Chapter 16 - The Fire in the Archive.
Victor kept the pistol low but steady.
Behind him, the corrupt officer would not meet Daniel's eyes.
Charlotte wondered what Victor held over him too.
A debt.
A secret.
A frightened child.
It almost did not matter.
Whatever the reason, the officer had still chosen to point a weapon at an injured man and his daughter.
His expensive suit was dusted with gray ash from the service corridors.
For the first time, he no longer looked like the elegant executive who had greeted Charlotte in the lobby.
He looked older, cornered, and strangely relieved.
Charlotte realized that men like Victor sometimes became most dangerous when pretending they had already accepted defeat.
The corrupt officer beside him closed the basement door.
Charlotte remained kneeling in front of her father.
Daniel slowly lowered the fire axe.
"You won't get out of this building," he said.
Victor smiled.
"I already have."
Charlotte looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
"By morning, the story will be simple."
"A disturbed heiress returned after months in hiding, assaulted a hotel guest, fabricated evidence, started a fire, and died while trying to escape arrest."
Charlotte felt Thomas's hand tighten around hers.
Victor nodded toward the ledger under Daniel's jacket.
"Give it to me."
Daniel did not move.
The officer raised his weapon.
"Now."
Charlotte stood slowly.
"You already have digital records."
"Why do you care about one old book?"
Victor's expression hardened.
"Because paper survives systems."
Thomas spoke from the wheelchair.
"That's why Eleanor kept it."
Victor looked at him with open hatred.
"You should have died the first time."
Charlotte's face went still.
The words hung in the room.
Victor realized too late that Daniel's iPad was recording.
He raised the pistol.
Daniel threw the fire axe.
It struck the overhead light instead of Victor.
The bulb exploded.
Darkness filled the wine room.
Charlotte pulled Thomas sideways as a gunshot cracked against the stone wall.
Daniel tackled someone.
The officer shouted.
Another shot fired.
Then Vanessa's voice came from the corridor.
"Police! Drop the gun!"
Victor hesitated.
Real officers flooded the doorway behind her.
Flashlights cut through the darkness.
The corrupt officer dropped his weapon first.
Victor backed toward a second door at the rear of the wine room.
Charlotte saw him reach for the handle.
"He's running!"
Victor disappeared into the archive corridor.
Charlotte followed before anyone could stop her.
The passage opened into a basement records room packed with old paper files.
Victor knocked over a metal can.
Liquid spread across the floor.
Gasoline.
Charlotte stopped.
"Don't."
Victor pulled a lighter from his pocket.
"The original records end here."
He flicked the flame alive.
Thomas shouted from behind her.
"Charlotte, get back!"
Victor dropped the lighter.
Fire raced across the floor.
Shelves ignited almost instantly.
Charlotte covered her face from the heat.
Victor vanished through the smoke.
Daniel grabbed her from behind and pulled her toward the exit.
"The ledger!"
Charlotte shouted.
"I have it!"
He held it beneath his jacket.
Fire climbed the shelves around them.
Then Thomas called out.
"Eleanor's archive!"
Charlotte turned.
A steel cabinet stood beyond the flames.
On its front was the Vale crest.
Inside might be every document her mother had died trying to protect.
Daniel tightened his grip on Charlotte.
"We cannot reach it."
May you like
Charlotte watched flames close around the cabinet.
Then the sprinkler system failed.
