Chapter 11 - THE PRICE OF THE TRUTH
Ronan had been shot through the side.
Not fatal.
Painful enough to make him meaner.
Ivy pressed both hands against the wound while Marcus searched for a way out.
Ronan gritted his teeth.
“You’re pressing too hard.”
“You’re bleeding too much.”
“I’ve been shot before.”
“That is not the impressive statement you think it is.”
Even Eleanor laughed.
Vivienne sat against the wall, holding her injured wrist.
She looked less like a queen now.
More like what she had always been.
A frightened bully.
Victor’s voice came over the speaker.
“Eleanor knows where the second tape is.”
Ivy looked at her mother.
Eleanor sighed.
“I was hoping we could talk about this after dinner.”
“Mom.”
“Your father gave me something before he died.”
“What?”
“A safety-deposit key.”
Ronan looked at her.
“What bank?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“Not a bank.”
Victor’s voice sharpened.
“Enough.”
A metal shutter slammed over the doors.
Gas began hissing from a vent.
Emily, who had stayed behind at a safe location, was no longer the hostage.
Now they all were.
Ronan looked toward the ceiling.
“Victor!”
“Bring me the key, and I let everyone out.”
Ivy turned to her mother.
“Where is it?”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“Inside the one place your father knew no Blackwood would ever enter.”
Ronan frowned.
“What place?”
“His church.”
Ivy stared.
Her father had attended St. Anthony’s every Sunday.
Even when he was tired.
Even when money was tight.
Even when he claimed faith was the only thing powerful men could not purchase.
The gas thickened.
Marcus smashed a vent cover.
“Three minutes before we start passing out.”
Ronan could barely stand.
Ivy looked at Vivienne.
“You got us into this.”
Vivienne’s eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t know he would do this.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I thought Victor was going to help me protect my future.”
“You mean your money.”
Vivienne said nothing.
Ivy understood.
“You never loved Ronan.”
Vivienne whispered, “Love doesn’t protect anyone.”
Ivy looked at Ronan.
He was pale.
Sweating.
Still trying to keep everyone else behind him.
“Sometimes it does.”
Vivienne looked away.
Then, unexpectedly, she said, “There’s an emergency release behind the portrait.”
Ronan stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Victor showed me.”
Marcus ripped the portrait from the wall.
There was a switch.
The shutters rose.
Fresh air rushed in.
Victor had lost his leverage.
For the moment.
They escaped.
Outside, paramedics took Ronan toward an ambulance.
He grabbed Ivy’s wrist.
“Don’t go to the church without me.”
She stared at him.
“You need surgery.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You are literally leaking.”
“Ivy.”
She leaned close.
“Try stopping me.”
Then she walked away.
Ronan looked at Marcus.
“Follow her.”
Marcus shook his head.
“She’s going to hate that.”
Ronan closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Ivy reached St. Anthony’s twenty minutes later.
May you like
The front door was already open.
And someone was waiting inside.
