Chapter 8 - LORRAINE’S CHILDREN
Lorraine ordered everyone to place their weapons on the floor.
Detective Ruiz complied slowly.
The underground room had only one exit.
Lorraine held the advantage.
She looked older than she had in the kitchen.
The elegance was gone.
Smoke stained her coat.
Her hair hung loose around her face.
“You found Evelyn’s file,” she said.
Claire stood beside Richard.
“You killed her.”
Lorraine smiled.
“Evelyn killed herself the moment she slept with my husband.”
Richard stepped forward.
“You told me she left the company.”
“She tried to take everything from me.”
“She was carrying my child.”
“You already had a child.”
“Ethan was not mine.”
The words came out like broken glass.
Lorraine had been unable to have children.
She purchased Ethan through the illegal adoption network she later expanded.
Richard believed Ethan was an abandoned infant from a distant relative.
Lorraine never told him the truth.
Then Richard had an affair with Evelyn.
When Evelyn became pregnant, Lorraine arranged the highway crash.
She placed Claire with Evelyn’s sister and paid the family to remain silent.
Richard never knew Claire existed.
“Why allow me near the family?” Claire asked.
Lorraine’s mouth twisted.
“Because Ethan chose you.”
Years later, Ethan met Claire at a university fundraiser.
Lorraine recognized Evelyn’s daughter immediately.
She encouraged the relationship because she wanted Claire close enough to watch.
When Claire became a forensic accountant, Lorraine realized she could also be useful.
“You married me to your son because you wanted to control me.”
“I believed marriage would make you loyal.”
Claire raised her injured hand.
“This is what your loyalty looks like.”
Lorraine aimed the rifle at her.
“You should have accepted your place.”
Richard moved in front of Claire.
“Shoot me instead.”
Lorraine laughed softly.
“You always did think sacrifice made you noble.”
Police sirens approached aboveground.
Lorraine looked toward the ceiling.
Then she pulled a remote from her pocket.
“The room is wired.”
Detective Ruiz saw the detonator.
“If you press that, you die too.”
“I have already lost everything.”
“No,” Claire said.
“You still have one thing.”
Lorraine looked at her.
Claire pointed toward the videotapes.
“Your version of the story.”
Lorraine hesitated.
That was what Claire had counted on.
Lorraine did not merely want to win.
She wanted to be understood.
She wanted witnesses to her power.
“You believed Evelyn stole Richard,” Claire continued.
“She did.”
“You believed Ethan owed you because you bought him.”
“I saved him.”
“You taught him that love was debt.”
Lorraine’s hand trembled.
Claire stepped closer.
“And now he is in custody because he became exactly like you.”
The words struck harder than accusation.
Lorraine looked away for one second.
Detective Ruiz fired.
The bullet struck Lorraine’s shoulder.
The detonator fell.
Richard kicked it across the floor.
Officers flooded the room.
Lorraine screamed as they restrained her.
“You think this ends with me?”
Claire looked at the files.
May you like
“No.”
“It begins with everyone you recorded.”
