Chapter 21 - Uninvited Chaos
"Shut them up," Victoria hissed at Marcus. "Now."
Marcus moved with surprising speed for a man his size. He crossed the kitchen in three silent strides, grabbed the brass handle of the back door, and yanked it open.
Evelyn and Olivia fell forward into the room in a heap of designer coats, soaked cashmere, and sheer panic. They had clearly tried to drive up the mountain in Evelyn’s low-clearance luxury sedan; their boots were covered in mud and snow, their faces red and streaked with mascara.
"Rebecca, you bitch, you called the Attorney General—" Evelyn started to scream as she scrambled to her feet, but the words died in her throat as the cold steel barrel of Marcus’s shotgun pressed hard against her forehead.
Evelyn went rigid, her mouth open in a silent, horrified gasp. Olivia shrieked and dropped to her knees, burying her head against her mother's soaked coat.
"Look what the blizzard dragged in," Victoria said, stepping out of the shadowed hallway into the kitchen light. A thin, mocking smile curled across her red lips. "The pathetic little stepmother and her useless daughter."
Evelyn blinked through the ice melting off her eyelashes, looking up from the gun barrel to Victoria’s face. Confusion and terror collided on her features. "You... you're Victoria Vance. The one who called me... the woman on the encrypted line..."
"And you were supposed to keep the authorities tangled up in probate court for another six months," Victoria said smoothly, her voice laced with aristocratic contempt. "Instead, you got yourself indicted for wire fraud, brought the state police to the base of the mountain, and now you’ve crawled up here like a pair of drowned rats."
"You said you would pay us five million!" Evelyn cried out, her voice cracking with desperate outrage. "You said if I challenged the deed and forced an eviction, your holding firm would buy out the property rights under a distressed corporate auction! We did what you told us! Now the FBI has seized my home in the city, the banks have frozen our cards, and we had to abandon the car three miles down the road!"
"Your stupidity is not my financial responsibility," Victoria said softly. She turned to Marcus. "Tie them up with the deputy. If they make a sound, pistol-whip them."
"Wait!" Olivia screamed, pointing an accusing, trembling finger at me. "Rebecca has the ledger! I saw her looking at an old safe behind the basement stairs two weeks ago! She’s lying to you about the study! She’s trying to trap you!"
My blood went cold.
Victoria stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned back to me, her green eyes narrowing into slits of pure, homicidal rage. "Is that so, Rebecca?"
"She’s lying to save her own skin, Victoria," Cole cut in instantly, stepping forward to draw Marcus's attention. "Olivia doesn't know the difference between a floor safe and an antique water heater. She’s throwing names and rooms out because she’s terrified."
"Marcus," Victoria said, her voice terrifyingly quiet. "Shoot the boy in the shoulder."
"No!" I shouted, throwing myself between Cole and the mercenary. "Stop! It’s in the root cellar! It’s under the kitchen foundation! Just leave Cole alone!"
Victoria raised a hand, stopping Marcus an inch before his finger squeezed the trigger. She walked over to me until I could smell the expensive French perfume and the cold mountain air clinging to her coat.
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"You see, Rebecca? That wasn't so hard," Victoria whispered. "Truth is always extracted much more cleanly when you realize who pays the price for your defiance. Now, take us down to the cellar. Right now."
***
