Chapter 17 - The House Where It Started
No one allowed me to go alone.
We made Adrian believe I did.
My father’s security teams stayed miles back.
Federal agents positioned quietly around the town.
Celeste gave us a floor plan from memory.
Nathan was not part of the operation.
He was hospitalized with a cracked rib and a gunshot graze from the airfield.
Before I left, he asked to see me.
I almost refused.
Then I went.
He sat upright in the hospital bed.
For once, there were no tailored suits.
No expensive watch.
No office.
No mistress beside him.
Just Nathan.
“Are you going after Adrian?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“Don’t.”
I stared.
“You lost the right to tell me what to do.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“I just needed to say it.”
I turned to leave.
“Claire.”
I stopped.
“If I testify.”
I looked back.
“I mean everything.”
“The fraud.”
“Celeste.”
“Adrian.”
“What I did to you.”
“All of it.”
“What do you want in exchange?”
“Nothing.”
I studied his face.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Do it anyway.”
I left.
Adrian’s farmhouse sat behind a row of bare trees.
I carried the pendant.
A duplicate.
The real storage wafer remained with Evelyn.
Adrian did not know that.
I entered through the front door.
“Adrian?”
His voice came from the dining room.
“Your mother always hated being late.”
I followed it.
He stood near the window.
Older than I expected.
Thin.
Gray at the temples.
Richard sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Adrian smiled.
“You look like Laura.”
“Apparently everyone has decided that is the first thing to tell me.”
His smile widened.
“She would have liked you.”
“She raised me.”
“For seventeen years.”
“She knew me.”
“You knew a version of her.”
I hated him instantly.
“Did you kill her?”
Adrian looked toward Richard.
“Straight to the point.”
“Yes or no?”
“No.”
Richard shouted.
“Claire, do not believe him.”
Adrian sighed.
“Richard still thinks truth is a weapon only he should carry.”
I held up the pendant.
“You wanted this.”
He looked at it.
“Put it on the table.”
“Release Richard.”
“Pendant first.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“There’s Charles.”
I did not move.
Adrian studied me.
Then he cut Richard’s restraints.
“Stand.”
Richard did.
Adrian pointed toward the door.
“Go.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Richard looked at me.
I nodded.
He walked past.
Adrian said.
“Tell Charles he was always too predictable.”
Richard left.
I placed the pendant on the table.
Adrian picked it up.
He opened the casing.
Empty.
His smile vanished.
“Where is the wafer?”
“Safe.”
He looked at me.
“You learned.”
“From everyone lying to me.”
Adrian set the pendant down.
“I do not need the wafer.”
I felt cold.
“Then why bring me here?”
“To offer you something.”
“I’m not interested.”
“You should be.”
He walked toward the portrait of my mother.
“Blackthorn can be dismantled.”
“Then dismantle it.”
“It requires activation from the Bennett successor.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“And what do you get?”
“A guarantee.”
“What guarantee?”
“That certain names stay sealed.”
“Whose?”
He looked at me.
“People who helped your mother.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You mean people who helped you.”
“Some overlap.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You think the world divides neatly.”
“Victims.”
“Villains.”
“Family.”
“Enemies.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You tortured my family for decades.”
“I exposed what they were willing to become.”
I stepped closer.
“You hired Nathan to target me.”
“Yes.”
“You turned Celeste into a weapon.”
“Yes.”
“You infiltrated my mother’s company.”
“Yes.”
“Did you sabotage her car?”
He went silent.
There it was.
I whispered.
“Answer.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“I ordered Sloan to stop her from reaching a meeting.”
My stomach dropped.
“How?”
“I told him to disable the vehicle.”
“Not kill her.”
“You expect that distinction to matter?”
“No.”
His face tightened.
“It stopped mattering the moment I heard she went over the ridge.”
My eyes burned.
“You killed her.”
“I created the condition.”
“That is killing her.”
He did not argue.
For once, I respected the silence more than an excuse.
I looked toward the window.
“You know this is being recorded.”
Adrian smiled.
“Yes.”
I froze.
He tapped his own collar.
“So am I.”
“Why?”
“Because this conversation is not for the police.”
He pointed toward the portrait.
“It is for the next custodian.”
My blood turned cold.
“You said Blackthorn needed me.”
“It does.”
“I said no.”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“You misunderstand.”
“I am not asking you to lead it.”
He looked toward the hallway behind me.
Footsteps approached.
I turned.
My father entered.
Alone.
Adrian smiled.
“I am asking Charles which daughter he wants to save.”
I stared at him.
“What daughter?”
Then a second door opened.
May you like
A young woman stepped into the room.
She had my mother’s eyes.
