Chapter 14 - Marcus’s Real Plan
Marcus locked the door behind Arthur.
Celeste backed toward the wall.
“You said you were gone.”
Marcus smiled.
“I lied.”
“You set me up.”
“Yes.”
Arthur stared at him.
“You look like your father.”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“Don’t.”
“Theodore always hated hearing the truth too.”
Voss pressed the syringe closer to Arthur’s neck.
Celeste looked between them.
“What is that?”
“Insurance.”
Marcus answered.
“For what?”
“Dad has been arrested.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So somebody needs to keep the old story buried.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“You think you can still bury anything?”
Marcus looked at Arthur.
“If he dies before testifying.”
Arthur remained calm.
“You had fifteen years.”
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“You found me three months ago.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
Celeste turned.
“What?”
Arthur looked at her.
“Marcus knew I was alive.”
Celeste stopped.
“For how long?”
Marcus said nothing.
“How long?”
“Three months.”
Celeste looked physically struck.
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“You let me think Evelyn knew where he was.”
“Yes.”
“You let me attack her.”
Marcus shrugged.
“I didn’t tell you to do that.”
Celeste crossed the room and slapped him.
Voss moved.
Marcus stopped him.
“No.”
Celeste slapped Marcus again.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
No denial.
No apology.
That hurt her more.
Naomi listened from the command vehicle through Arthur’s microphone.
Brooks looked toward the tactical commander.
“Hold.”
Naomi turned.
“Why?”
“Arthur is close to Voss.”
“A forced entry could get him injected.”
“What’s in the syringe?”
“We don’t know.”
Naomi did.
Or suspected.
“Something that looks like cardiac arrest.”
Brooks nodded.
Inside, Arthur looked at Voss.
“What have you been giving Evelyn?”
Voss smiled.
“A little of this.”
Celeste turned.
“What is it?”
“Potassium concentrate.”
Naomi went cold.
Enough could disrupt the heart.
Voss continued.
“Very hard to explain if you’re not expecting it.”
Celeste looked horrified.
“You were going to use that on me.”
Marcus laughed.
“So Camille told you.”
Celeste’s face changed.
“Where is she?”
“In custody.”
“You touched her.”
Marcus said nothing.
“You cut her.”
“She wouldn’t cooperate.”
Celeste lunged.
Marcus caught her.
They struggled.
Arthur moved.
Voss tightened his grip.
“Don’t.”
Marcus shoved Celeste into a table.
“You should have followed the plan.”
“You were going to murder me.”
“You became inconvenient.”
“You promised me thirty million.”
“You were never getting thirty million.”
Celeste laughed through tears.
“Naomi said that.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“She told me.”
Marcus’s expression darkened.
“That housekeeper.”
Celeste laughed again.
“She’s smarter than all of you.”
Naomi heard it.
Despite everything, the line almost amused her.
Marcus shoved Celeste into a chair.
“You’re going to fix this.”
“How?”
“You’re going to confess.”
“To what?”
“Everything.”
Celeste stared.
Marcus continued.
“You drugged Evelyn.”
“You forged the license.”
“You hired Voss.”
“You kidnapped Reed.”
“You abducted Rachel.”
“You killed Arthur when he confronted you.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
Marcus smiled.
“Yes.”
Celeste stared.
“And then?”
“You disappear.”
“You mean I die.”
Marcus said nothing.
Celeste closed her eyes.
Finally.
She saw the entire structure.
She had never been the mastermind.
She had been the final container for everyone else’s crimes.
A beautiful scapegoat in a twelve-carat ring.
Outside, Naomi spoke.
“She’ll turn.”
Brooks looked at her.
“What?”
“Celeste.”
“You think she’ll cooperate?”
“I think she wants to survive.”
Inside, Marcus opened the laptop.
“Sit.”
Celeste did not.
Marcus grabbed her shoulder.
“Sit.”
She sat.
“Read.”
A confession appeared on screen.
Celeste looked at it.
Then toward Arthur.
Arthur met her eyes.
Slowly, he shook his head.
Do not.
Marcus noticed.
He hit Arthur across the face.
Celeste flinched.
“Stop.”
“Read.”
She looked at the screen.
“My name is Celeste Marie Crane.”
Her voice shook.
“I entered the Vale family under a false identity.”
Marcus smiled.
Outside, Brooks whispered.
“We need more.”
Naomi stared.
Celeste continued.
“I manipulated Adrian Vale into an engagement.”
“I tampered with Evelyn Vale’s medication.”
Naomi watched Voss.
His attention was on Celeste.
Arthur’s right hand moved slowly toward his coat.
Nothing inside.
But the microphone.
He touched it.
Three times.
Brooks frowned.
“Signal?”
Naomi understood.
“He wants us ready.”
Celeste continued.
“I attempted to suffocate Evelyn Vale.”
The confession was true so far.
Then came the lies.
“I acted alone.”
Celeste stopped.
Marcus’s face hardened.
“Read.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
“Read.”
“I didn’t act alone.”
Marcus stared.
Voss turned.
Arthur smiled faintly.
Celeste looked directly toward the hidden microphone on Arthur’s lapel.
Naomi knew she had seen it.
“My name is Celeste Crane.”
She repeated.
“Marcus Vale recruited me five years ago.”
Marcus lunged toward her.
Arthur shoved Voss’s arm away.
The syringe flew.
Brooks shouted.
“Go!”
Tactical officers breached two doors simultaneously.
Explosive noise filled the building.
Marcus grabbed Celeste.
Voss ran.
Arthur dropped to the floor.
Naomi watched through the feed.
Voss sprinted toward a side corridor.
An officer chased him.
Marcus held a metal shard against Celeste’s throat.
“Back!”
Officers froze.
Celeste stared at Marcus.
Then laughed.
He tightened his grip.
“What is funny?”
“You.”
“Shut up.”
“You really thought I loved money more than revenge.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Celeste reached up.
Not toward the shard.
Toward her engagement ring.
She twisted it.
The massive diamond separated from the band.
A tiny memory card fell into her palm.
Marcus stared.
Celeste smiled.
“I recorded everything.”
Naomi’s eyes widened.
Celeste continued.
“Five years.”
“Every meeting.”
“Every payment.”
“Every promise.”
Marcus went pale.
“The ring was never from Adrian.”
Adrian, standing behind Naomi, froze.
Celeste looked toward the camera.
“I switched it.”
Her eyes found Adrian through the lens.
For one painful second, she looked almost ashamed.
Then she turned back to Marcus.
“You wanted a scapegoat.”
“I wanted insurance.”
Marcus’s grip shifted.
That was enough.
Celeste drove her heel down on his foot.
Twisted.
Dropped.
Officers surged.
Marcus was tackled.
Celeste crawled away.
Arthur grabbed her.
Voss reached the side exit.
Naomi saw him disappear.
Then a second camera caught him entering the chemical storage wing.
Brooks ran.
Naomi followed.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Naomi.”
“He knows the estate systems.”
“He knows Evelyn’s medications.”
“And if he gets out again, somebody else dies.”
Brooks swore but kept moving.
They entered the side corridor.
Voss stood at the far end.
A glass container in one hand.
Lighter in the other.
Naomi stopped.
Chemical warning labels covered the shelves.
Brooks raised her weapon.
“Put it down.”
Voss smiled.
“You people never learn.”
Naomi smelled gasoline.
Not chemical solvent.
Gasoline.
Voss had prepared another fire.
He held the lighter above the wet floor.
“Back up.”
Brooks did not move.
Voss looked at Naomi.
“This is your fault.”
Naomi almost laughed.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“You were supposed to be arrested.”
“Bad morning for you.”
His face twisted.
“You think Evelyn cares about you?”
Naomi did not answer.
“You think she chose you because she respects you?”
“She chose you because nobody would suspect the help.”
Naomi felt the insult.
Then dismissed it.
“Maybe.”
Voss smiled.
“Does that bother you?”
“No.”
His smile faded.
“Why?”
“Because she still trusted me more than she trusted you.”
Voss flicked the lighter.
Brooks fired.
Not at him.
At the sprinkler pipe above his head.
Water exploded downward.
The lighter went out.
Voss stared upward in disbelief.
Naomi moved.
She kicked the container from his hand.
Brooks tackled him against the wall.
Officers arrived.
Within seconds, Malcolm Voss was handcuffed.
Naomi stood beneath the spraying water.
Breathing hard.
Brooks looked at her.
“You are never coming with me on another operation.”
Naomi smiled.
“You said that last time.”
Brooks almost laughed.
Then Adrian appeared.
His face was not relieved.
“What?”
Naomi asked.
He held up his phone.
“Evelyn is gone.”
Naomi’s smile vanished.
“What do you mean gone?”
“The hospital room is empty.”
“But police—”
“They found the officer unconscious in the stairwell.”
Naomi felt the nightmare restart.
Brooks grabbed her radio.
“Who took her?”
Adrian turned the screen.
Security footage showed Evelyn leaving the hospital in a wheelchair.
Nobody forced her.
Nobody threatened her.
She pushed herself.
Beside her walked only one person.
Camille Crane.
Naomi stared.
Camille had supposedly been in custody.
Brooks called the station.
The answer came.
Camille had been transferred for formal booking.
The transport vehicle never arrived.
Naomi closed her eyes.
There were still too many moving pieces.
Then another message appeared.
From Evelyn’s phone.
To Naomi.
Four words.
May you like
I have to finish this.
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