Chapter 4 - SOMEONE CUT THE POWER
The entire house went black.
Victoria dropped instantly.
Marcus reached for his gun.
“Down!”
A window exploded.
Glass sprayed across the marble floor.
One of the guards shouted.
Another shot cracked through the lobby.
Marcus grabbed Victoria by the arm and dragged her behind a stone column.
“What the hell is this?” she screamed.
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know!”
Another bullet hit the wall.
Marcus touched his earpiece.
“North entrance. Report.”
Static.
“East side?”
Nothing.
The backup generator should have kicked in.
It didn’t.
That meant someone had disabled it.
Someone who knew the property.
Marcus leaned around the column.
A dark figure moved outside the broken window.
He fired once.
The figure disappeared.
Victoria grabbed his sleeve.
“They came for me.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer’s getting old.”
“I swear.”
A heavy crash came from the service hallway.
Marcus pulled her to her feet.
“Move.”
They ran through the kitchen.
Victoria stumbled.
“Where are we going?”
“Safe room.”
“I thought you said I could leave.”
Marcus slammed open a hidden steel door.
“Changed my mind.”
At the hospital, Alexander’s phone rang.
Marcus.
He answered.
“What happened?”
“We’ve got shooters at the house.”
Alexander stopped.
“What?”
“Power was cut. At least two armed intruders.”
“Victoria?”
“Alive.”
“Marcus—”
“I need to ask you something. Did Richard Reed ever have access to the house security plans?”
Alexander stared through the hospital window.
“He helped design the estate.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Are you saying—”
“I’m saying whoever came in knew exactly where the backup system was.”
Alexander’s face tightened.
“Keep Victoria alive.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“Was planning on it.”
“I need answers from her.”
“So do I.”
The call ended.
A doctor stepped into the hallway.
“Mr. Reed?”
Alexander stood.
“How is she?”
“Your mother is stable.”
Alexander’s shoulders dropped.
“She has two broken ribs, a fractured wrist, and a concussion. No major internal bleeding.”
“Can I see her?”
“Soon.”
The doctor hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
Alexander’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“We found an older scar on the back of her skull. Significant trauma. Years old.”
Alexander frowned.
“So?”
“Normally nothing. But your mother mentioned she’d suffered an assault in the past.”
Alexander stared.
“When?”
“She didn’t say.”
He looked toward the treatment room.
When Evelyn was finally awake, Alexander sat beside her.
“Mom.”
She turned her head.
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“Yes.”
She accepted that.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“You should be.”
Alexander leaned forward.
“Richard admitted Victoria worked for him.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I knew it.”
“You knew?”
“Not at first.”
“How much do you know?”
“Enough.”
“Then tell me everything.”
She looked at him.
“I was twenty-six when I met your father.”
Alexander said nothing.
“His name was Daniel Reed. Richard was his older brother.”
“I know that part.”
“No, you know the story I gave you.”
Evelyn’s voice tightened.
“Daniel found out Richard was stealing from the family company.”
Alexander frowned.
“Stealing how?”
“Shell companies. Fake invoices. Offshore accounts.”
“And Dad?”
“He was going to report him.”
Alexander felt the shape of the story forming.
He didn’t like it.
Evelyn continued.
“The night Daniel died, he called me.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“He told me to take you and leave.”
Alexander whispered,
“How did he die?”
Evelyn looked straight at him.
“A car crash.”
“That could’ve been an accident.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was in the car.”
Alexander stood so fast the chair fell backward.
“What?”
Evelyn touched the old scar on the back of her head.
“I survived.”
He stared at her.
“And Richard?”
“He thought I didn’t.”
Alexander’s phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
He looked down.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST BURIED.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
May you like
It showed Evelyn lying in her hospital bed.
Taken less than a minute ago.
