Chapter 12 - The Choice at Blackwood House
Victor’s gun fired as he fell.
The bullet struck the stone fireplace.
Callum threw himself over Maren and Owen.
The bound minister dropped behind the chair.
Helena pulled Adrian’s wheelchair toward the wall while Elias attacked one of Victor’s men.
Patricia’s guards opened fire.
Glass shattered.
White roses burst apart beneath the bullets.
Maren covered Owen’s ears and pressed his face against her shoulder.
“Don’t look.”
Callum crawled toward Victor’s fallen gun.
A man kicked it away.
Callum caught his ankle and dragged him down.
They struck the floor together.
Across the hall, Patricia seized the ledger.
“Take the child!” she shouted.
One of her guards ran toward Maren.
Mrs. Alvarez appeared from the side corridor holding a cast-iron pan.
She struck the guard behind the knee.
He collapsed.
“Maren, go!”
Maren did not ask how the housekeeper had found them.
She grabbed Owen and ran toward the corridor.
A shot struck the wall beside her.
Callum shouted.
She reached the side door, but Patricia stepped in front of it.
The ledger was tucked beneath her arm.
In one hand, she held a small pistol.
“Give him to me.”
Maren moved Owen behind her.
“You will have to kill me.”
“That can be arranged.”
“You need me alive.”
“Victor needed you alive. I do not.”
Owen clutched Maren’s dress.
Patricia aimed.
Before she could fire, Edmund stepped between them.
The bullet struck him beneath the shoulder.
He stumbled into Maren.
Patricia stared at the gun as though it had fired by itself.
“Father.”
Edmund fell.
Maren lowered him carefully to the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Patricia’s hand began to shake.
“You moved.”
Edmund looked at her.
“You were aiming at a child.”
“I was aiming at her.”
“That is not better.”
Callum reached them and knocked the gun from Patricia’s hand.
He caught her wrist before she could run.
For a moment, mother and son faced each other over Edmund’s bleeding body.
Patricia’s expression twisted.
“You chose them.”
“Yes.”
“After everything I protected for you.”
“You protected nothing for me.”
“I kept the company in your name.”
“You kept it under your control.”
“I made you powerful.”
“You made me afraid to disappoint you.”
The words seemed to wound her more than any accusation.
Sirens sounded outside.
Police vehicles surrounded the house.
Victor lay near the fireplace, conscious but bleeding. His remaining men dropped their weapons.
Helena knelt beside Edmund and pressed cloth against his wound.
“Stay awake.”
Adrian’s wheelchair had overturned during the gunfire.
Elias helped him sit against the wall.
Adrian looked across the hall at Owen.
The old man smiled faintly.
“There you are.”
Owen stared at him.
“Are you my grandpa?”
“Your great-grandfather.”
“I already have one.”
Adrian looked at Edmund.
“Yes,” he said. “You do.”
Police entered the hall.
Patricia did not resist when they took her.
She looked only at Callum.
“You will lose everything.”
Callum placed one hand on Owen’s head.
“No.”
Patricia laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand what is in that vault.”
“The recording.”
“More than the recording.”
Officers led her away.
As she passed Maren, she whispered, “Ask Elias why he returned this week.”
Maren looked at him.
Elias had heard.
His face closed.
Paramedics carried Edmund outside.
Adrian was placed on a stretcher, though he protested weakly.
Victor was handcuffed to another.
The ledger remained on the floor.
Callum picked it up.
A metal key slid from between its pages.
The key bore three engraved initials.
O.M.B.
Owen Michael Bellweather.
Owen looked at it.
“That’s my name.”
Maren’s heart stopped.
His legal surname was Hayes.
No document outside her personal records listed Michael as his middle name.
Yet the key had been engraved before they arrived.
May you like
Someone had known exactly who Owen was.
And had been waiting for him.
