Chapter 19 - The Shot Meant for Clara
The gunshot exploded through the music room.
Clara screamed.
Catherine fell.
Adrian lunged toward her.
Roman fired at Kessler, but the bullet shattered a mirror as Kessler dove behind the piano.
Marcus returned fire.
Chaos swallowed the room.
Clara crawled to Catherine.
“Where are you hit?”
Catherine looked stunned.
“I’m not.”
The bullet had struck the wall.
A warning shot.
Kessler had never intended to kill her.
Smoke erupted from a small device beneath the piano.
Roman cursed.
“Gas!”
Marcus pulled Clara toward the door.
Adrian lifted Catherine.
Through the gray cloud, Daniel vanished into a hidden servant passage no one had used in decades.
Roman chased him.
“Roman!” Clara shouted.
Too late.
He disappeared.
Marcus ordered the estate sealed.
Outside, snow began falling heavily.
Roman followed blood droplets through the passage.
Kessler had been grazed by Marcus’s bullet.
The tunnel opened near the east gardens.
Roman emerged into blinding white snow.
He saw Daniel running toward the frozen lake.
Roman followed.
Daniel turned and fired.
The bullet missed.
Roman tackled him near the boathouse.
They crashed through thin snow onto the wooden deck.
Kessler fought viciously.
Not like a businessman.
Like a trained soldier.
He drove a knife toward Roman’s ribs.
Roman caught his wrist.
“You’ve spent your whole life blaming my name,” Roman growled.
Kessler head-butted him.
“And you’ve spent yours enjoying what your father stole!”
Roman twisted the knife away.
“My father was guilty.”
Kessler froze.
Roman struck him.
“He destroyed Elias.”
Another blow.
“He helped create this war.”
Roman slammed him against the railing.
“But your grandfather fed it too.”
“You’re lying!”
“The ledger proves it.”
Kessler’s face changed.
“No.”
“You knew.”
“No!”
“You knew enough to murder anyone who could expose him.”
Kessler roared and charged.
They crashed through the railing.
Both fell onto the frozen lake.
Ice cracked beneath them.
From the shore, Clara arrived with Marcus.
“Roman!”
Roman looked up.
That distraction gave Kessler the opening.
He reached for a fallen gun.
Clara saw it.
“Roman!”
Kessler fired toward her.
Roman moved instantly.
He shoved Clara aside as the bullet tore through his coat.
Clara hit the snow.
For one horrifying second, she thought history had repeated itself.
Roman looked down.
Blood spread near his ribs.
Kessler raised the gun again.
Then Adrian appeared.
He had followed them.
He stood holding Marcus’s spare weapon.
His hands shook.
“Drop it!”
Kessler laughed.
“The surgeon?”
Adrian aimed.
“I said drop it.”
Kessler turned the barrel toward Adrian.
Roman launched himself forward.
The ice broke.
Roman and Kessler plunged into freezing water.
Clara screamed.
Marcus dropped flat and crawled toward the opening.
Adrian did the same.
Under the ice, Roman fought blindly.
Kessler grabbed his coat.
Roman struck him.
The current pulled them apart.
Clara could see Roman’s shadow beneath the ice.
Moving away from the hole.
“Roman!”
She smashed at the surface with a metal boat hook.
Adrian joined her.
Together they broke a second opening.
Roman’s hand burst through.
Marcus grabbed him.
They dragged him out.
Roman coughed violently.
Clara threw herself around him.
“Don’t ever do that again!”
Roman shivered uncontrollably.
“Wasn’t… scheduled.”
Adrian checked the wound.
The bullet had grazed his ribs.
“Lucky.”
Roman looked toward the broken ice.
Kessler was gone.
Marcus stared at the dark water.
“No body.”
Roman’s expression darkened.
Clara knew what that meant.
Until they found Daniel Kessler, he was still alive.
And dangerous.
But as Adrian helped Roman stand, something had changed.
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He no longer touched Roman like a stranger.
He held his brother upright.
