CHAPTER 5 — THE FATHER WHO WOULD NOT DIE

Mara fired at the security camera.

The screen shattered, but the gas continued.

“Cover your mouths!” she shouted.

Evelyn pulled a fire alarm.

Nothing happened.

Clara stumbled toward one of the archive shelves.

“There’s an emergency release.”

“Where?” Julian demanded.

“Behind the Bennett file.”

Julian found the box carrying Clara’s name and ripped it free. Behind it was a red lever.

He pulled.

For one terrible second, nothing changed.

Then ventilation fans roared above them.

The gas reversed direction and disappeared into the ceiling.

Clara collapsed.

Julian caught her before she hit the floor.

“Why did you sign the order?” he asked.

Tears filled the old woman’s eyes.

“Because Conrad had my daughter.”

Julian stared at her.

“He threatened to kill her unless I approved Helena’s death. I told myself I had no choice.”

“There is always a choice.”

“I know.”

Clara pressed a small drive into his palm.

“That’s why I spent twenty years preparing to destroy him.”

The vault doors suddenly opened.

Armed men entered.

At their center stood Conrad Ashford.

At seventy-four, he moved slowly but carried the same terrifying authority Julian remembered from childhood.

Sebastian walked beside him.

Conrad looked at Julian with disappointment.

“I gave you an empire.”

“You murdered my mother.”

“She was willing to destroy everything our family built.”

“She was trying to stop a criminal.”

Conrad smiled.

“Criminals hide from power. I created power.”

He looked at Evelyn.

“You were always the weak point.”

Julian stepped in front of her.

“You kept her prisoner.”

“I kept her alive because Sebastian asked me to.”

Julian turned toward his brother.

Sebastian’s face tightened.

Conrad continued.

“He loved her too. Didn’t you know?”

Evelyn looked at Sebastian with disgust.

“You told Conrad about the evidence I found.”

Sebastian lowered his eyes.

“I thought he would frighten you into silence.”

“He locked me underground for four years.”

“I didn’t know he would go that far.”

“You knew enough.”

Conrad raised his hand.

The armed men aimed their weapons.

“Give me the drive, Julian.”

“What’s on it?”

“Everything Clara stole from me.”

Julian held it up.

“Then you need me alive.”

“I need the drive. You are optional.”

A gunshot exploded.

Clara fell backward.

Sebastian stood frozen, smoke rising from the weapon in his hand.

But he had not shot Clara.

He had shot Conrad’s lead guard.

Chaos erupted.

Mara fired at the lights.

Evelyn pulled Julian behind an archive shelf.

Sebastian turned his gun on his father.

“Let them go.”

Conrad stared at him.

“You finally found courage.”

“No,” Sebastian said. “I finally understood that you were never going to give me the company.”

Conrad laughed.

“So this is about the company?”

“It was always about the company.”

Julian stepped from behind the shelf.

Sebastian glanced at him.

For one brief moment, they were brothers again.

Then Sebastian pointed the gun at Julian.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

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“You were always his favorite.”

He fired.