Chapter 9 - THIRTY MINUTES
“You are absolutely not going alone,” Diane said.
“I know.”
My father looked at me.
“What are you thinking?”
“Julian still believes I react emotionally.”
“You are emotional.”
“I’m furious. That’s different.”
I handed the phone to the detective.
The location was a maintenance facility near the northern access road.
Eight miles from Blackwood Lodge.
Dense forest.
One building.
Two service roads.
The detective studied the map.
“We can surround it.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at me.
“If he sees police, Claire’s in danger.”
“He asked for you.”
“Then he gets me.”
My father stepped forward.
“Elena.”
“Dad.”
“No.”
I walked closer.
“For nine years you let me make my own decisions, even when you hated them.”
“This is not a marriage decision.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“This is the consequence.”
He flinched.
I regretted the words immediately.
But I didn’t take them back.
We made a plan.
My phone would stay connected.
Police would track my car.
A tactical unit would wait beyond the tree line.
I wore a small transmitter under my coat.
At 5:19 a.m., I arrived.
The maintenance building looked abandoned.
One yellow light glowed above the entrance.
I got out.
“Julian?”
The door opened.
He stood inside.
No tuxedo jacket now.
White shirt stained with mud.
Hair falling over his forehead.
For the first time in years, he looked ordinary.
Small.
“Come in.”
“Where’s Claire?”
“Inside.”
I walked through the door.
Claire sat against the wall.
Her hands were taped.
One side of her face was swollen.
But she was alive.
Relief almost knocked my knees out.
“Let her go.”
Julian held a gun.
My breathing stopped.
I had never seen him with one.
He noticed.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“You’re pointing a gun at me.”
“It’s insurance.”
“No. Insurance is what you stole using my grandmother’s necklace.”
His jaw tightened.
“Still making jokes.”
“Still committing felonies.”
“Elena.”
“What?”
“You’re going to sign something.”
Of course.
On a folding table sat a laptop.
Documents.
A portable printer.
“You cannot transfer trust assets.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“But you can transfer your voting shares.”
I looked at the document.
Twenty-nine percent.
My entire personal stake.
To a private holding company.
His company.
“You think this fixes anything?”
“It buys me leverage.”
“You’re done, Julian.”
“I’m never done.”
That sentence told me everything about him.
No guilt.
No remorse.
Just appetite.
“What happened to Thomas Reed?”
For the first time, his face changed.
Claire looked up.
Julian’s eyes hardened.
“Thomas made choices.”
“You killed him.”
“He threatened everything.”
“You killed him.”
“He was going to destroy nine years of work!”
“Your work?”
I laughed.
“You mean the money you stole?”
He stepped closer.
“You think your family gave me something?”
“Yes.”
“They looked down on me from day one.”
“My father invested hundreds of millions into your company.”
“He invested in you!”
His voice cracked through the room.
“There was never anything that was mine!”
Finally.
The real wound.
Not poverty.
Not disrespect.
Entitlement.
“You had a wife who loved you.”
He stared at me.
“You had a career. A home. A company to run. A future.”
“Borrowed.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Shared.”
He looked almost disgusted.
“That’s the same thing weak people say when they own everything.”
Behind him, Claire shifted.
Julian turned.
Wrong move.
I grabbed the laptop and threw it.
It hit his arm.
The gun fired.
The sound exploded inside the building.
Claire screamed.
I hit the floor.
Outside, police shouted.
Julian grabbed me around the neck and dragged me toward the back exit.
“Move!”
“Julian, stop!”
He pressed the gun against my side.
We burst into the cold morning air.
Police lights appeared between the trees.
“DROP THE WEAPON!”
Julian pulled me tighter.
“BACK OFF!”
Then he whispered into my ear.
“You did this.”
I stopped struggling.
“No.”
I said it quietly.
“You did.”
He began backing toward his car.
And then Claire came running out behind us.
She held something in both hands.
A metal wrench.
“ELENA!”
Julian turned.
Claire swung.
The wrench hit his wrist.
The gun fell.
I dropped to the ground.
Police rushed forward.
Julian ran.
May you like
Straight toward the tree line.
And fifteen seconds later, everyone heard his scream.
