Chapter 14 - The Night the House Went Dark
The basement emergency lights flashed red.
Maya swore.
"Someone killed the main power."
Nathan heard glass break upstairs.
Police shouted outside.
Then the terminal began deleting files.
"No," Maya said.
She dropped into the chair and started typing.
"They're wiping Aurora remotely."
Rebecca opened Thomas's ledger.
"We have paper."
"Not enough," Maya said. "The server links the signatures to the outside partners."
Graham moved toward the stairs.
Nathan grabbed his arm.
"Where are you going?"
"There is a backup line in Anne's study."
"How do you know?"
"Because I've been using this system for twelve years."
The honesty was ugly and useful.
They ran upstairs.
A man in a black jacket came through the kitchen.
Nathan recognized Leo Mercer's build but not the face.
The intruder lunged for Rebecca's document case.
She slammed a chair into his knees.
Graham tackled him.
For a moment, the two brothers who had spent half their lives competing were on the floor together, fighting the same stranger.
Police rushed in seconds later.
Maya reached Anne's study and connected a portable drive to the backup line.
"Thirty seconds."
Nathan watched the progress bar crawl.
72 percent.
81.
The terminal downstairs went silent.
"They killed the server," Maya said.
The drive light stopped blinking.
"How much?"
"Ninety-four percent."
Rebecca exhaled.
"Enough?"
Maya looked at the files.
"Enough to burn down a lot of careers."
The arrested intruder refused to speak.
But his phone contained a single active conversation under the name FG.
One message had arrived minutes earlier.
IF ARCHER FAMILY CANNOT CONTAIN SUBJECTS, INITIATE PUBLIC DISCREDIT.
Attached were prepared news stories accusing Rebecca of fraud, Nathan of mental instability, and Margaret of dementia.
They were ready to destroy all three at once.
Sarah read the drafts and looked at Nathan.
"You cannot fight this privately anymore."
Nathan knew she was right.
The Archer Foundation board met the next morning.
So did reporters.
Before leaving the house, Rebecca found Lucy coloring on the floor.
"What are you drawing?"
"The man from the library."
Nathan knelt beside her.
The figure had white hair, a cane, and a dark coat.
"Grandpa Tom?"
Lucy nodded.
Then she drew something on the man's hand.
A ring.
Margaret saw it and made a sound like she had been hit.
"What?" Nathan asked.
She pointed at the ring.
A black oval with a thin gold line.
"That wasn't Thomas's ring."
Rebecca looked up.
"Whose was it?"
Margaret's lips trembled.
"Anne's husband wore one exactly like that."
Nathan stared at the drawing.
The man blamed for destroying Margaret's sister had supposedly died twenty-six years ago.
And Lucy said he had spoken to her last year.
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