Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WITH THE GUN
Margaret’s hand did not shake.
That frightened Adrian more than the weapon.
“Put the film down,” she said.
Rachel stepped between Margaret and the nursery.
“You followed us?”
“I came to stop this.”
Owen raised his gun. “Mrs. Westwood, lower the weapon.”
Margaret looked at him with exhausted contempt.
“You still believe you understand who you work for.”
Emma moved closer to Adrian.
Julian smiled. “There she is. The woman who saved one child by burning another.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“I tried to save both.”
“You locked the door.”
“To keep Charles out.”
“You poured fuel.”
“To destroy the observation equipment.”
“You heard me screaming.”
Margaret’s pistol lowered by an inch.
That was enough for Adrian to understand Julian’s accusation contained truth, but not all of it.
“Mother,” he said, “who started the fire?”
Margaret looked at the reel.
“Your father.”
Adrian felt the floor tilt beneath him.
“He believed the project had corrupted everyone. He planned to destroy the records and take both boys away. Charles discovered him. They fought. A lamp overturned.”
Julian’s scar tightened.
“Liar.”
“I opened the nursery door,” Margaret said. “Your father carried Adrian. I reached for you, but Charles pulled me back. He said you belonged to him.”
“You left.”
“I thought you died when the roof collapsed.”
“You hoped I did.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Perhaps part of me did.”
Julian lifted the remote.
Rachel shouted, “Daniel is still downstairs.”
“Then Margaret will confess.”
“I am confessing,” Margaret said.
“To us. Not the world.”
Adrian looked at the film reel.
“Why are you afraid of this?”
Margaret’s silence lasted too long.
Julian stepped toward her.
“That film shows what happened after the fire.”
“What happened?” Adrian asked.
Margaret’s eyes filled with a grief he had never seen.
“Your father made a choice.”
The house shook.
An explosion sounded from below.
The projector feed on Adrian’s phone vanished.
Rachel screamed Daniel’s name and ran for the door.
Owen followed.
Julian looked at the remote in confusion.
“I didn’t press it.”
Smoke rose through the stairwell.
A second explosion shattered the nursery windows. Snow and glass swept into the room.
Adrian threw Emma to the floor and covered her. Margaret lost her balance. The pistol slid beneath a bed.
Julian rushed toward the hidden compartment, reaching for the film.
Adrian struck him.
They fell against the burned wall.
Julian fought with the precision of someone trained, not enraged. He drove an elbow into Adrian’s ribs and reached for the reel again. Adrian caught his wrist.
“You planned this,” Adrian said.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Fear entered Julian’s eyes.
“The architect.”
Before Adrian could ask, a gunshot sounded.
Julian jerked backward.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Margaret stood behind him with the recovered pistol.
“Take Emma,” she told Adrian. “Get out.”
Julian fell to one knee.
“You always shoot the child you cannot control.”
Margaret’s face collapsed.
Adrian picked up Emma and carried her into the corridor.
Smoke filled the stairs. Below, Rachel and Owen dragged Daniel through the drawing room. Madison was gone. One chair remained, ropes cut cleanly.
The exterior doors had locked.
Owen fired at the glass, but the windows were reinforced.
“The house is sealing itself,” he shouted.
Sophie’s warning returned to Adrian.
The house would wake up.
He looked at the brass key in his hand.
“Emma, where did the other man tell you to go after the nursery?”
“The kitchen clock.”
They reached the kitchen through a smoke-filled passage. An old iron clock hung above the hearth.
Emma pointed.
Adrian inserted the brass key into a slot beneath the clock face.
The entire pantry wall opened, revealing a stone tunnel descending beneath the house.
They escaped seconds before flames consumed the west staircase.
Outside, police and firefighters moved through the snow.
Rachel knelt beside Daniel.
He was thinner, bruised, and barely conscious, but alive.
Emma touched his face.
“Daddy?”
Daniel opened his eyes.
For one beautiful second, Rachel believed the nightmare had ended.
Then Daniel looked at Adrian and whispered, “You brought Margaret?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s expression filled with terror.
“Then Madison has what she wanted.”
“What?”
“The film.”
Adrian turned toward the burning nursery windows.
A figure in a blue gown stood behind the glass, holding the reel.
May you like
Madison smiled through the flames.
Then the roof collapsed.
