Alexander blocked the door.
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“Still protecting her.”
Maria turned.
“Not now.”
Alexander stared at both women.
Edward’s message demanded Maria and Victoria.
Sofia’s life hung in the balance.
Bennett studied the photograph.
“The vehicle interior may give us a location.”
Marcus enhanced the image.
A bridge reflected faintly in the window.
Michael recognized it.
“Black River Bridge.”
Thomas went pale.
“The old hydroelectric station.”
Alexander looked at him.
“The vault?”
Thomas nodded.
“Possibly.”
Maria touched her pendant.
Victoria had no pendant.
But Sofia did.
Two keys.
Two sisters.
One trap.
Victoria stood.
“I’m going.”
Maria stared.
“Why?”
Victoria looked at her.
“Because she’s your sister.”
Maria’s expression hardened.
“That never mattered when you were hurting my family.”
Victoria accepted the blow.
“No.”
Then she looked at Maria.
“But maybe it can matter now.”
Maria said nothing.
They drove toward Black River under police surveillance.
Alexander insisted on coming.
So did Marcus.
Michael remained with Evelyn.
Gabriel stayed under protection.
Isabella refused to remain behind until Maria finally faced her.
“If something happens to you, Sofia needs one person who knows the truth.”
Isabella understood.
She stayed.
The abandoned hydroelectric station rose beside the river like a dead fortress.
Edward’s voice came through Maria’s phone.
“Twins enter alone.”
Alexander shook his head.
Maria touched his face.
“I have to.”
“No.”
“You know I do.”
His eyes filled.
“Every time you walk into danger, you say that.”
“Maybe stop surrounding yourself with dangerous billionaires.”
Despite everything, he almost smiled.
Then his expression softened.
“Come back.”
Maria looked into his eyes.
“I intend to.”
Victoria watched them.
Something like regret crossed her face.
She had once believed marrying Alexander would make her untouchable.
Now she understood why he had never looked at her the way he looked at Maria.
Maria walked into darkness beside her twin.
The irony was almost cruel.
Days earlier, she had slapped Victoria.
Now they were walking side by side to save Sofia.
Inside the station, water thundered beneath rusted metal platforms.
Sofia sat on a chair near the central turbine chamber.
Her hands were tied.
“Sofia!”
Maria ran forward.
Edward stepped from the shadows.
A gun appeared.
“Stop.”
Maria froze.
Victoria stared.
“Where’s Richard?”
Edward smiled.
“Still worried about Daddy?”
“He raised me.”
“He used you.”
“So did you.”
Edward’s smile faded.
Victoria continued.
“You told me Maria was my enemy.”
“She was useful as your enemy.”
Maria stared.
“You destroyed her life so she would hate me.”
Edward shrugged.
“Hatred is predictable.”
Sofia looked toward Maria.
“I’m sorry.”
Maria shook her head.
“You did nothing.”
Edward pointed toward two metal recesses in the wall.
Flower-shaped.
“Keys.”
Maria removed her pendant.
Edward looked at Victoria.
“Second.”
“I don’t have it.”
Edward smiled.
“Sofia does.”
Maria turned.
Around Sofia’s neck was the second pendant.
Edward untied one of Sofia’s hands.
“Remove it.”
Sofia did.
Her fingers trembled.
Edward directed Maria and Victoria toward the vault.
“Insert them.”
Maria stared.
“No.”
Edward raised the gun toward Sofia.
Victoria immediately took the second pendant.
“Do it.”
Maria looked at her twin.
Victoria whispered, “We get the door open. Then we figure out the rest.”
Together they inserted the pendants.
A mechanism clicked.
The steel wall opened.
Inside was not money.
Not jewels.
Shelves.
Hundreds of files.
Original birth records.
Adoption documents.
Bank ledgers.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
The architecture of Edward’s empire.
Bennett’s voice secretly transmitted through a microphone hidden inside Maria’s collar.
Everything was being recorded.
Edward stepped into the vault.
His eyes shone.
“Twenty-two years.”
Maria stared.
“You’re going to burn it.”
“Yes.”
Victoria moved toward Sofia.
Edward pointed the gun.
“Stay.”
He removed a container of accelerant.
Maria’s heart pounded.
If the files burned, hundreds of victims might never learn the truth.
Then Victoria spoke.
“Edward.”
He turned.
“Richard told me something about you.”
Edward smiled.
“Richard told everyone things.”
“He said you never killed children yourself.”
Edward’s expression changed.
Victoria continued.
“You always made someone else do it.”
Maria understood.
Victoria was distracting him.
Edward raised the gun.
“You should have remained useful.”
Victoria smiled.
“You should have remembered I learned from you.”
She kicked the accelerant container.
It rolled across the floor.
Maria lunged toward Sofia.
Edward fired.
The gunshot exploded.
Victoria spun.
Blood appeared across her shoulder.
“VICTORIA!”
Maria tackled Edward.
The gun slid across the floor.
Sofia kicked it away.
Edward struck Maria.
She crashed against the shelving.
He grabbed the accelerant.
Then Alexander appeared.
“EDWARD!”
Edward froze.
Alexander stood in the doorway.
Marcus behind him.
Bennett’s tactical team flooded the chamber.
Edward laughed.
“You always arrive just late enough.”
He held up a lighter.
Alexander stopped.
“One spark.”
Bennett raised her weapon.
“Put it down.”
Edward stared at Alexander.
“You want your name?”
“No.”
“Your mother?”
Alexander’s expression changed.
Edward smiled.
“Lucia survived.”
Alexander stopped breathing.
“What?”
“She survived Summerhouse Seven.”
Maria stared.
Edward continued.
“I know where she is.”
Alexander’s voice trembled.
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe.”
Edward flicked the lighter.
Flame appeared.
“Let me leave, and I’ll tell you.”
Alexander stared at the files.
At Maria.
At Sofia.
At wounded Victoria.
Then at the man who had stolen his childhood.
“No.”
Edward frowned.
Alexander continued.
“I spent my whole life letting your secrets decide what I was allowed to lose.”
He stepped forward.
“No more.”
Edward threw the lighter.
Marcus moved.
He caught Edward’s arm.
Bennett tackled him.
The lighter struck concrete.
The flame died.
Officers restrained Edward.
Maria rushed to Victoria.
Blood covered her dress.
Victoria looked at her.
“You hit me harder at the gala.”
Maria laughed through tears.
“You’re impossible.”
Victoria smiled weakly.
“Runs in the family.”
Paramedics entered.
Edward was dragged toward the exit.
Then he looked back at Alexander.
“You should ask Lucia why she never came for you.”
Alexander stared.
Edward smiled.
“She had twenty-two years.”
Alexander’s expression faltered.
Then Edward delivered his final blow.
“And she knew exactly where you were.”
Alexander froze.
Outside, police lights painted the river red and blue.
Inside the vault, Marcus discovered a sealed file.
ETHAN SANTOS — MATERNAL CONTACT RECORD.
Alexander opened it.
The most recent entry was dated only six months earlier.
CONTACT SUCCESSFUL.
MOTHER DECLINED REUNIFICATION.
Alexander stared at the page.
Lucia had been alive.
She had been contacted.
And according to the record, she had chosen not to see him.
TO BE CONTINUED…
