CHAPTER 12 THE FIRE BENEATH THE HOSPITAL
THE FIRE BENEATH THE HOSPITAL
Vale laughed.
“You would never destroy the evidence.”
Eleanor looked around the ruined maternity ward.
“The evidence already destroyed this family.”
She pressed her thumb against the detonator.
Vivienne kept the scalpel at Elena’s throat.
Lucas struggled against the straps.
Nathaniel watched every movement.
“Eleanor,” he said quietly.
“Do not do this.”
“I should have done it thirty years ago.”
Vale’s smile faded.
“What happened thirty years ago?” Elena asked.
Eleanor looked at her.
“Jonathan did not fall from the balcony.”
The room became silent.
“Theodore shot him.”
Nathaniel stared at her.
Eleanor continued.
“Jonathan discovered Theodore was laundering money through medical foundations.”
“He planned to expose him.”
“Theodore killed him and staged the boating accident.”
“Charles Vale helped bury the investigation.”
Vale’s expression hardened.
“You signed every document.”
“I was protecting my son.”
“You were protecting your fortune.”
Eleanor looked at Nathaniel.
“At first, yes.”
“Then I learned Theodore intended to replace Nathaniel with one of Jonathan’s children.”
“He believed bloodlines mattered more than love.”
“After Theodore died, Charles found the will.”
“He used Vivienne to finish Theodore’s plan.”
Vivienne’s grip loosened slightly.
Elena drove her elbow backward.
Vivienne screamed.
Elena pulled away.
Nathaniel raised his gun.
Vale fired first.
Eleanor stepped between them.
The bullet struck her chest.
She fell against the detonator.
An explosion shook the building.
Flames burst through the corridor.
The blast did not destroy the maternity ward, but it blocked the main staircase.
Smoke poured through the doorway.
Marcus and federal agents entered from the rear hall.
Vale grabbed Lucas’s wheelchair and pushed it toward an old surgical elevator.
Nathaniel chased him.
Vivienne disappeared into the smoke.
Elena crawled toward Eleanor.
Blood spread across the cream coat.
Eleanor pressed the ledger into her hands.
“Do not let them turn Lucas into another Hart weapon.”
Elena shook her head.
“Stay awake.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
“Did you hurt her?”
Eleanor’s breathing became shallow.
“I sent her away.”
“Theodore wanted her dead.”
“I gave her money and a new identity.”
“Where is she?”
Eleanor looked toward the burning corridor.
“She came back.”
Before Elena could ask what that meant, Eleanor’s eyes closed.
Elena screamed for help.
Marcus pulled her away as part of the ceiling collapsed.
Inside the elevator, Vale held Lucas in front of him.
Nathaniel forced the doors open before they closed.
Vale fired.
The bullet grazed Nathaniel’s shoulder.
Nathaniel slammed into him.
The two men crashed against the elevator wall.
Lucas rolled into the corner.
The elevator began descending.
Vale struck Nathaniel with the pistol.
“You were never supposed to inherit anything,” he hissed.
Nathaniel drove his fist into Vale’s jaw.
The elevator stopped between floors.
The lights failed.
A mechanical cable snapped overhead.
Nathaniel looked at Lucas.
May you like
Vale smiled through the blood on his teeth.
Then the elevator dropped.
