Chapter 6 - The Night Natalie Chose a Side
The elevator doors opened.
Samuel stepped out.
Blood covered one sleeve.
Claire ran toward him.
“What happened?”
“Someone attacked the car downstairs.”
“Who?”
“I didn't see his face.”
Adrian's security team surrounded the elevator.
Samuel handed Claire a small object.
A cassette.
“Gabriel gave me this before he disappeared.”
Claire stared.
“Where is he?”
Samuel shook his head.
“He said Richard was coming for him.”
Adrian took the cassette.
“Then we move.”
Claire looked at the address.
Her childhood home.
The place Thomas had sold twelve years earlier.
Except apparently he hadn't.
“Dad?”
Thomas looked guilty.
“I kept it through a trust.”
“Why?”
“Your mother's study.”
Claire understood.
“You never emptied it.”
“I couldn't.”
They left before police locked down the building.
Natalie sat beside Claire in the vehicle.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then Natalie said, “I hated that dress.”
Claire looked down at her silver-gray gown.
“What?”
“When you arrived tonight.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You've hated everything I've worn since 1998.”
“I know.”
Natalie looked at her.
“You looked beautiful.”
Claire stared.
“That might be the most terrifying thing you've said all night.”
Natalie laughed through tears.
Then her expression changed.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire's smile disappeared.
Natalie continued.
“For the gala. For all of it.”
Claire looked outside.
“You hurt me for years.”
“I know.”
“I don't know how to forgive that tonight.”
“You shouldn't.”
Claire turned.
Natalie's voice trembled.
“But if we survive tonight, I'd like the chance to become someone you might forgive eventually.”
Claire reached across the seat.
Natalie took her hand.
It wasn't forgiveness.
But it was a beginning.
They reached the Bennett house at 1:18 a.m.
It looked smaller than Claire remembered.
Thomas unlocked the front door.
Dust covered the furniture.
Claire walked through the hallway.
Family photographs remained.
One showed Evelyn standing behind her daughters.
Claire had forgotten how much Natalie looked like their mother when she smiled sincerely.
They entered Evelyn's study.
Thomas opened a hidden panel behind a bookshelf.
Inside was an old safe.
“Combination?” Adrian asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“Evelyn never told me.”
Claire looked around.
Her mother had loved puzzles.
Natalie stared at the pendants.
“Two halves.”
Claire understood.
They placed both pendants into matching indentations on the safe.
A click.
The safe opened.
Inside was a tape recorder.
A bundle of files.
And a letter.
Claire pressed PLAY.
Evelyn's voice filled the room.
“My name is Evelyn Bennett. If this recording is being played, something has happened to me.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Evelyn listed names.
Blackthorn officers.
Politicians.
Bankers.
Richard Mercer.
Gabriel Cross.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Gabriel Cross helped build this organization, but he later provided evidence against it. Richard Mercer ordered Daniel Vale's murder and attempted to frame Gabriel.”
Adrian froze.
His uncle.
The truth.
Evelyn continued.
“Victor and Gabriel are both guilty of terrible things. But Richard is responsible for the current killings. He has infiltrated both families.”
Claire looked at Thomas.
Evelyn's recording reached the night of the crash.
“Thomas and I are driving to federal authorities tomorrow. Richard knows. If we do not arrive, assume he stopped us.”
Thomas covered his face.
Claire took his hand.
For twenty-four years he had carried blame for surviving.
The recording continued.
“To Claire and Natalie: I love you equally. Natalie, if you ever believe I chose Claire over you, know that I sent you home because someone was already following us. Keeping you apart was the only way I could protect both daughters.”
Natalie began sobbing.
Claire put her arm around her.
“I never left you because I loved you less.”
Natalie whispered, “Mom.”
Then the tape clicked.
A second recording began.
Not Evelyn.
A man's voice.
Richard Mercer.
“Evelyn, you should have taken my offer.”
The recording appeared to have captured a confrontation.
Evelyn said, “You murdered Daniel Vale.”
Richard laughed.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“And Gabriel will take the blame for yours.”
A crash sounded.
The recording ended.
Adrian stood perfectly still.
“We have him.”
Thomas nodded.
“This is enough.”
A slow clap came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
An elderly man stood there.
Richard Mercer.
Alive.
Behind him, Gabriel was being held by two men.
Richard smiled.
“After twenty-four years, I'd hoped for a more dramatic reunion.”
Natalie stared.
“You're Daniel's father.”
“Yes.”
“You used him.”
“I educated him.”
“You turned him into you.”
Richard's smile faded.
“No. Daniel became weak.”
“He surrendered.”
“He failed.”
Natalie stepped forward.
“He chose not to become you.”
Richard raised a handgun.
Adrian moved in front of Claire.
Richard laughed.
“Victor's boy. Always theatrical.”
Gabriel said, “Richard, it's over.”
“Not yet.”
Claire looked at the recorder.
Richard followed her gaze.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
He pointed the gun at Natalie.
Claire froze.
“Give it to me.”
Natalie whispered, “Don't.”
Claire picked up the recorder.
Richard smiled.
“Good girl.”
She walked toward him.
Adrian said quietly, “Claire.”
She kept moving.
Richard held out his hand.
Claire stopped six feet away.
“You destroyed my family.”
Richard shrugged.
“Families are remarkably easy to destroy. You simply find the wound and keep touching it.”
Claire looked at Natalie.
For years, Richard's lie had lived inside their family.
The wound had done the rest.
Claire held out the recorder.
Richard reached.
Natalie suddenly threw her pendant across the room.
Richard turned instinctively.
Claire dropped.
Adrian moved.
Gabriel struck one guard.
Thomas tackled the other.
The gun fired.
The bullet hit the ceiling.
Adrian knocked Richard's weapon away.
Security flooded the house seconds later.
Richard was restrained.
Claire crawled toward Natalie.
“You okay?”
Natalie laughed hysterically.
“I threw Mom's pendant.”
Claire found it beneath the desk.
“Not even scratched.”
Natalie hugged her.
This time Claire hugged back.
Richard was taken outside.
Gabriel remained.
Adrian looked at him.
“You confessed to ordering my uncle's death.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I did.”
“Evelyn's tape says Richard ordered it.”
“I gave the first authorization. Richard executed it after I reconsidered.”
“So you're still guilty.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel extended his hands.
“Then let justice finish what Evelyn started.”
Police handcuffed him.
Claire watched her biological father leave.
She felt no daughterly grief.
Only relief that he had finally chosen truth.
Thomas stood beside her.
“I'm sorry.”
Claire looked at him.
“You're still my dad.”
He broke.
For the first time since Claire was a child, Thomas Bennett cried against his daughter's shoulder.
Dawn began illuminating the windows.
It should have felt finished.
Then Adrian's phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
Claire noticed.
“What?”
He lowered the phone.
“Daniel escaped police custody during the blackout.”
Natalie went pale.
Adrian continued.
“And he took something from the Beaumont before leaving.”
“What?”
“Arthur's sealed copy of your adoption records.”
Claire stared.
Then her own phone buzzed.
A message from Daniel.
One photograph.
A private airfield.
A small jet waiting.
Below it were six words.
COME ALONE OR I BURN EVERYTHING.
Claire looked toward the front door.
It was already open.
May you like
A black car was waiting outside.
And someone was sitting behind the wheel.
