Chapter 20 - BACK TO THE BALCONY
They returned to the Kavanaugh estate at dusk.
The same balcony where Micah saved Brinley.
The same black iron rails.
The same granite courtyard twenty-three feet below.
Belle stood inside the west corridor.
Renick beside her.
Owen behind.
Naomi’s team hidden throughout the estate.
“Where is everyone?” Belle asked.
“Children moved.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere even I don’t know.”
Belle nodded.
Good.
A man stepped onto the balcony.
Mr. Avery.
Except not Mr. Avery.
Jacob Vale.
Callum’s father.
Seventy-three.
Former intelligence contractor.
Presumed dead twelve years earlier.
Belle laughed bitterly.
“Another dead person.”
Jacob smiled.
“Your mother started the fashion.”
Renick stepped forward.
“You used Callum.”
Jacob shook his head.
“I raised him.”
“To murder children?”
“To destroy what Cormac built.”
Renick’s expression hardened.
“My daughter was six.”
“A Kavanaugh.”
Belle snapped.
“She is a child.”
Jacob looked at her.
“And you are Cormac’s daughter.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will.”
“No.”
Jacob smiled.
“You already inherited the building.”
Belle looked at Renick.
He shrugged slightly.
Jacob continued.
“Soon you inherit more.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Power rarely asks.”
Renick said, “Where is Callum?”
“Arrested.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you here?”
Jacob looked toward the railing.
“To finish the correction.”
Belle understood.
“He wanted Brinley dead.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Renick’s heirs preserve Cormac’s trusts.”
“And Micah?”
Jacob looked at Belle.
“Micah complicates succession.”
“So you wanted my son dead too.”
“No.”
Belle froze.
Jacob smiled.
“I wanted him useful.”
Owen moved.
Renick stopped him.
Jacob continued.
“Owen was supposed to teach the boy.”
“Teach him what?”
“To see.”
Belle thought about Micah’s observational skill.
His strange awareness.
Jacob had watched him.
“Children can be trained young.”
Belle’s stomach turned.
“You planned his life.”
“I created opportunities.”
“You gave us the apartment.”
“Yes.”
“You put him near the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To see if he would find it.”
Belle’s hands curled.
“He was four.”
“He found the cavity at six.”
Jacob sounded proud.
Belle wanted to throw him over the balcony.
“You used my child as an experiment.”
“As an heir.”
“No.”
Jacob sighed.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What else?”
“Networks survive when people inherit instincts.”
He looked at Micah’s saved balcony location.
“Your son has Owen’s eyes and Cormac’s mind.”
Belle stepped toward him.
“My son is not any of you.”
Jacob smiled.
“That depends how long you keep him.”
Renick’s voice went cold.
“Threaten him again.”
Jacob looked at him.
“I already did.”
An explosion sounded below.
Windows shook.
Smoke rose from the east wing.
Naomi shouted through Renick’s earpiece.
Diversion.
Jacob moved.
Owen tackled him.
The balcony rail snapped.
For one horrible second, history repeated itself.
Jacob went over.
Owen caught his wrist.
Belle screamed.
Renick grabbed Owen’s belt.
Jacob hung twenty-three feet above the granite.
He looked up.
At Owen.
The man whose life his family helped destroy.
“Let go.”
Owen’s face twisted.
Belle saw the temptation.
Seven years.
A stolen marriage.
A stolen childhood.
Constant danger.
“Dad.”
Micah’s voice came from the doorway.
Belle spun.
“What are you doing here?”
A guard appeared behind him, apologetic.
Evacuation from the east wing had pushed them toward the west corridor.
Micah looked at Owen.
“Don’t.”
Owen stared down at Jacob.
Then pulled.
Renick helped.
They dragged the old man back over the railing.
Naomi’s agents arrested him.
Jacob laughed.
“You think mercy makes you different?”
Owen looked at Micah.
“Yes.”
Belle understood.
Micah had saved Brinley from falling.
Now he had saved Owen from becoming someone he hated.
The circle closed.
Almost.
Because smoke still rose from the east wing.
Brinley and Isla were missing again.
Not kidnapped.
Evacuated.
But one of the transport vehicles never reached the safe point.
Renick stared at the tracker.
The vehicle had stopped near the river.
May you like
Belle’s heart sank.
The story was not over.
