Chapter 12 - The Courtroom in Flames
Claire ran toward Eleanor.
Victoria pulled the elderly woman’s chair backward.
“Stop.”
The knife remained near Eleanor’s throat.
Catherine moved beside Claire.
“Victoria.”
Her sister looked at her.
For the first time, the two women stood face-to-face without glass, medication, or guards between them.
They had the same eyes.
The same mouth.
The same crescent scar beneath opposite shoulders.
Everything else was different.
Catherine looked tired but human.
Victoria looked polished and empty.
“You kept me alive for a ledger,” Catherine said.
Victoria tightened her grip on the knife.
“I kept you alive because Mother never stopped looking.”
“That sounds almost kind.”
“Do not insult me.”
“You wanted her hope to hurt.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
Catherine continued.
“You visited me every month.”
“You asked whether I remembered Claire.”
“You could have killed me.”
“But then Mother would have grieved me once.”
“You wanted her to grieve every day.”
Victoria’s hand began to shake.
Smoke thickened above them.
Malcolm crawled toward the side exit.
Luca stopped him.
“Open the doors.”
Malcolm laughed.
“The system belongs to Ashford Global.”
“Adrian no longer controls it.”
Adrian looked toward the burning organ.
“My father’s files.”
Rebecca moved toward the balcony.
“We need the people first.”
A burning beam fell across the center aisle.
Claire coughed.
“Victoria, we all die if you keep us here.”
Victoria smiled.
“Not all of us.”
A hidden door opened behind the judge’s bench.
Her guard prepared to take her through it.
Catherine noticed the key around Victoria’s neck.
She stepped forward.
“Before you leave, tell me one thing.”
Victoria paused.
“Why did Father choose me?”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“He did not.”
“He named me firstborn.”
“He named the child born first.”
“He never chose you.”
Catherine’s voice softened.
“That is what destroyed you.”
“No.”
“You spent your entire life trying to win a competition that ended seven minutes after we were born.”
Victoria slapped her.
Catherine staggered.
Claire caught her.
The silver key swung from Victoria’s neck.
Eleanor kicked the guard’s knee with surprising force.
The man fell.
Catherine grabbed Victoria’s necklace.
The chain broke.
The key dropped.
Claire caught it.
Victoria screamed.
Claire threw the key toward Adrian.
He opened the restraints around Eleanor.
Luca forced Malcolm toward the control panel.
“Unlock the doors.”
“I cannot.”
Luca pressed him against the wall.
“Then learn quickly.”
Adrian carried Eleanor toward the tunnel entrance.
Rebecca helped Catherine.
Claire searched the organ.
Flames burned through the wooden pipes.
“Edward’s files are still inside.”
Adrian turned.
“Leave them.”
“They may prove who killed him.”
“I said leave them.”
Claire looked at his face.
For years, he had wanted evidence.
Now he was choosing people.
She followed him.
Malcolm reached the control panel.
He entered a code.
The front doors opened.
Federal agents rushed inside.
Victoria ran toward the hidden passage.
Catherine saw her.
“Victoria!”
Her sister stopped.
Catherine held out one hand.
“It is over.”
Victoria looked toward the flames.
“Not for me.”
She disappeared through the passage.
Claire wanted to follow.
Eleanor grabbed her sleeve.
“No.”
“She will escape.”
“The tunnel leads beneath the river.”
“She knows every exit.”
Luca and federal agents followed anyway.
The courtroom ceiling collapsed seconds after everyone reached the steps.
Fire consumed the old organ.
Edward’s files appeared lost.
Malcolm was arrested outside.
He laughed while officers placed him in a vehicle.
“You still think paper matters.”
Adrian approached him.
“What did you do?”
Malcolm looked toward the courthouse.
“Your father did not hide the evidence in the organ.”
“He hid it inside you.”
Adrian stared.
“What does that mean?”
Malcolm smiled.
“Ask your mother.”
Victoria’s hidden tunnel opened two miles away.
Agents found her abandoned coat beside the river.
No body was recovered.
Eleanor was taken to the hospital.
Her neck was bruised.
Her hands were burned from the restraints.
She remained furious that everyone treated her like she was fragile.
Claire sat beside her.
“You kicked a man with a knife.”
“He was standing too close.”
“You nearly broke his knee.”
“He should strengthen it.”
Catherine laughed softly from the other side of the bed.
The sound surprised all three of them.
For a moment, they looked like a family.
Then Adrian entered.
His face was pale.
He held a medical record.
“My mother was not pregnant with me.”
Eleanor looked away.
Adrian placed the paper on the bed.
“Victoria’s medical file shows she had surgery at twenty-three.”
“She could never have children.”
Claire looked toward Eleanor.
“Then who is Adrian’s mother?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Catherine.”
The room became silent.
Adrian looked at the woman standing beside the bed.
Catherine stopped breathing.
“No.”
Eleanor began crying.
“You gave birth while you were hiding.”
“You were seventeen.”
“Your father took the baby.”
“He told us the child died.”
Catherine stared at Adrian.
“I had a son.”
“Yes.”
“Edward raised him as Victoria’s.”
Adrian stepped backward.
Victoria was not his mother.
Catherine was.
Claire looked between them.
That made Adrian her brother.
Every look.
Every moment of growing closeness.
Every feeling neither had named.
All of it shattered at once.
Adrian’s voice became hollow.
“Did Victoria know?”
Eleanor nodded.
“She knew from the beginning.”
Catherine reached toward him.
He moved away.
“I need air.”
He left the room.
Claire followed him into the hallway.
He stood beside the window.
“You should go back.”
“Adrian.”
“You are my sister.”
“Half-sister.”
“That does not improve the situation.”
Claire looked down.
Neither of them had spoken openly about what existed between them.
Now they never would.
Adrian laughed once without humor.
“My mother kidnapped my grandmother.”
“My real mother was imprisoned for thirty-two years.”
“My father died trying to expose both truths.”
“And Malcolm says the evidence is inside me.”
Claire stood beside him.
“You are still the man who came down from the balcony.”
“Too late.”
“But you came.”
Adrian looked at her.
Before he could answer, Luca ran toward them.
“We found Victoria.”
“Where?”
“She entered Ashford Memorial using a stolen nurse’s badge.”
Claire’s heart stopped.
“Sophie is there for a medical checkup.”
May you like
Luca nodded.
“The pediatric floor cameras just went offline.”
