CHAPTER 26 — DANIEL’S CONFESSION
Daniel dropped beside Gabriel.
Blood spread across Gabriel’s shoulder.
The bullet had passed through without striking his chest.
“He’s alive,” Daniel said.
Margaret grabbed Noah.
Claire ran through the broken glass.
Margaret held the pistol against the boy’s neck.
“Give me the chip.”
Claire placed it on the floor.
Margaret kicked it toward herself.
Charles struggled against the restraints.
“Claire, stop her.”
“I will not gamble with my son’s life.”
Margaret picked up the chip.
“You already did.”
She pulled Noah toward the archive console.
Two red lights scanned his eyes.
Then Margaret looked at Elias.
“I still need the other child.”
Elias held Claire’s hand.
Daniel stood.
“You’re not taking him.”
Margaret smiled.
“Tell Claire when you first learned Elias was alive.”
The room became silent.
Claire looked at Daniel.
“What does she mean?”
Daniel did not answer.
Margaret laughed.
“Six months ago, Daniel found a payment from the family trust to Celeste.”
Claire stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“For six months?”
“I had no proof.”
“You knew I might have another son.”
“I knew Margaret might be setting a trap.”
“And you said nothing to me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Claire stepped back as if he had struck her.
“You let me sit beside an empty grave every year.”
Daniel’s face broke.
“I visited it too.”
“But you knew it might be empty.”
“I was afraid that if Margaret realized I had found the payment, she would move Elias or kill him.”
“You should have trusted me.”
“I should have.”
There was no defense in his voice.
Only regret.
Margaret watched them with satisfaction.
“This is why families are so easy to destroy. All you have to do is reveal the truth at the correct moment.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“Hate me later. Right now, we save both boys.”
Claire wanted to scream at him.
She wanted to demand every detail.
But Noah was still beneath Margaret’s weapon.
Gabriel groaned on the floor.
Charles’s heart monitor became irregular.
There would be time for anger only if they survived.
Claire looked at the archive console.
“What happens when you decrypt the files?”
Margaret held up the chip.
“I destroy the evidence connected to me.”
“You cannot erase four hundred files individually.”
“I don’t need to.”
She inserted the chip.
A message appeared.
DECRYPTION READY.
UPLOAD OR PURGE?
Margaret selected PURGE.
The system requested two bloodline confirmations.
She pressed Noah’s thumb against one scanner.
The second scanner waited.
Margaret pointed the pistol toward Elias.
“Bring him here.”
Claire moved slowly.
Elias whispered, “Mom, I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
“You said moms can be scared and still do things.”
Claire looked at him.
“When did I say that?”
“You said it in the videos Celeste showed me.”
Claire squeezed his hand.
They approached the console.
Margaret reached for Elias.
Claire released his hand.
But Elias did not move toward the scanner.
He threw the blue plastic key beneath the archive machine.
Margaret looked down instinctively.
Claire attacked.
She struck Margaret’s wrist.
The pistol slid across the floor.
Victoria kicked it away.
Noah ran toward Daniel.
Margaret grabbed Claire by the hair and pulled her backward.
The two women crashed into the archive controls.
The system flashed.
PURGE CONFIRMED.
Charles stared at the monitor.
“No.”
A new countdown appeared.
ARCHIVE DESTRUCTION: 05:00.
Then steel doors sealed every exit.
May you like
A mechanical voice filled the room.
OXYGEN REMOVAL INITIATED.
