Chapter 9 - The Patriarch's Wrath
Beatrice was thrown back into the flooding dining room. She hit a heavy oak table, the breath knocked out of her lungs. The water was already up to her shins.
Standing in the doorway, blocking her escape, was Arthur Sterling. He held the silver pistol, his clothes soaked, his face twisted into a mask of pure, demonic hatred.
"You," Arthur snarled, stepping into the room and locking the heavy doors behind him. "A nobody. A ghost. You thought you could destroy my family?"
"Your family destroyed itself," Beatrice coughed, pulling herself up against the table. "The FBI is outside, Arthur. It's over."
"It's never over for men like me!" Arthur roared over the sound of the rushing water. "I have offshore accounts. I have private jets. I can buy a new identity tomorrow! But first, I am going to watch you drown, and I am going to take that drive off your corpse."
He raised the gun, pointing it directly at her face.
Beatrice looked at the barrel of the gun. She thought about the girls who had died in this house. She thought about the journalist bleeding on the Persian rug. She refused to die cowering.
"You don't understand, Arthur," Beatrice said, her voice piercing through the chaos. She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out the silver USB drive, holding it up in the air. "The press only got the financial data."
Arthur’s eyes locked onto the drive, a hungry, desperate look in his eyes. "Give it to me."
"I added a file to this drive before I sent the message," Beatrice lied, her voice dripping with venom. "I found Evelyn's personal diaries. I know where you buried the bodies in the foundation of this very house. The FBI isn't just coming for your money, Arthur. They have ground-penetrating radar. They are coming for your soul."
Arthur’s face went pale. The utter shock and terror of his most deeply buried secret being exposed made his hand tremble.
In that split second of hesitation, a deafening explosion rocked the estate.
The FBI tactical teams had breached the citadel, blowing the heavy steel barricades with C4. The shockwave shattered the massive stained-glass windows of the dining room.
Arthur stumbled, distracted by the blast.
Beatrice didn't waste the opportunity. She threw the silver USB drive as hard as she could into the deepest, darkest corner of the flooding room.
May you like
Arthur screamed, diving into the rising water, desperately scrambling through the debris to find his salvation.
Beatrice turned and ran. She kicked open the shattered frame of the stained-glass window, diving out into the freezing, rain-swept night just as the water level inside reached the heavy oak tables.
