Chapter 14 - THE FATHER’S TRAP
Steel doors closed behind Roman.
The vault entered evidence-preservation mode.
Every screen displayed names, accounts and shipping routes.
Marcel had spent eight years collecting records from inside Roman’s network.
Jonathan and Adrian helped him.
They could not expose the information without bringing Roman, Isabelle and the current trustees into one secure location.
Victor’s attempted murder created that opportunity.
Marcel had warned Jonathan.
Jonathan warned Victor indirectly through the contingency event.
Adrian sent the distress signal from Isabelle’s yacht.
They had been guiding the conspirators toward the vault.
Victor felt no gratitude.
Their strategy allowed Camilla to push him into the sea.
It allowed Celia’s children to be taken.
It placed dozens of lives at risk.
“You knew about the pier,” Victor said to Marcel.
“I knew Roman ordered an event.”
“You knew Camilla planned to kill me.”
“I sent Mateo.”
Victor looked at the rescue officer.
Mateo lowered his eyes.
“Marcel hired me first.”
“You told me you accepted Elena’s contract.”
“I did.”
“After your father gave me the warning.”
Victor felt another betrayal.
Everyone had decided what dangers he could face without being told.
Marcel stepped closer.
“If Roman knew you were protected, he would change the plan.”
“You used me as bait.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You hoped someone else would keep me alive.”
Roman laughed.
“The Moreau men finally understand each other.”
He moved suddenly.
He grabbed Camilla and pressed the pistol against her neck.
“Open the vault.”
“The system is sealed,” Victor said.
“Then unseal it.”
“I cannot until the upload completes.”
Roman pulled Camilla backward.
She looked at Victor.
For the first time since the pier, she appeared genuinely afraid.
“Do it.”
“You were willing to watch me drown.”
“I know.”
“Give me one reason to save you.”
Camilla’s eyes filled with tears.
“I changed the helicopter maintenance report.”
Victor became still.
“Laurent paid the mechanic.”
“I discovered it afterward.”
“You knew the crash was planned.”
“I knew before I married you.”
The helicopter crash had not been an early attempt by Camilla.
It had been Roman’s test.
Roman wanted to know whether Victor’s death would activate the contingency account.
Victor survived but became paralyzed.
Camilla entered his rehabilitation as Isabelle’s chosen companion.
Her task was to observe the system and prepare a second attempt.
“Why tell me now?” Victor asked.
“Because the mechanic kept the original report.”
“Where?”
“Inside Laurent’s Monaco warehouse.”
“The verification terminal opened the hidden room.”
Roman tightened his hold.
“She is buying time.”
Camilla looked at Victor.
“The report proves Roman ordered the crash.”
Victor contacted Detective Fournier through his wrist device.
She received the location.
Roman heard the transmission.
He fired toward Victor.
Mateo pushed the wheelchair sideways.
The bullet struck the scanner.
Victor’s chair tipped.
He hit the floor beside it.
Roman dragged Camilla toward the inner records room.
Isabelle moved between them.
“Enough.”
Roman aimed at her.
“You are not my mother.”
“No.”
“I am the woman who paid your mother to leave.”
Roman’s expression changed.
Isabelle continued.
“Marcel did not send her away.”
“I did.”
Everyone fell silent.
Isabelle admitted she discovered Marcel’s child before their wedding.
She threatened Roman’s mother.
She paid officials to erase his birth records.
She created the hatred that shaped him.
Roman released Camilla.
He turned the pistol fully toward Isabelle.
“You let me blame him for thirty years.”
“I protected my marriage.”
“You protected your name.”
“Yes.”
Isabelle did not retreat.
Roman’s hand shook.
Victor pulled himself toward the fallen wheelchair.
The vault upload reached ninety-eight percent.
Then the power failed.
Every screen went black.
Someone outside the building had cut the emergency grid.
May you like
The vault doors unlocked.
A fifth conspirator was still free.
