Chapter 13 - What Vanessa Wanted
Bell had killed the power remotely.
Three seconds of darkness.
Enough.
Stallone grabbed Lily.
Keller tackled one gunman.
Bell fired at another.
Chaos filled the corridor.
By the time emergency lights came on, Charles was gone.
But Lily was safe.
That was all that mattered.
For now.
They flew back to Los Angeles on a police aircraft.
Stallone called the mansion every five minutes.
No answer.
Then finally—
“Dad?”
Ethan.
Stallone gripped the phone.
“Are you okay?”
“We’re hiding.”
“Where?”
“In the old screening room.”
“Sofia?”
“Here.”
“Maria?”
“She got hit, but she’s awake.”
“Police are coming.”
“There are men downstairs.”
Stallone closed his eyes.
“Do not open that door for anybody unless Detective Bell gives you the word.”
“Okay.”
Then Sofia took the phone.
“Is Lily with you?”
Stallone looked across the cabin.
Lily sat wrapped in a jacket.
“Yes.”
Sofia started crying.
“Can I talk to her?”
He handed the phone over.
Lily hesitated.
“Hello?”
Neither girl spoke for a moment.
Then Sofia whispered:
“You’re real.”
Lily smiled through tears.
“So are you.”
They had less than one minute together.
It was enough.
Police reached the mansion before Charles’s men broke through the screening-room door.
Two suspects were arrested.
One escaped.
Maria survived.
Ethan and Sofia were unharmed.
Stallone arrived with Lily before sunrise.
Sofia was waiting in the foyer.
The twins saw each other.
And froze.
No dramatic music.
No speeches.
Just two twelve-year-old girls staring at the face they had spent their lives missing.
Sofia walked forward first.
“You still hate flower names?”
Lily laughed.
Then both girls started crying.
They hugged.
Stallone stood beside Ethan.
His son whispered:
“They look exactly the same.”
“Yeah.”
“Does that mean I have two sisters?”
Stallone put an arm around him.
“Looks that way.”
Ethan thought.
“I’m going to need a bigger birthday budget.”
Stallone laughed for the first time in days.
Then Detective Bell entered.
“We found Vanessa.”
The relief vanished.
“Where?”
“She contacted us.”
Stallone frowned.
“She surrendered?”
“Not exactly.”
Bell showed him a video.
Vanessa sat inside a car.
She looked exhausted.
No makeup.
No control left.
“If you’re watching this, Charles will kill me whether I help him or not.”
She held up a file.
“The original trust.”
Stallone stared.
Vanessa continued.
“I kept it because insurance is the only reason I’m alive.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Charles doesn’t care about the money anymore. He cares about evidence.”
She opened the folder.
Inside were signatures.
Payments.
Hospital transfers.
Everything.
Then Vanessa said:
“There is one final document.”
She lifted a sealed envelope.
“It proves who ordered Rachel’s murder.”
Stallone’s jaw tightened.
Vanessa looked toward someone outside the car.
Fear crossed her face.
“If you want this, come alone.”
The video ended.
Bell shook his head.
“You’re not going alone.”
Stallone looked at him.
“No.”
Bell almost smiled.
“Good.”
“I’m taking you.”
“That works too.”
Then Ethan pointed toward the frozen final frame.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Look at the mirror.”
Bell zoomed in on the rearview mirror.
A face reflected faintly behind Vanessa’s car.
Charles.
May you like
He had been standing ten feet away when she recorded the message.
And he was smiling.
