Chapter 14 - THE WAY OUT
“Claire!”
Margaret dropped beside her.
Claire gasped.
“Don’t… waste time.”
Emily grabbed her arm.
“We’re not leaving you.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“You really are her daughter.”
Thomas ran toward the vault.
Samuel shouted, “Forget him!”
Flames rolled over the shelves.
Ruiz helped Claire up.
They staggered toward the service hallway.
Behind them, Thomas screamed.
The vault door had opened.
Inside were account ledgers, original trust documents, payment records and proof of decades of fraud.
He began stuffing papers into a bag.
Emily stared.
“He’s choosing the evidence.”
Margaret grabbed her.
“No.”
“We can’t let him—”
“No.”
Margaret held Emily’s face.
“I spent twenty-two years losing you.”
Fire reflected in her eyes.
“I will not lose one more second chasing him.”
They ran.
Halfway down the corridor, Claire collapsed.
Samuel lifted her.
“You owe me,” he grunted.
Claire coughed.
“For what?”
“My shoulder.”
“You complain too much.”
The ceiling cracked.
Ruiz shouted, “Move!”
They reached the old nursery.
The exit door had jammed.
Smoke surrounded them.
Jenna began crying.
“We’re trapped.”
Emily looked around.
The windows were reinforced.
Samuel rammed the door.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a loud crash came from the other side.
Nora’s voice shouted, “Emily!”
Emily stared.
“Nora?”
A firefighter ax burst through the door.
Police and firefighters had breached the exterior wall.
The door gave way.
Fresh air poured in.
They carried Claire out.
Margaret stumbled onto the grass and collapsed beside Emily.
For several seconds, mother and daughter simply breathed.
Then Emily looked back.
“Thomas.”
Flames consumed the upper floor.
Ruiz spoke into her radio.
“Suspect still inside.”
A window shattered.
Thomas climbed onto the roof.
He carried the evidence bag.
Firefighters shouted at him to stop.
Thomas ran along the edge.
Margaret stood.
“Thomas!”
He looked down.
For a strange moment, the rage left his face.
He looked tired.
Old.
Human.
“You did this,” he shouted.
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“You turned her against me!”
Emily stepped beside her.
“You did that yourself.”
Thomas looked at Emily.
“I’m your father.”
Emily stared up at him.
“A father doesn’t erase his child.”
Sirens screamed.
Thomas backed toward the edge.
Ruiz shouted, “Stay where you are!”
He looked down at the concrete three stories below.
Then at the burning building.
Margaret whispered, “Don’t.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“You still care.”
“No.”
Margaret’s voice was steady.
“I want you alive long enough to hear every charge.”
Thomas’s face twisted.
He turned and ran toward the opposite roof.
A firefighter tackled him before he reached the edge.
The evidence bag spilled.
Documents scattered across the wet roof.
Thomas screamed as officers cuffed him.
Below, Emily closed her eyes.
It was over.
Then Ruiz’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her face became serious.
Emily groaned.
“No more secrets.”
Ruiz looked at her.
“This one is about your grandfather.”
Margaret stiffened.
“What?”
“The original ledger survived.”
“And?”
Ruiz looked at Emily.
“There’s another child listed in the trust.”
Emily stared.
May you like
“What other child?”
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