Chapter 11 - Patricia's Real Claim
Victoria grabbed the phone.
"No."
Patricia's daughter looked terrified.
Early twenties.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
"Who is she?"
Victoria's voice cracked.
Patricia heard through the video.
"Her name is Sophie."
Victoria stepped back.
"No."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She stared at the girl's face.
"She looks like Samuel."
Patricia smiled.
"Good."
The video ended.
Victoria sat hard.
Marcus said, "We need location."
I said, "Later. Explain."
Victoria covered her mouth.
"My father had another child?"
"Maybe."
"With Patricia?"
Marcus looked at the old records.
Then everything clicked too slowly.
Patricia.
Samuel.
Cross-Vance Holdings.
The years.
The family photographs.
Victoria whispered, "Patricia is too old to be his daughter."
I looked at her.
"His daughter?"
She froze.
Marcus opened the old personnel file.
Patricia Cross.
Birth certificate unavailable.
Raised under another surname.
Adopted at fourteen.
The adoption papers sealed.
He looked up.
"Emily."
"No."
He searched another file.
Samuel Vance.
Age difference.
Twenty-three years.
Victoria stood.
"Patricia is my sister."
Nobody answered.
Her face collapsed.
"Half-sister."
The word hung.
Marcus nodded slowly.
"Possible."
My phone rang.
Peter.
I answered.
"You saw Sophie."
"Who is she?"
"Patricia's daughter."
"With whom?"
Silence.
"Peter."
"Michael."
Daniel's father.
Of course.
The network was not a conspiracy between families.
It was a family.
"Where is Patricia?"
Peter gave us an address.
Abandoned Hale textile property outside Annapolis.
Marcus looked at me.
"Could be a trap."
"It is."
Victoria stood.
"We go anyway."
At the property, police stayed back.
Patricia had threatened Daniel and Sophie.
I entered with Victoria and Marcus.
The building smelled like wet concrete.
Daniel sat tied to a chair.
Sophie beside him.
Patricia held the gun.
The black Vance ledger sat on a crate.
She had it already.
I stopped.
"You wanted me here."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you have the real ledger."
I laughed.
"You stole it."
"A copy."
Victoria stared at her.
"Samuel was your father."
Patricia's face hardened.
"He was a coward."
"He was my father."
"He was mine first."
Victoria recoiled.
Patricia continued.
"He left my mother. Built another life. Had you. Then pretended I was a bad investment he'd rather write off."
Sophie whispered, "Mom."
Patricia ignored her.
I said, "So you stole from him."
"I took what he owed me."
"And from my family?"
"Jonathan hid Samuel's assets inside Hale companies."
"Because Samuel was gathering evidence against you."
Patricia's hand tightened on the gun.
"He betrayed me."
Victoria's eyes filled.
"You killed him."
"No."
"You tried to kill me."
"Yes."
The admission cracked through the room.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Victoria stopped moving.
Patricia looked at me.
"Now give me the original."
"What original?"
"The proof of ownership."
"I don't have it."
"Jonathan did."
"He hid evidence, not an inheritance."
Patricia's mouth twitched.
"You still believe that."
A click came from behind her.
Marcus had triggered his body camera.
Patricia noticed.
She fired.
The bullet hit the wall.
Police surged in.
Daniel dropped sideways.
Victoria lunged for Sophie.
Patricia ran through a rear door.
I followed before anyone could stop me.
She reached an old loading bay.
Dead end.
She turned the gun on me.
"Your father stole my life."
"No."
"He stole Samuel's file."
"To stop you."
"To own it."
I shook my head.
"You spent thirty years confusing possession with ownership."
Her finger tightened.
A voice came behind her.
Daniel.
Bloody.
Free.
"Mom."
Patricia turned.
That was enough.
I hit her wrist with a metal pipe.
The gun dropped.
Police took her down.
Daniel stared at me.
I stared back.
Nothing between us survived.
Then Patricia began laughing from the floor.
"You think this ends with me?"
I looked at her.
She smiled through blood on her lip.
"Ask Marcus what happened the night you were born."
Marcus went still.
May you like
CUT.
