Chapter 13 - MIDNIGHT AT THE FOUNDRY
Rain covered the old Vale Foundry in silver sheets.
Nathan arrived at 11:52 p.m.
A wire was hidden beneath his shirt.
Police teams waited beyond the perimeter.
Brooks had argued against letting Nathan enter.
Conrad had demanded him.
There was no other way to confirm Julian was alive.
Nathan carried the recorder.
Or what appeared to be the recorder.
The real memory card was missing.
Nathan had discovered that only minutes before leaving.
Oliver refused to tell him where it was.
“I’m keeping it safe.”
Nathan had almost protested.
Then he remembered Miriam’s advice.
Evidence was safer than accusations.
He let Oliver keep his secret.
Inside the foundry, one overhead lamp burned.
Vanessa stood beneath it.
She was still wearing blue.
Not the gala dress.
A blue coat.
Her hair was wet.
Her face looked exhausted.
“You came.”
Nathan looked around.
“Where’s Julian?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Conrad told me to wait.”
Nathan stared at her.
For the first time since he had known Vanessa, she looked powerless.
A speaker crackled above them.
Conrad’s voice filled the building.
“Put the recorder on the table.”
Nathan looked upward.
“Show me Julian.”
A light switched on across the foundry.
Julian sat tied to a chair behind glass.
He appeared conscious.
Vanessa moved toward him.
“Julian!”
A gunshot struck the floor near her feet.
She screamed.
Conrad’s voice returned.
“Do not improvise.”
Nathan placed the recorder on the table.
“Let him go.”
Conrad laughed.
“You always were sentimental.”
Nathan stared into the darkness.
“My father trusted you.”
“Your father was practical.”
“You corrupted his trust.”
“I preserved it.”
Nathan frowned.
Conrad continued.
“The Vale company was being handed to emotion.”
“Claire wanted charitable restructuring.”
“You indulged her.”
“Then Oliver would have inherited controlling shares with no understanding of power.”
Nathan felt sick.
“You destroyed my family because you disagreed with estate planning?”
“I protected a dynasty.”
Vanessa shouted, “You promised Julian would inherit.”
Conrad laughed.
“You actually believed that?”
Her face collapsed.
Nathan looked at her.
For one second Vanessa understood the full truth.
She had never been Conrad’s partner.
She had been his weapon.
Conrad continued.
“Julian was useful because his existence destabilized succession.”
“Nothing more.”
Vanessa began crying.
“Let him go.”
“No.”
“You said—”
A second shot shattered glass near Julian.
Vanessa screamed.
Nathan grabbed her before she ran forward.
Conrad’s voice hardened.
“The recorder.”
Nathan pointed at the table.
“It’s there.”
“Memory card.”
Nathan said nothing.
Conrad understood.
“You brought me an empty shell.”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“My son is smarter than all of us.”
The lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Police breached the building.
Nathan pulled Vanessa behind steel machinery.
Julian shouted from across the room.
Someone ran along an upper catwalk.
Brooks’s voice echoed.
“POLICE!”
Nathan saw Conrad briefly.
Gray coat.
Gun in hand.
Moving toward an exit.
Vanessa saw him too.
She did something Nathan never expected.
She ran after him.
“WHERE IS MY SON?”
Conrad turned.
Raised the gun.
Nathan moved instinctively.
He struck Vanessa from the side.
The shot fired.
Pain exploded through Nathan’s shoulder.
He hit the floor.
Vanessa stared down at him in shock.
Conrad disappeared into darkness.
Police reached Julian.
Brooks reached Nathan.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Vanessa knelt beside him.
“Why?”
Nathan clenched his teeth.
“Why what?”
“Why did you save me?”
Nathan looked at her.
“I didn’t.”
He glanced toward Julian.
May you like
“I saved him from watching his mother die.”
Then officers pulled Vanessa away in handcuffs.
