Chapter 16 - The Price of Loyalty
Ethan stepped in front of me.
Samuel pointed the gun at him instead.
“Move.”
“No.”
Samuel’s hand shook.
That mattered.
Thomas’s men did not shake.
“What did he offer you?” I asked.
Samuel laughed bitterly.
“Exoneration.”
“For what?”
“For the crimes I committed before I helped Jonathan.”
There it was.
The truth Olivia had warned us about.
Samuel had not merely infiltrated Thomas’s network.
He had helped create it.
“I laundered money.”
“I falsified contracts.”
“I bribed people.”
“I told myself everyone did it.”
“Then Jonathan discovered enough to destroy all of us.”
“So you switched sides.”
“Yes.”
“Because you grew a conscience?”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“Because I got scared.”
At least he was finally honest.
“Thomas says the archive includes everything.”
“It does.”
“Including me.”
“Yes.”
“He promised to remove my files.”
Ethan said, “And you believe him?”
“No.”
Samuel’s eyes filled.
“But I believe prison.”
I stepped around Ethan.
“Then shoot me.”
“Claire.”
Ethan grabbed my arm.
I kept my eyes on Samuel.
“If I die, Ethan gains full authorization after seventy-two hours.”
“You still lose.”
Samuel knew it.
His weapon lowered slightly.
“If you kill Ethan, I gain full authorization.”
“If you kill both of us, the archive locks permanently.”
“There is no version where Thomas gets what he wants by killing us.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
He had let fear make him stupid.
Just as Barbara had.
Just as Ethan had.
Just as I had for years.
I walked toward him.
“The archive may expose you.”
“Yes.”
“And maybe it should.”
His eyes opened.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then stop asking other people to pay for what you did.”
That sentence broke him.
The gun dropped.
Samuel sat on a crate.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Then he handed me the weapon.
“Thomas moved Barbara.”
“Where?”
“To Whitmore House.”
My stomach tightened.
The mansion I had fled that morning.
The house where Barbara had grabbed my robe with a red cast-iron pot in her hand.
My prison.
Thomas had turned it into his fortress.
Samuel continued.
“He wants the authorization there.”
“Why?”
“Because underneath the house is the original Whitmore data center.”
Ethan stared.
“What data center?”
Samuel looked at him.
“Your childhood home was built over Thomas’s first private archive.”
Everything came back to the house.
My marriage.
Barbara.
The stolen money.
Thomas.
My father’s secrets.
And the suitcase I had packed to escape it.
I closed the suitcase.
“We’re going home.”
Ethan looked at me.
“To surrender?”
“No.”
“To end this.”
Before leaving, I opened the Renunciation Protocol.
I entered my name.
I entered my identification number.
One final field remained.
Confirm permanent forfeiture of beneficial interest?
Two billion dollars.
Gone with one click.
I pressed YES.
The system processed.
Then a message appeared.
RENUNCIATION ACCEPTED.
MERCER FINANCIAL TRUST TRANSFERRED TO CHARITABLE SEQUESTRATION.
Samuel stared.
“You just gave away two billion dollars.”
“No.”
I closed the laptop.
“I took it away from Thomas.”
Then another message appeared.
ARCHIVE CUSTODIANSHIP RETAINED.
FINAL DISCLOSURE AUTHORITY: CLAIRE MERCER WHITMORE.
Now Thomas could not buy me.
He could not inherit from me.
He could not steal the trust through Ethan.
All that remained was the one thing powerful men feared more than losing money.
May you like
Exposure.
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