Chapter 14 - THE MAN WHO STARTED THE FIRE
Lucien flipped the dining table.
Bullets tore through wood.
Adrian dragged Charles behind a stone column.
Glass shattered across the room.
Marcus disappeared through a side door.
Lucien looked toward the hallway.
“Ava.”
Adrian understood immediately.
“Go!”
Lucien ran.
He didn’t chase Marcus.
Not yet.
He went for his daughter.
Gunfire followed him into the hall.
A man stepped from the library.
Lucien hit him before the weapon came up.
One punch to the throat.
A knee to the stomach.
The man dropped.
Lucien took the weapon and kept moving.
“AVA!”
From upstairs—
“Daddy!”
Alive.
He sprinted toward the staircase.
Another gunman appeared.
Lucien fired into the wall beside him.
The man ducked.
Lucien rushed him.
They crashed against the railing.
The weapon fell.
The gunman swung.
Lucien blocked it and drove him backward through a side table.
Wood exploded.
“Daddy!”
“I’m coming!”
He reached the upper floor.
Evelyn stood outside Ava’s room with a fireplace poker in her hands.
Lucien almost laughed.
“Seriously?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I’ve had a bad night.”
Ava ran from the room.
Lucien dropped the gun and caught her.
“Daddy!”
“I got you.”
She wrapped herself around him.
He kissed the top of her head.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Anybody come upstairs?”
“Grandma hit one.”
Lucien looked at Evelyn.
“With that?”
Evelyn nodded toward a man unconscious near the wall.
“He was rude.”
Despite everything, Lucien smiled.
Only for a second.
Then Adrian’s voice came through the hall.
“LUCIEN!”
He turned.
Adrian was climbing the stairs.
“Marcus has Charles.”
Lucien’s smile disappeared.
“What?”
“He took him through the west wing.”
Lucien handed Ava to Evelyn.
“Stay here.”
Ava tightened her grip.
“No.”
Lucien crouched.
“Ava.”
“You promised.”
“I know.”
“You said you wouldn’t disappear.”
He looked at her.
The fear in her face was real.
So was the trust.
Lucien touched her cheek.
“I’m not disappearing.”
He pointed to the bedroom.
“I’m asking you to help me.”
She sniffed.
“How?”
“Stay with Grandma.”
Ava looked at Evelyn.
Then back at him.
“That helps?”
“More than you know.”
She reluctantly let go.
Lucien kissed her forehead.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Then he ran.
Adrian followed.
They reached the west gallery.
A trail of blood crossed the floor.
Charles’s.
Lucien followed it.
The path ended at an old office.
Charles’s private study.
The room where Lucien had been punished as a child.
The room where every major Vale decision had been made.
The door stood open.
Marcus was inside.
Charles knelt near the fireplace.
Marcus held a gun against the back of his head.
Lucien stopped in the doorway.
“Let him go.”
Marcus laughed.
“You still want him alive?”
Lucien looked at Charles.
“I haven’t decided.”
Charles almost smiled.
Marcus pushed the gun harder against his skull.
“This is why you’ll never be like us.”
Lucien raised his weapon.
“Good.”
“You confuse attachment with strength.”
“No.”
Lucien aimed.
“I understand something you never did.”
Marcus tilted his head.
“What?”
“People aren’t disposable.”
Marcus’s smile faded.
Charles looked at Lucien.
For the first time in his life, the old man looked proud.
Not because Lucien was strong.
Because Lucien had refused to become him.
Marcus noticed.
And hated it.
He looked down at Charles.
“Your son thinks he’s better than us.”
Charles whispered, “He is.”
Marcus struck him across the head.
Lucien stepped forward.
“Do that again.”
Marcus smiled.
“What?”
Lucien’s voice became quiet.
“Do it again and see what happens.”
Marcus studied him.
Then laughed.
“There he is.”
He released Charles.
“Come on.”
Lucien frowned.
Marcus spread his arms.
“You’ve wanted to kill somebody all night.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He pointed at Charles.
“Him.”
Then at himself.
“Me.”
Marcus walked closer.
“Your wife is dead.”
Another step.
“Your childhood was stolen.”
Another.
“Your daughter was kidnapped.”
Marcus smiled.
“You want blood.”
Lucien kept the weapon trained on him.
Marcus whispered, “Take it.”
Lucien’s finger rested on the trigger.
One shot.
That was all it would take.
Claire’s face flashed through his mind.
Ava crying.
Charles at the funeral.
Victor in the laboratory.
His whole life.
Lucien lowered the weapon.
Marcus stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending it.”
“You think mercy makes you strong?”
“No.”
Lucien looked at him.
“It makes me different.”
Marcus’s face twisted.
“You pathetic—”
He raised his gun.
Charles moved.
The shot exploded.
Lucien fired at the ceiling instinctively.
Adrian rushed inside.
Then silence.
Marcus looked down.
Charles had grabbed his wrist.
The bullet had entered Charles’s abdomen.
Again.
But Charles did not release him.
Marcus struggled.
“You idiot!”
Charles looked at Lucien.
“Go.”
Lucien stepped forward.
“Dad.”
“Take Ava.”
Marcus hit Charles.
Charles held on.
“GO!”
“Charles!”
The old man looked at his son.
And for the first time, there was no command in his voice.
Only a father speaking to his child.
“I spent your whole life teaching you how to fight.”
Blood ran from his mouth.
“I should’ve taught you when to walk away.”
Lucien’s eyes filled.
Charles smiled weakly.
“Go be her father.”
Marcus screamed and pulled free.
He raised the gun toward Lucien.
Adrian fired.
Marcus dropped.
The gun slid across the floor.
Silence.
Lucien stared.
Marcus lay motionless beside the desk.
The man who had started the fire was finally down.
Lucien rushed to Charles.
“Dad.”
Charles was bleeding badly.
Too badly.
Lucien pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Charles laughed weakly.
“Now you want me around?”
“Don’t.”
“I had to try.”
“Stop talking.”
Lucien looked at Adrian.
“Call an ambulance!”
Adrian already had his phone out.
Charles grabbed Lucien’s sleeve.
“No.”
“Dad.”
“Listen.”
Lucien shook his head.
“No.”
“Lucien.”
Something in Charles’s voice made him stop.
Charles looked at him.
“I knew Marcus might kill Claire.”
Lucien’s face changed.
Charles forced himself to continue.
“I called him anyway.”
Lucien’s eyes filled with anger again.
“I know.”
“No.”
Charles coughed.
“You don’t.”
He pulled a small key from his pocket.
Pressed it into Lucien’s palm.
“There’s one more file.”
Lucien stared at the key.
“Where?”
“Your mother knows.”
Evelyn appeared in the doorway.
Ava beside her.
Lucien’s face changed.
“Ava, don’t—”
Too late.
She saw the blood.
“Grandpa?”
Charles looked toward her.
His expression broke.
Ava walked closer.
Evelyn tried to stop her.
Charles shook his head.
“Let her.”
Ava knelt beside him.
“Are you hurt?”
Charles smiled.
“A little.”
“You need a Band-Aid.”
He laughed.
Then winced.
“Yes.”
Ava touched his hand.
“I have princess ones.”
Charles’s eyes filled with tears.
“I bet you do.”
Ava looked at Lucien.
“Daddy, fix him.”
Lucien couldn’t answer.
Ava looked confused.
“Daddy?”
Charles squeezed her hand.
“Your daddy already fixed something.”
“What?”
Charles looked at Lucien.
“Something I broke a long time ago.”
Lucien lowered his head.
Sirens sounded outside.
Finally.
Charles looked at his son.
“One more truth.”
Lucien met his eyes.
“What?”
Charles looked toward Evelyn.
Then Adrian.
Then back at Lucien.
“The file isn’t about Claire.”
A pause.
“It’s about Ava.”
Lucien went still.
“What about her?”
Charles smiled faintly.
“The night she was born…”
His breathing weakened.
“…someone else was in that hospital.”
Lucien leaned closer.
“Who?”
Charles whispered the answer.
And Lucien’s entire face changed.
“No.”
Charles closed his eyes.
Lucien stood.
He turned toward Evelyn.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
She couldn’t.
Lucien looked at Ava.
Then at the key in his hand.
Because Charles’s final secret was impossible.
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According to him—
Victor Kane had been dead for four years before Ava was even born.
