Chapter 12 - The Sister’s Confession
Marcus climbed into the shaft.
Rachel ran toward the generator stairs with Adrian and Thomas.
Victor remained beside Daniel, but only for a moment.
Then he followed.
They reached the upper maintenance corridor and found the generator room door locked.
From inside, Celeste’s voice came through the radio.
“No one enters.”
Rachel struck the door.
“Let her go.”
“She is safe.”
“You have a gun.”
“Yes. That is why the others are keeping their distance.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Celeste, open the door.”
His sister laughed softly.
“You always believed commands were the same as power.”
“Are you behind the Circle?”
“No.”
“Then who is?”
Celeste did not answer.
Rachel heard Emily breathing into the radio.
“Sweetheart, are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Stay calm.”
“I am calm.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
She was proud and terrified in equal measure.
Celeste spoke again.
“I did not come for Emily. I came for what she opened.”
“The gray box?” Thomas asked.
“Very good.”
Victor looked at the others.
“What is inside it?”
Celeste laughed.
“You never knew. Leonard kept secrets even from his favorite child.”
“I was his only son.”
“No. You were simply the son he kept.”
The generator room door opened a few inches.
Celeste pushed a metal case into the corridor.
“Take this to Daniel.”
Rachel reached for the case.
Victor stopped her.
“It may be explosive.”
Celeste’s voice hardened.
“If I wanted you dead, I would have let the furnace finish.”
Thomas examined the case and opened it.
Inside was a reel of microfilm and an antique brass key.
Victor stared at them.
“What does it open?”
Celeste opened the door wider.
She stood behind Emily with one hand on the child’s shoulder. The gun pointed toward the floor.
“You have spent your life believing the Bennett Rose protected a financial ledger,” she said. “It protects a confession.”
“Whose confession?”
“Father’s.”
Rachel extended her hand.
“Send Emily out.”
Celeste looked down at the child.
“You have Daniel’s eyes.”
Emily moved toward the door.
Celeste released her.
Rachel pulled her daughter into her arms.
Victor entered the generator room.
“Why did you help them escape the ballroom?”
“I did not.”
“Then why warn Rachel?”
“Because I knew you planned to use Emily to open the vault.”
“You told the Circle.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
“No. Someone intercepted my message to Adrian.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You sent the message telling me to take Rachel to the river road?”
“Yes.”
“Thomas received a message from Daniel’s account.”
Celeste looked surprised.
“That was not me.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“Who else had access?”
“Daniel. Jonah. You.”
All eyes turned toward Thomas.
He shook his head.
“I did not send it.”
Victor reached for the brass key.
Celeste raised the gun.
“Do not.”
“It belongs to me.”
“It belongs to Daniel’s heir.”
Victor looked toward Emily.
Rachel blocked his view.
“Nothing belongs to her unless I decide it does.”
Celeste studied Rachel.
“Then decide carefully. That key opens a deposit box in Switzerland. Inside is Leonard’s complete record of the Circle’s founding.”
“The Circle existed before your daughter disappeared,” Daniel said from the corridor.
He was being supported by Marcus and Mrs. Bell.
Celeste’s eyes widened.
“You are awake.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You knew I was here.”
“I suspected.”
“You left medicine in the service lift.”
Victor turned.
“You kept him alive too?”
Celeste lowered the gun.
“Someone had to.”
Daniel approached the case.
“The microfilm contains Leonard’s confession?”
“Part of it.”
“Where is the rest?”
Celeste looked toward the security camera in the corner.
“Not here.”
The camera’s red light activated.
A woman’s voice filled the room.
“Celeste, step away from the child.”
Celeste’s face drained of color.
Victor looked upward.
“Who are you?”
The woman ignored him.
“Daniel Carter, you have been difficult to bury.”
Daniel gripped the doorframe.
Rachel recognized the voice but could not place it.
The woman continued.
“Thomas, you brought the key exactly as instructed.”
Thomas stared at the camera.
“I do not work for you.”
“You always have.”
A small device inside Thomas’s jacket began beeping.
He pulled it out.
The flash drive.
A message appeared on its surface.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
Thomas looked horrified.
“The drive was not a key,” the woman said. “It was a transmitter.”
Every file on Thomas’s remote server had just been copied.
Victor turned on him.
“You gave the Circle everything.”
“No.”
“You led them to the witnesses.”
“I did not know.”
The woman’s voice softened.
“Of course you didn’t. That is why you were useful.”
May you like
The camera rotated toward Emily.
“Now bring me the girl.”
