Chapter 14 - THE FAMILY WAR
Estelle aimed at Jonathan.
For the first time all night, the old man looked surprised.
“You,” he said.
Estelle’s hand was steady.
“Twelve years.”
Jonathan leaned on his cane.
“You knew I was alive.”
“Of course I knew.”
Christopher stared at them.
“What the hell is happening?”
Estelle laughed.
A broken sound.
“You want the truth, Christopher?”
“I’ve wanted it my entire life.”
“Your father never left.”
She pointed the gun at Jonathan.
“He controlled the company through offshore boards. He chose directors. He moved money. Every major decision I made, he approved.”
Jonathan said, “You benefited nicely.”
“I became your prisoner.”
“You became rich.”
“I was already rich.”
Christopher stepped between Emma and both of them.
“And Rachel?”
Estelle looked at him.
Pain finally appeared beneath the armor.
“I threatened her.”
Christopher felt sick.
“I know.”
“I wanted her gone.”
“I know.”
“I wanted Emma out of the family.”
Emma lowered her eyes.
Estelle looked at the child.
“But I did not order Rachel killed.”
Jonathan smiled faintly.
“No. You lacked the stomach.”
Estelle turned the gun toward him.
“You murdered that girl because she found your trial records.”
“She threatened everything.”
“You always said that.”
Christopher shouted, “Enough!”
The woods went silent.
He looked at both parents.
“You destroyed everyone around you and called it protection.”
Neither answered.
“You used me.”
Jonathan shrugged.
“You were my son.”
“You hid my daughter.”
Estelle said, “I believed I was saving the family.”
“You tried to drown a seven-year-old child!”
Estelle’s face broke.
“I didn’t know Juliette would push her.”
Christopher stared at her.
“The video shows you watching.”
Estelle swallowed.
“I froze.”
“You walked away.”
Tears formed in her eyes.
“I was afraid.”
Emma whispered, “I was afraid too.”
That sentence hit Estelle harder than anything Christopher could have said.
Her gun lowered an inch.
Jonathan suddenly moved.
He pulled a pistol from beneath his coat.
Christopher shouted.
Two shots exploded almost together.
Estelle fell.
Jonathan staggered.
Yvette pulled Emma behind the door.
Christopher rushed forward.
Estelle lay on the gravel, blood spreading across her side.
Jonathan leaned against the SUV.
His shoulder was hit.
But his gun remained in his hand.
“Stay back,” he warned.
Christopher stopped.
Police sirens grew louder.
Jonathan looked toward the road.
He was calculating.
Always calculating.
Then he aimed past Christopher.
At Emma.
Christopher’s body went cold.
“You won’t shoot her,” he said.
Jonathan’s eyes were empty.
“She knows too much.”
Christopher stepped directly into the line of fire.
“Then shoot me first.”
Jonathan smiled.
“So dramatic.”
He pulled the trigger.
Click.
Nothing.
His magazine was empty.
Christopher rushed him.
They crashed onto the gravel.
Jonathan fought harder than an old man should have.
His cane rolled away.
Christopher hit him.
Jonathan laughed through blood.
“You think this ends with me?”
Christopher punched him again.
“It ends with her.”
He looked toward Emma.
“She gets a life without you.”
Police vehicles flooded the driveway.
Officers poured out.
Jonathan stopped fighting.
Christopher stood over his father.
Jonathan looked up.
“You’ll destroy the Pierce name.”
Christopher wiped blood from his mouth.
“Good.”
Then an officer shouted.
“Mr. Pierce! Step away!”
Christopher raised his hands.
Behind him, Emma ran forward.
He turned just in time to catch her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
And for the first time that night—
May you like
he knew they had survived.
But surviving, he would soon learn, was not the same thing as being free.
