Chapter 5 - The Man Christopher Trusted
Christopher hit the elevator button hard enough to crack the plastic cover.
Nothing happened.
“Move.”
He hit it again.
Still nothing.
Arthur looked toward Estelle.
“She stopped it.”
Christopher spun.
Estelle’s expression was unreadable.
“You locked the elevator?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Arthur whispered.
“Gideon.”
Christopher’s stomach dropped.
He pulled out his phone.
Still no signal.
“Is there another way upstairs?”
Estelle remained silent.
Christopher grabbed her arm.
“Is there another way?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“You’re hurting me.”
“My daughter is upstairs with a man who helped sell her mother.”
Estelle’s eyes flashed.
“He did not sell Rachel.”
“You just heard Father.”
“Arthur doesn’t know everything.”
Christopher released her.
“Then tell me.”
Estelle hesitated.
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“You still protect him.”
Estelle looked toward Arthur.
Christopher noticed.
“You know Gideon is Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Always.”
Christopher stared.
“You hired him?”
“Yes.”
“As my head of security?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he asked.”
Christopher almost struck the wall.
“He asked?”
“He came to me after Rachel died.”
“And you thought the appropriate response was giving him access to me and Emma?”
“He wanted to protect her.”
Christopher stared.
Estelle continued.
“Daniel accepted money before Rachel died.”
“So Arthur was right.”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“He accepted money to convince Rachel to stop investigating Pierce Holdings.”
Christopher’s jaw tightened.
“He still betrayed her.”
“Yes.”
“But he did not know anyone intended to hurt her.”
Christopher remembered Gideon pulling Emma from a fallen tree two winters earlier.
Gideon sleeping outside Emma’s hospital room after her appendectomy.
Gideon teaching her how to ride a bicycle.
Gideon threatening a reporter who photographed her school.
He remembered trust.
Years of it.
“Why change his name?”
“Shame.”
Estelle answered quickly.
“After Rachel died, he disappeared.”
“He didn’t disappear.”
Arthur spoke from the wheelchair.
“He was arrested.”
Estelle turned sharply.
Arthur continued.
“Tell him the rest.”
Christopher looked at Estelle.
She said nothing.
Arthur did.
“Daniel found the driver who forced Rachel off the road.”
Christopher stopped breathing.
“He found him?”
“One of them.”
“You said the other driver died.”
“The police report lied.”
Christopher’s head pounded.
“What did Daniel do?”
Arthur’s eyes hardened.
“He nearly beat the man to death.”
Christopher closed his eyes.
“Daniel served three years under another name.”
Estelle whispered.
“When he got out, he came to me.”
Christopher opened his eyes.
“Why?”
“He wanted Emma.”
Christopher went still.
“He wanted custody?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I told him no.”
“Because?”
“Because she was yours.”
That answer surprised him.
Estelle saw it.
“I am not the monster you have decided I am.”
Christopher laughed without humor.
“My threshold for monsters changed when my fiancée tried to drown my daughter.”
Estelle looked away.
Christopher pointed toward the sealed elevator.
“Another way.”
Estelle led them through the records room.
Behind a shelving unit stood a narrow staircase.
It climbed steeply.
Christopher took the steps two at a time.
Yvette followed.
Halden stayed with Arthur.
Estelle came last.
The staircase ended behind a hidden panel in the wine cellar.
Christopher pushed it open.
An alarm began sounding through the mansion.
Red lights flashed.
He ran.
“Emma!”
No answer.
Christopher reached the west guesthouse corridor.
Two security officers lay on the floor.
Alive.
Unconscious.
One had blood at his temple.
Christopher checked their breathing.
Then he heard Emma scream.
“Daddy!”
The sound came from outside.
Christopher sprinted through the terrace doors.
A black SUV was accelerating toward the gates.
Christopher saw Emma through the back window.
He ran after it.
Impossible.
The vehicle reached the first security checkpoint.
The gate did not open.
The SUV stopped.
Christopher kept running.
A second later Gideon stepped out.
No mask.
No weapon visible.
He opened the rear door.
Emma climbed out.
She ran toward Christopher.
Christopher caught her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
Gideon stood beside the vehicle.
Blood ran down one sleeve.
Christopher lifted Emma behind him.
“You attacked my guards.”
“They attacked me.”
“Because you took Emma.”
“I was getting her out.”
“Out of what?”
Gideon looked toward the mansion.
“This estate.”
Christopher stared.
“Why?”
“Because the police call was intercepted.”
Christopher went still.
“What?”
“The house line, cellular booster, and security network are compromised.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
Gideon’s face tightened.
“I know what you found downstairs.”
Christopher’s jaw clenched.
“Daniel.”
Gideon flinched.
Emma looked between them.
“Daddy?”
Christopher gently guided her toward Yvette, who had reached the terrace.
“Go with Mrs. Sloan.”
Emma grabbed his hand.
“No.”
Christopher crouched.
“I can see you from here.”
She reluctantly moved five feet away.
Christopher turned back to Gideon.
“You’re Rachel’s brother.”
“Yes.”
“You took three million dollars from my family.”
“Yes.”
“You helped them silence her.”
Gideon’s face twisted.
“I thought I was saving her.”
“With money?”
“She was terrified.”
“Of my family.”
“Yes.”
“And you told her to stop.”
“Yes.”
“Then she died.”
Gideon looked down.
Christopher stepped closer.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because the first thing Rachel made me promise was that I would never trust a Pierce.”
Christopher almost laughed.
“And yet you worked for one.”
“I worked near Emma.”
That answer stopped him.
Gideon looked toward the child.
“I needed to know she was safe.”
“She wasn’t.”
Gideon’s shame was immediate.
“No.”
“You watched Juliette abuse her?”
“I saw pieces.”
“You said nothing.”
“I reported concerns.”
“To whom?”
Gideon looked toward Estelle.
Christopher turned.
His mother stood on the terrace.
Of course.
Every warning had gone through her.
Christopher stared at her.
“You buried his reports.”
Estelle did not deny it.
Gideon continued.
“Three months ago, I installed private cameras in the east wing.”
Christopher looked at him.
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
“Where are the recordings?”
“Gone.”
“What?”
“Someone wiped the servers this morning.”
Christopher’s anger turned to fear.
“Before the pool incident?”
“Yes.”
“So someone knew.”
Gideon nodded.
“And the alarm?”
“I triggered it because four vehicles are approaching the estate.”
Christopher looked toward the long driveway.
Beyond the trees, headlights appeared.
Four black SUVs.
Gideon continued.
“They’re not police.”
Christopher’s expression hardened.
“Who are they?”
“I traced the license plates.”
“And?”
“Pierce Corporate Security.”
Christopher frowned.
He had his own estate security.
Pierce Industries maintained another force for executive protection.
“Who authorized them?”
Gideon looked toward Estelle.
She shook her head.
“Not me.”
Christopher believed her.
That was the frightening part.
“Jonathan.”
Arthur’s voice came from the terrace.
Halden had wheeled him upstairs through another route.
Christopher stared at his father.
Arthur looked toward the arriving vehicles.
“My brother knows the recordings exist.”
Gideon reached into the SUV.
He removed a locked metal case.
“What is that?”
“Insurance.”
Gideon opened it.
Three hard drives.
A bundle of photographs.
And a handgun.
Christopher ignored the weapon.
“What’s on the drives?”
“Everything Rachel collected.”
Estelle went still.
Christopher looked at Gideon.
“You had her documents?”
“For seven years.”
“Why didn’t you use them?”
“Because they weren’t enough.”
“They were enough to investigate.”
“Not if the investigators were already being paid.”
Christopher stared.
Gideon nodded toward the approaching vehicles.
“Jonathan has judges.”
“Prosecutors.”
“Police officers.”
“Board members.”
“Journalists.”
“He spent decades turning stolen family money into protection.”
Christopher looked at the mansion.
“And now he’s coming here.”
“No.”
Gideon shook his head.
“Jonathan never comes himself.”
The first SUV stopped at the gate.
Men in dark tactical clothing stepped out.
One held paperwork.
Christopher’s security guard spoke through the intercom.
Then looked toward the house.
His expression changed.
Gideon handed Christopher binoculars.
Christopher looked.
The document was an emergency court order.
He could read the heading even at a distance.
TEMPORARY PROTECTIVE CUSTODY.
Emma Pierce.
Christopher lowered the binoculars.
“What the hell is this?”
Gideon’s face hardened.
“They’re here for Emma.”
Estelle stepped forward.
“No court would issue that.”
Gideon looked at her.
“One just did.”
Christopher stared toward the gate.
A second document appeared.
He raised the binoculars again.
This one named Christopher.
EMERGENCY PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION ORDER.
He lowered them slowly.
Gideon spoke.
“Jonathan isn’t trying to kill anyone today.”
Christopher looked at Emma.
Gideon continued.
“He’s going to make the world believe you’re dangerous.”
“And then?”
Arthur answered.
“Then he takes Emma legally.”
The estate gate began to open.
Christopher spun toward the guardhouse.
“I ordered a lockdown!”
Gideon’s voice dropped.
“You did.”
The gate continued opening.
One of Christopher’s own guards had entered the release code.
The Pierce corporate vehicles rolled forward.
Christopher realized the conspiracy was no longer outside the house.
It was already inside his security team.
Emma grabbed his hand.
“Daddy.”
Christopher looked down.
She was staring toward the upstairs balcony.
A figure stood behind the glass.
A man.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Smiling.
Christopher recognized his uncle.
May you like
Jonathan Pierce had already entered the house.
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