Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO CLEANED UP THE FAMILY
His name was Victor Hale.
I remembered him from Christmas parties.
Quiet.
Polite.
Always standing behind Charles.
Officially, he handled “security.”
Apparently that meant crimes.
Victor reached the top of the stairs holding a handgun.
Richard stepped in front of us.
“Victor.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“Your father wants the drive.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“My father can go to hell.”
Victor sighed.
“I always liked you.”
“Then put the gun down.”
“I like my pension more.”
Noah whispered to Ethan, “When I say run, run.”
I heard him.
“No.”
He glanced at me.
“I know this building.”
“How?”
“I slept here last winter.”
That sentence almost broke me.
He pointed subtly toward a side corridor.
“Fire stairs.”
Victor took another step.
“Drive. Now.”
Reeve raised both hands.
“I’ll give it to you.”
“No,” I said.
Victor aimed at me.
Richard moved.
The next five seconds happened too fast.
Noah threw a metal pipe across the room.
Victor turned at the sound.
Richard tackled him.
The gun fired.
Patricia screamed.
Ethan pulled me down.
Reeve kicked the weapon away.
Richard and Victor crashed against a railing.
Victor punched Richard hard enough to split his lip.
Noah grabbed the gun.
“Noah!” I shouted.
He held it with both hands, terrified.
Victor froze.
For a horrifying second, my fourteen-year-old son stood holding a weapon on a grown man.
Victor smiled.
“You won’t do it.”
Noah’s hands shook.
“No.”
He lowered the gun.
“I won’t become you.”
Police sirens screamed outside.
Victor looked toward the window.
Then lunged for Noah.
Ethan slammed into him first.
Both twins hit the floor.
I screamed.
Richard grabbed Victor from behind.
Police flooded the room seconds later.
It was over.
Or I thought it was.
While paramedics checked the boys, an officer pulled me aside.
“Mrs. Whitmore, we found something on Mr. Hale.”
He handed me a burner phone.
Messages from Charles.
The newest had been sent nine minutes earlier.
IF REEVE TALKS, HANDLE ALL OF THEM. INCLUDING RICHARD.
My husband read it over my shoulder.
His face went empty.
“He was willing to kill me.”
I looked at him.
“Your father has been willing to destroy anyone who threatens him for a long time.”
Richard looked toward Noah.
Then Ethan.
For the first time, I saw something inside him finally die.
His loyalty.
He took out his phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Ending this.”
He called the district attorney.
“My name is Richard Whitmore.”
A pause.
May you like
“I’m prepared to testify against my father.”
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