jonathan noticed.
“You disappoint me, Victor.”
Victor said nothing.
Christopher stared at his father.
“Did you kill Rachel?”
Jonathan sighed.
“Such an ugly question.”
“Yes or no?”
“She found documents she had no business seeing.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She threatened the company.”
“She threatened criminals.”
Jonathan’s eyes hardened.
“The company employs forty thousand people.”
“So you killed her.”
“I protected what I built.”
Christopher felt rage flood every nerve in his body.
Behind him, Emma began crying.
Christopher hated that she had heard it.
“You cut her brakes?”
“Daniel arranged the details.”
“And you used my credentials.”
Jonathan tilted his head.
“You were always useful when properly managed.”
Christopher nearly pulled the trigger.
Yvette saw it.
“Christopher.”
Jonathan smiled.
“Go ahead.”
Christopher’s finger tightened.
“Give Emma another dead parent.”
That stopped him.
Jonathan knew it would.
He always had known exactly where to cut.
Christopher lowered the weapon.
Jonathan nodded approvingly.
“There. You’re learning.”
Police sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Jonathan didn’t react.
Instead, he reached into his coat.
Christopher raised the shotgun again.
Jonathan pulled out a phone.
He tapped the screen.
A video began playing.
The pool.
Juliette.
Emma.
Christopher stared.
The camera angle was from the estate’s security system.
The footage showed Juliette leading Emma toward the water.
Then another figure appeared at the edge of the frame.
Estelle.
Christopher watched his mother point toward the pool.
Juliette pushed Emma.
Christopher stopped breathing.
The video kept going.
Estelle stood there.
Watching Emma sink.
She did nothing.
Then she walked away.
Christopher looked at his father.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Because Estelle tried to remove Emma without my permission.”
Christopher’s face tightened.
Jonathan continued.
“She has become unstable.”
“You’re worse than she is.”
“Perhaps. But I don’t kill children.”
Christopher laughed in disbelief.
“You murdered her mother.”
Jonathan’s expression remained calm.
“Adults make choices.”
Emma stepped out from behind Yvette.
“My mom chose me.”
Jonathan looked at her.
Emma’s voice shook, but she didn’t stop.
“And my daddy chooses me too.”
Jonathan’s eyes narrowed.
Then headlights appeared behind him.
Not police.
Another vehicle.
May you like
Estelle stepped out.
And she was holding a gun.
