Chapter 13 - The Dead Man Returns
Daniel Price had been declared dead for six years.
The bridge story had been wrong.
Richard had seen two men go over the barrier.
Arthur’s body had been recovered downstream.
The second body found days later had been too damaged for visual identification.
Dental records had supposedly confirmed Daniel Price.
Those records had been falsified.
By Detective Pike.
Price had survived.
And if Richard was telling the truth, he had spent seven years watching everyone blame the dead.
Marcus traced financial activity linked to one of Price’s old shell companies.
Recent.
Large.
A payment to Michael Harlan.
Another to Detective Pike.
Another to a private contractor who had installed the Vale estate’s old surveillance systems.
Emma stared at the records.
“He heard everything.”
Adrian nodded.
“For years.”
“Vanessa.”
“Richard.”
“Mrs. Whitmore.”
“All of us.”
Daniel Price had not returned.
He had never left.
Eleanor sat near the fireplace.
“Arthur was afraid of him.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I believed he died.”
“So did everyone.”
Emma thought of the stolen recording.
The kidnapping.
The fire.
Harlan had been working for Price.
Not simply revenge.
Cleanup.
“Why poison Richard now?” Emma asked.
“Because Richard confessed.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“And because the final will surfaced.”
Lucy entered the room.
“You said no secrets.”
Everyone stopped.
Emma stood.
“You should be asleep.”
“That is not an answer.”
Adrian looked almost proud.
Lucy folded her arms.
“I heard Daniel Price.”
Emma exchanged a look with Adrian.
He nodded.
So Emma told her.
Not every gruesome detail.
But enough.
When she finished, Lucy asked, “Does he want my shares?”
“Probably.”
“Can he have them?”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
“If that makes him leave us alone.”
Emma’s heart hurt.
Adrian knelt.
“No.”
“I don’t care about the company.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because this isn’t about money anymore.”
Lucy looked at him.
“It’s about teaching you something I learned too late.”
“What?”
“You don’t pay people to stop hurting you.”
His voice hardened.
“You stop them.”
Lucy nodded slowly.
Then said, “Okay.”
She looked toward Emma.
“But I still hate the company.”
Adrian smiled.
“So do I some days.”
Marcus entered.
“We found Price.”
Everyone stood.
“Where?”
Adrian asked.
Marcus placed a satellite image on the table.
Vale Tower.
Manhattan.
Emma stared.
“He’s in your office?”
“Not mine.”
Marcus zoomed lower.
“Arthur’s old private floor.”
Adrian frowned.
“It’s sealed.”
“Someone activated elevators there two hours ago.”
Price had chosen the heart of the company.
Not a hiding place.
A stage.
Adrian understood.
“He wants us to come.”
Emma said, “Why?”
Eleanor answered.
“Because Arthur died before Daniel could make him watch everything fall apart.”
The trip to Manhattan felt like entering a trap willingly.
Because it was.
Marcus’s tactical team entered Vale Tower first.
No alarms.
No employees.
The building had been evacuated after an anonymous bomb threat.
Price controlled the timing.
Adrian, Emma, and Marcus reached Arthur’s old floor.
The elevator opened.
Daniel Price stood behind Arthur Vale’s desk.
Older.
Thin.
Scar running down his left cheek.
Alive.
Emma recognized him from photographs.
“Emma Carter.”
His smile turned her stomach.
“You look like Sarah.”
Emma’s hands curled.
“You killed her.”
Price shrugged.
“Technically, medication killed her.”
Adrian moved.
Marcus stopped him.
Price held up a remote.
“Bomb?”
Adrian asked.
Price smiled.
“Files.”
Screens across the room lit up.
Thousands of documents.
Vale corruption.
Bellamy payments.
North Lake trials.
Arthur’s affairs.
Private settlements.
Everything.
“One button,” Price said.
“And every news organization in the world gets the archive.”
Adrian stared.
“Do it.”
Price blinked.
“What?”
“Send it.”
Emma looked at Adrian.
So did Marcus.
Adrian stepped closer.
“You think I’m going to protect this?”
Price’s smile faded.
“You’ll lose the company.”
“Maybe.”
“Your father’s name.”
“Already gone.”
“Your mother’s reputation.”
Eleanor wasn’t there.
Adrian’s expression remained cold.
“She deserves the truth too.”
“Your sister’s privacy.”
Adrian stopped.
Price smiled.
There.
The weakness.
Emma stepped forward.
“Leave Lucy out.”
Price looked at her.
“She owns forty percent.”
“She’s thirteen.”
“She’s leverage.”
Adrian’s voice became lethal.
“If you publish her medical records or address—”
Price laughed.
“You’ll what?”
Adrian said nothing.
Price leaned forward.
“This is what your father never understood.”
“Everyone has a price.”
Adrian looked at the screens.
“No.”
“Everyone.”
“No.”
“You do.”
Price pointed toward Emma.
Adrian’s eyes shifted.
Emma felt it.
Price smiled.
“Interesting.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“You want the will,” Adrian said.
“I want control.”
“You can’t have it.”
“I already do.”
The screens changed.
Live camera.
Vale estate.
Lucy walking down a hallway.
Emma stopped breathing.
Another camera.
Eleanor.
Another.
Carol.
Price had access again.
Adrian’s face hardened.
Marcus whispered into his radio.
No response.
Price smiled.
“You brought your best security to Manhattan.”
Emma felt sick.
He had drawn them away.
“Who is at the house?” Adrian asked.
Price looked at the remote.
“A man who believes Richard Bellamy owes him a great deal of money.”
“Who?”
Price smiled.
“Someone you forgot.”
Emma’s phone rang.
Lucy.
She answered instantly.
“Lucy?”
A man spoke.
“Bring the original will to Ridgeway Bridge.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Again.
The bridge.
Everything always returned there.
Price said, “You have forty minutes.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You’re coming with us.”
Price laughed.
“No.”
Marcus moved.
Price pressed the remote.
One screen showed flames igniting in the Vale estate library.
Emma stared.
He had rigged the house.
Price’s smile widened.
“Now you understand control.”
Adrian looked at him for a long moment.
Then smiled.
It frightened everyone.
Price’s expression changed.
Adrian said, “No.”
He pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending it.”
Adrian called the company’s emergency communications director.
“Release the archive.”
Price went still.
“What?”
“Everything we verified.”
“North Lake.”
“Bellamy.”
“My father.”
“My mother.”
“All of it.”
Price stared.
“You’ll destroy Vale Holdings.”
Adrian looked at him.
“No.”
“I’m going to find out if it deserves to survive.”
Price lunged for the remote.
Marcus tackled him.
May you like
Emma ran.
The race to Ridgeway Bridge began while the first headlines about the Vale scandal hit every phone in America.
