Chapter 18 - VICTOR’S FINAL MOVE
The escape was planned.
Two fake federal transport officers intercepted the ambulance.
By the time authorities discovered the switch, Victor had a ninety-minute lead.
Grant immediately moved Claire and the children to a protected location.
Victor had nothing left to preserve.
That made him more dangerous.
Owen studied every property and contact Victor had used.
Nothing.
Then Sophie walked into the room.
“He’ll go to the blue house.”
Grant turned.
“What blue house?”
“The house where Mom lived with us.”
“Victor used to stand across the street.”
Claire remembered the property.
She had rented it under a false name.
Investigators searched the address history.
The house had been purchased two years earlier.
Buyer.
Victor Hale.
Grant understood.
It was not a hideout.
It was a shrine.
Or a place where Victor had kept evidence.
Agents surrounded the blue house.
This time Victor was there.
He stood inside with gasoline containers and Claire’s original files.
He intended to burn everything.
Grant watched from behind the police perimeter.
Victor called him.
“You ruined your father’s legacy.”
Grant stared at the upstairs window.
“My father ruined it himself.”
“You could have had everything.”
“I do.”
Grant looked at Claire.
Sophie.
Luke.
And Emily beside the Carters under protection.
Victor laughed.
“You always were sentimental when it was too late.”
Grant’s expression did not change.
“You made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You thought being late meant I’d never arrive.”
Victor went silent.
Grant continued.
“I’m here now.”
Victor lit a match.
Agents moved.
The front windows exploded outward as flash devices detonated.
Victor dropped the match.
Fire caught a curtain.
Sprinklers activated.
Agents dragged Victor outside minutes later.
He screamed at Grant.
“Your children should have been mine.”
Grant stopped.
The words revealed something darker than greed.
Claire looked sick.
Victor had not merely obeyed Henry.
He had become obsessed with controlling the life Grant possessed.
The company.
Claire.
The children.
Victor wanted Grant erased from his own family.
Grant walked toward him.
Federal agents blocked the path.
Victor smiled through blood on his lip.
“You want to hit me?”
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
“I want you alive.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“So you can spend the next thirty years watching my children grow up without you.”
Victor was taken away.
The fire was extinguished.
Inside the house, investigators recovered Claire’s missing envelope.
The one she had left with Marian seven years earlier.
Victor had kept it.
Grant opened it at home.
Inside was an ultrasound photograph.
Three tiny shapes.
And a note.
Grant.
I’m terrified.
But I still believe the man I love is inside the man you’re becoming.
Please come find us before it’s too late.
Grant pressed the letter against his chest.
Claire sat beside him.
“You did find us.”
Grant looked at her.
“Seven years late.”
Claire took his hand.
“But you stayed.”
Then Luke entered carrying another envelope recovered from Victor’s house.
It was addressed to Grant.
But the handwriting belonged to Henry Bennett.
Grant opened it.
May you like
The first sentence changed everything again.
SON, IF YOU EVER LEARN THE TRUTH, THERE IS ONE THING ABOUT CLAIRE I NEVER TOLD VICTOR.
