Everyone Laughed When My Brother Slammed a Cake Into My Face, Until I Wiped Away the Frosting and Saw Blood on My Hands—But What Police Found in His Locked Garage Changed Everything. / Chapter 25 / 61

Chapter 25 - The Dead Man's Frequency

We reached the rusted chain-link perimeter of the estate fifteen minutes later. Daniel was leaning heavily on me, his breathing shallow and rattling with fluid. The cold mud had caked into a stiff, freezing crust over our skin, but it had done its job: we had slipped past the thermal arc without drawing fire.

Tucked into Vance's outer utility pocket—which I had grabbed during the chaos in the cellar—was a compact tactical radio. As we huddled inside the rotting wooden walls of the tractor shed, I pulled it out and turned the dial until the digital readout clicked onto *804.00*.

Static hissed through the tiny earpiece. Then, a voice cut through the white noise:

"...Unit Two, perimeter report. Cellar structure fully engulfed. Primary suspect female, armed, moving toward Sector Four. Acknowledge."

A second voice responded, chillingly calm: "This is Melissa. Vance is terminated. The girl and Daniel are heading toward the main house. They have no vehicle. Deploy the perimeter perimeter teams to the south gates. I will handle the manor myself."

"Understood, Ma'am. The county coroner's van has been rerouted per your instructions. Everything will be classified as an electrical fire resulting from illicit meth production by Daniel."

"Ensure the coroner understands the timeline," Melissa's voice crackled through the speaker. "The trust documents must show Daniel died intestate before midnight. If Rachel dies after him, the assets default to the maritime holding corporation by 8:00 AM."

I felt the blood drain from my face. This wasn't just a corporate takeover; it was a multi-layered legal execution. Every minute, every piece of paperwork had been timed to exploit the exact language of our parents' wills. If Daniel died first, his share rolled to me. If I died first, his share rolled to his legal wife: Melissa. But if we both died together in an unidentifiable blaze, the entire multi-million-dollar maritime logistics network reverted to a blind shell company she controlled through her offshore trustees.

The cake at the birthday party had been her opening gambit to kill me first. When Daniel bungled the trajectory, she had been forced to accelerate the bloodbath.

"She owns the local precinct," Daniel croaked, slumping against a wooden crate of dry-rotted burlap sacks. "The entire county is hers, Rachel. Where do you think Dad got the loan to build the container terminal? It wasn't a bank. It was the Syndicate. Melissa was their auditor. She married me to keep the collateral within the family circle."

I stared down at him, the tactical radio clutched in my fist. "And you knew?"

"I didn't know she was going to kill Mom and Dad!" he yelled, a strangled sob tearing from his throat. "I swear to God, Rachel, I thought it was just business! I thought they'd just take the logistics routes! But when the brakes failed on Dad's truck on Route 9... when I saw her at the funeral with those completely dry eyes... I knew I was next."

"You're not next," I said, sliding the radio into my coat pocket. "You're already dead to her. Stand up."