Chapter 11 - FIVE MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
“But I didn’t plan on surviving long enough to watch them fail.”
Emma’s words hung in the underground corridor.
Nathan stared at her.
Rebecca did too.
Even Hayes seemed momentarily speechless.
Then Evelyn whispered.
“Midnight already passed.”
Emma looked at the old wall clock.
12:18 a.m.
“Yes.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“So Rosa already sent everything?”
“If she followed my instructions.”
Nathan frowned.
“If?”
Emma looked at him.
“I couldn’t tell her what she was carrying.”
“Why?”
“Because the less she knew, the safer she was.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“You trusted Rosa more than me.”
Emma met his eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt.
She saw it.
But she did not take it back.
Nathan looked away.
He had earned that answer.
Hayes checked his phone again.
Still no signal.
“If Rosa sent those files, Margaret will know soon.”
Emma nodded.
“Exactly.”
Rebecca looked toward the dark corridor.
“That makes her more dangerous.”
“No.”
Emma shook her head.
“It makes her desperate.”
Rebecca frowned.
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at her mother.
“People like Margaret are strongest when everyone else believes they have control.”
“She has spent decades deciding what people know.”
“What they believe.”
“What they fear.”
Emma tightened her hand around the flash drive.
“Tonight she doesn’t know what has already escaped.”
Hayes looked at her.
“So you want to bluff.”
Emma nodded.
“I want her to think this is still the only copy.”
Nathan immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Emma looked at him.
“No what?”
“No walking into that room.”
“My father is there.”
“He’s my father.”
Emma’s expression softened slightly.
“I know.”
“Then let me go.”
“She asked for me.”
“I don’t care.”
“She will.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“You’re injured.”
“So is Hayes.”
Hayes muttered.
“Thank you.”
Emma ignored him.
Nathan continued.
“You were pushed down a staircase less than three hours ago.”
“And I’m still standing.”
“Barely.”
Emma’s face hardened.
“Do not confuse injured with helpless.”
Nathan stopped.
He had done exactly that.
Again.
Emma saw the realization.
She lowered her voice.
“I need you to trust me once.”
Nathan stared at her.
The words landed harder than any accusation.
Once.
After nine years of marriage.
Once.
Nathan slowly nodded.
“What do you need?”
Emma looked at Rebecca.
“How many entrances to the archive room?”
Rebecca thought.
“Two.”
“Main corridor?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“A maintenance passage behind the old boiler room.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Can we access it?”
“If Margaret hasn’t sealed it.”
Hayes checked his weapon.
“I’ll take the maintenance passage.”
Rebecca immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Hayes looked at her.
“You have a better idea?”
“Yes.”
“You stay where I can see you.”
Hayes sighed.
“Rebecca.”
“You lied to me for years.”
“And you disappeared for six.”
“Correct.”
Hayes stared.
Rebecca continued.
“Neither of those facts makes me want you behind me with a gun.”
Emma interrupted.
“Nathan and Rebecca take the maintenance passage.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You’re sending me away from you?”
“I’m putting you where Margaret won’t expect you.”
“And you?”
Emma looked at Hayes.
“I go with him.”
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“No.”
Hayes almost smiled.
Emma raised one hand.
“You said you would trust me.”
Nathan clenched his jaw.
“I already regret it.”
“Good.”
She looked at Rebecca.
“Can you get him there?”
Rebecca nodded.
Emma turned to Evelyn.
“You stay here.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“Alone?”
“You’re safer behind the steel door.”
Evelyn looked terrified.
“Emma…”
“You can lock it from inside.”
“What if Mom comes back?”
“She won’t.”
“How do you know?”
Emma looked toward the archive corridor.
“Because she wants me.”
Evelyn stared at her.
Then tears filled her eyes again.
“I really am sorry.”
Emma said nothing.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“I know that doesn’t matter right now.”
Emma looked at her.
“It matters.”
Evelyn’s face lifted slightly.
“But it doesn’t erase anything.”
The hope disappeared.
Emma continued.
“You pushed me.”
“You lied.”
“You tried to make everyone believe I attacked you.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I know.”
“You will answer for that.”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at her for another second.
“But answering for what you did does not mean you deserve what Margaret did to you.”
Evelyn’s lips trembled.
Emma opened the steel door.
“Get inside.”
Evelyn obeyed.
Nathan looked at his sister.
“I’ll come back.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Get Dad.”
Nathan closed the door.
Evelyn locked it from inside.
Rebecca led Nathan toward the maintenance corridor.
Before he followed, Nathan turned back.
He looked at Emma.
Neither spoke.
Then he walked toward her.
He gently touched her cheek.
Emma did not pull away.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
“For which part?”
Nathan swallowed.
“For making you prove everything before I believed anything.”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“This isn’t the time.”
“I know.”
He leaned closer.
“But I don’t know what happens in five minutes.”
Emma stared at him.
Nathan whispered.
“So I’m saying it now.”
Emma nodded once.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
He looked at her stomach.
Then back into her eyes.
“Both of you.”
Emma’s voice broke slightly.
“Go.”
Nathan followed Rebecca.
Their footsteps disappeared.
Emma looked at Hayes.
He was pressing gauze against his wounded shoulder.
“You ready?”
“No.”
Hayes looked surprised.
Emma continued.
“But we’re going anyway.”
They moved down the corridor.
The archive room was approximately sixty yards away.
Each step became harder.
Emma’s abdomen tightened.
She stopped.
Hayes immediately turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That didn’t look like nothing.”
“Keep moving.”
“Emma.”
She stared at him.
“Do you want the ledger?”
Hayes’s face hardened.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend everything I did was about the ledger.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“No.”
Emma studied him.
Hayes continued.
“I loved your mother.”
Emma said nothing.
“I still do.”
“That doesn’t make you trustworthy.”
“I know.”
Emma resumed walking.
Hayes followed.
After several steps, he spoke again.
“I should have told her about my father.”
“Yes.”
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I thought I could fix what he did.”
Emma stopped.
She looked at him.
“You people keep saying that.”
Hayes frowned.
“What?”
“Fix.”
“Protect.”
“Save.”
She shook her head.
“Every person who lied to me had a beautiful word for it.”
Hayes looked down.
Emma continued.
“My mother lied to protect me.”
“Nathan dismissed me to protect his family.”
“You hid evidence to protect an investigation.”
“Charles forged documents to save his company.”
“Margaret destroyed lives to protect the Whitmore name.”
Emma stepped closer.
“Maybe the problem isn’t the reason.”
“Maybe the problem is believing your reason gives you the right to decide what everyone else is allowed to know.”
Hayes had no answer.
Emma continued toward the archive.
They reached a steel door.
Hayes checked his weapon.
Emma held up the flash drive.
Then she knocked.
A lock clicked.
The door opened.
Margaret stood inside.
Her pistol was aimed directly at Emma.
“Come in.”
Hayes raised his gun.
Margaret smiled.
“Detective.”
She shifted her weapon.
A second figure appeared behind Charles.
Richard.
His gun was pressed against his brother’s neck.
Charles sat in a wooden chair.
His hands were tied.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
Nathan’s father looked at Emma.
“Don’t.”
Margaret smiled.
“Charles.”
She sounded annoyed.
“Your daughter-in-law came all this way.”
“Show some gratitude.”
Emma stepped inside.
Hayes followed.
Margaret pointed toward the floor.
“Gun.”
Hayes did not move.
Richard pressed his weapon harder against Charles.
“Daniel.”
Hayes looked at Emma.
Emma nodded.
He slowly placed his gun down.
Richard kicked it away.
Margaret looked at Emma.
“The drive.”
Emma held it up.
“Charles first.”
Margaret laughed.
“You really believe you’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
Margaret’s smile disappeared.
Emma continued.
“You need this more than I need Charles.”
Charles looked at her.
“Emma.”
She ignored him.
Margaret stepped closer.
“You have always overestimated yourself.”
“No.”
Emma looked around the archive room.
Shelves held decades of files.
Boxes.
Ledgers.
Old computer drives.
Everything Margaret had tried to hide.
“I underestimated you.”
Margaret seemed pleased.
“For years.”
Emma continued.
“I thought you were cruel because you didn’t like me.”
“I thought you hated that Nathan married someone without money.”
“I thought you were a snob.”
Margaret raised an eyebrow.
Emma smiled faintly.
“I didn’t realize you were afraid of me.”
Margaret’s face changed.
Richard noticed.
So did Charles.
Emma continued.
“You knew who I was before I did.”
Margaret said nothing.
“You knew I was Rebecca Bennett’s daughter.”
“When?”
Emma asked.
Margaret stared.
“When did you find out?”
Silence.
Emma stepped closer.
“My wedding?”
Margaret smiled.
“Earlier.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“How much earlier?”
“The first night Nathan brought you home.”
Emma froze.
Margaret continued.
“You have your grandfather’s eyes.”
Emma’s hand tightened around the flash drive.
“You recognized me.”
“Immediately.”
“And you let Nathan marry me.”
Margaret laughed.
“Do you know how useful it was?”
Emma stared.
“Keeping the last Bennett heir inside my house?”
Nathan was not there to hear it.
But Charles was.
His face changed.
“Margaret.”
She ignored him.
“I could watch you.”
“I could watch what you knew.”
“I could make sure Rebecca never contacted you.”
Emma felt sick.
“And when I became pregnant?”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“That complicated things.”
Emma instinctively touched her stomach.
Margaret noticed.
“You see?”
“That.”
“That ridiculous instinct.”
“You think carrying a Whitmore child makes you untouchable.”
Emma stared.
“No.”
Margaret smiled.
“It made you dangerous.”
Emma’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Margaret did not answer.
Charles did.
“Because the baby is a Bennett heir too.”
Margaret turned sharply.
“Shut up.”
Emma looked at Charles.
He stared at her.
“The original partnership agreement.”
Emma’s heartbeat quickened.
“What about it?”
Charles swallowed.
“Samuel included a succession clause.”
Margaret raised her gun toward him.
“I said shut up.”
Charles continued.
“If his direct bloodline survived—”
Richard struck him across the face.
Charles groaned.
Emma stepped forward.
“Stop!”
Margaret looked at Charles.
“You always were weak.”
Charles lifted his head.
Blood ran down his cheek.
He looked at Emma.
“If a Bennett heir could prove the transfer was fraudulent…”
Margaret screamed.
“ENOUGH!”
The gunshot exploded.
Emma screamed.
Charles jerked.
For one terrible second, Emma thought he had been hit.
Then she saw the bullet hole in the chair beside his leg.
Margaret was breathing hard.
Her composure was gone.
Charles stared at his wife.
“You missed.”
Margaret’s hand shook.
Charles smiled bitterly.
“You never used to miss.”
Something changed in Richard’s expression.
Emma saw it.
Margaret did too.
She looked toward him.
“Richard.”
Richard slowly lowered his gun from Charles’s neck.
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you doing?”
Richard looked at his brother.
Then at Margaret.
“Twelve years.”
Margaret stared.
“What?”
“Twelve years underground.”
Richard’s voice became colder.
“Twelve years living under fake names.”
“No family.”
“No life.”
“No sunlight unless you allowed it.”
Margaret tightened her grip.
“We protected you.”
Richard laughed.
“You buried me.”
“You would have gone to prison.”
“Maybe I should have.”
Margaret stared.
Richard looked at Emma.
“Give her the drive.”
Emma did not move.
Richard continued.
“Give it to her.”
Margaret smiled.
Then Richard finished.
“And let her find out.”
Margaret’s smile vanished.
“Find out what?”
May you like
Richard looked at her.
“That Emma already won.”
