Chapter 14 - One Last Trade
“Don’t touch her.”
Claire’s voice changed.
Flat.
Dangerous.
Julian smiled through the screen.
“Now you’re listening.”
Helen looked confused.
“Claire?”
“Mom, don’t move.”
Julian pulled the phone closer.
“Bring me the black case.”
Davis shook his head.
Claire ignored him.
“Where?”
“Your mother’s house.”
Marcus limped closer.
“It’s a trap.”
Claire whispered, “I know.”
Julian continued.
“No police.”
Davis almost laughed.
Julian knew better.
Marcus grabbed the phone.
“If you hurt her—”
“Marcus.”
Julian’s smile faded.
“You always wanted to be the hero.”
“And you always wanted to be Dad.”
Silence.
Marcus had found the nerve.
Julian’s eyes hardened.
“Don’t say his name.”
“You copied him.”
“Shut up.”
“You wore his watches. Used his phrases. Married his daughter.”
Julian’s breathing changed.
Marcus kept going.
“You didn’t hate Samuel because he abandoned you.”
Claire understood what Marcus was doing.
“You hated him because he chose us.”
Julian snapped.
“He chose weakness!”
Helen closed her eyes.
Claire saw it.
The knife had moved slightly away from her throat.
Davis quietly sent tactical instructions.
Marcus continued.
“You killed him and still couldn’t become him.”
Julian screamed, “Bring me the case!”
The call ended.
Davis looked at Claire.
“We go in controlled.”
“He sees police, he kills her.”
“He may kill her anyway.”
Claire knew that.
That was the worst part.
One hour later, Claire walked alone toward her mother’s house carrying a black case.
Not the real one.
A duplicate.
Police surrounded the block out of sight.
Marcus waited in a command van.
Claire opened the front door.
“Julian?”
“Kitchen.”
She walked in.
Helen sat tied to a chair.
Julian stood behind her with a gun.
“Put the case down.”
Claire obeyed.
“Let her go.”
“Open it.”
“You first.”
Julian smiled.
“You still think this is a negotiation.”
Claire looked at her mother.
Helen’s eyes were calm.
Too calm.
Claire knew that look.
Their mother had raised two stubborn children.
She wasn’t afraid anymore.
“Julian,” Helen said.
He looked down.
“You talk too much.”
She stomped his foot.
Julian shouted.
Claire rushed him.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered.
Helen dropped sideways.
Claire grabbed Julian’s wrist.
They slammed into the table.
He punched Claire across the face.
She fell.
Julian raised the gun.
Then Marcus came through the back door.
“Drop it!”
Julian turned.
Marcus fired.
The bullet hit Julian’s shoulder.
Julian collapsed.
Police stormed in.
Davis kicked the gun away.
Claire crawled toward Helen.
“Mom!”
Helen was alive.
The bullet had missed her.
Marcus pinned Julian down.
Julian screamed in pain.
Claire knelt beside him.
For seven years, she had seen charm in that face.
Comfort.
Safety.
Love.
Now she saw only emptiness.
Julian looked up at her.
“You’ll never prove everything.”
Claire wiped blood from her lip.
“We already did.”
He laughed.
“You think a hard drive wins?”
“No.”
Claire leaned closer.
“Your mother talked.”
Julian’s face changed.
Claire smiled for the first time.
“And David Hale gave them your server.”
His confidence cracked.
Claire stood.
“And Lily stole the key you needed.”
Julian stared at her.
The person he had underestimated most.
A six-year-old girl.
Davis pulled Julian to his feet.
“You’re under arrest for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, attempted murder, conspiracy, fraud, extortion—”
Julian stopped listening.
He stared at Claire.
“You’ll regret this.”
Claire looked at him calmly.
“The only thing I regret is trusting you.”
Officers dragged him outside.
Claire thought it was over.
Then Davis’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
Marcus saw it.
“What?”
Davis looked at Claire.
“They found something on Julian’s server.”
“What?”
“A scheduled upload.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What kind of upload?”
Davis turned the phone toward her.
Thousands of private recordings.
May you like
Set to release publicly at midnight.
And the countdown showed eighteen minutes remaining.
