Chapter 14 - RICHARD’S LAST CHOICE
The shot echoed through the chamber.
Matthew stumbled.
I screamed.
But he didn’t fall.
Adrian had moved.
The bullet struck Adrian’s shoulder.
He collapsed.
Catherine’s son had taken a bullet meant for Richard’s son.
Or brother.
Or whatever our family had become.
Reeves shouted for security.
Half the room stood.
The other half stayed seated.
Factions.
Exactly as Daniel predicted.
Dana’s federal teams rushed the outer corridor.
Doors locked automatically.
We were trapped inside.
Richard raised the gun again.
I stepped between him and Matthew.
“Enough.”
He stared at me.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
“Put it down.”
“You don’t understand what you’re destroying.”
“Your business?”
“Order.”
I laughed.
“You call this order?”
“Yes!”
His voice thundered.
“For fifty years, men like Reeves and me prevented wars by deciding who was allowed to win.”
“And everyone else?”
“Everyone else lived.”
“Carla’s cousin got his jaw shattered over six hundred dollars.”
Richard stared.
“That is your argument?”
“That is the entire argument.”
People listened.
I turned toward the chamber.
“You sit here moving billions, judges, police departments, elections, companies. You call yourselves necessary because the people you hurt don’t get invited into this room.”
Silence spread.
Reeves snapped, “Enough theater.”
I looked at him.
“You’re right.”
I reached the central console.
“Vote.”
Adrian, bleeding, pressed his hand to the biometric scanner.
“Adrian Shaw. Confirm.”
Matthew pressed his.
“Matthew Vale. Confirm.”
I placed mine.
“Evelyn Mercer. Confirm.”
The system accepted all three.
DISSOLUTION REVIEW ACTIVE.
Vote terminals lit across the chamber.
Reeves fired at the console.
The bullet shattered glass.
The system remained active.
Brennan’s voice came through the speakers.
“Backup server, genius.”
I almost laughed.
He had ignored bed rest and hacked into the network from outside.
Reeves looked furious.
Richard stared at me.
“You think this ends crime?”
“No.”
“Corruption?”
“No.”
“Power?”
“No.”
“Then what is the point?”
I looked at him.
“It ends you deciding you’re allowed to own everyone.”
His face changed.
Not anger.
Loss.
He looked at my mother’s face in mine.
Maybe he finally understood she had left him years before the fire.
Vote results began appearing.
DISSOLVE.
RETAIN.
DISSOLVE.
RETAIN.
Too close.
Reeves moved through the room threatening members.
Dana’s team pounded against the sealed doors.
Matthew helped Adrian sit.
“You idiot.”
Adrian grimaced.
“You’re welcome.”
“Don’t make me like you.”
“Too late.”
The vote climbed.
48% dissolve.
47% retain.
5% abstain.
Richard walked toward the console.
He still held the gun.
One vote remained uncast.
His.
Founder’s proxy.
Weighted.
Enough to decide.
Reeves saw it.
“Richard.”
My grandfather stared at the screen.
Then at me.
“You took everything.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You took Isabelle.”
“She left.”
“Daniel.”
“You imprisoned him.”
“Matthew.”
“You lied to him.”
His hand trembled.
“You.”
I swallowed.
“I was never yours.”
That hurt him most.
He raised the gun.
Matthew stepped forward.
I didn’t move.
Richard’s eyes filled.
Then Reeves shouted:
“Shoot her!”
Richard turned.
Looked at him.
For fifty years, Richard had served the Circle.
For fifty years, he had believed power protected family.
The Circle ordered the fire changed.
The Circle took Catherine’s sons.
The Circle planned his replacement.
Maybe monsters could finally recognize the cage when it closed around them.
Richard lowered the gun.
Reeves went pale.
“Richard.”
My grandfather walked to the terminal.
Pressed his thumb.
DISSOLVE.
The chamber erupted.
Final result:
51.4% DISSOLVE.
48.6% RETAIN.
SYSTEM DISSOLUTION INITIATED.
Reeves screamed.
“No!”
He shot Richard.
The bullet struck my grandfather in the chest.
Richard fell.
Matthew fired back.
Reeves disappeared behind the console.
The chamber doors unlocked.
Federal agents poured in.
Gunfire.
Screams.
People dropped weapons.
Others tried to run.
I reached Richard.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He looked at me.
“Princess.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
He smiled faintly.
“Still hate it?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
His breathing rattled.
“Your mother was right.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Tears blurred my eyes despite myself.
I didn’t forgive him.
Dying did not erase what he did.
But hatred becomes strange when the person holding the other end begins disappearing.
“Why did you vote yes?”
He looked toward Matthew.
Then Adrian.
Then me.
“I spent my whole life protecting the name.”
“What name?”
“Valentine.”
He smiled bitterly.
“And none of you are Valentines.”
A laugh escaped me through tears.
“Turns out that was the problem.”
His eyes closed.
“Evie.”
I leaned closer.
“Yes?”
“Your mother… always loved you.”
“I know.”
“Tell her…”
He stopped.
“Tell her yourself.”
Maybe I had said that too many times lately.
He looked at me one last time.
“No more tunnels.”
Then Richard Valentine died.
Around us, his empire collapsed.
Reeves was arrested trying to leave through a service corridor.
Three judges were arrested.
Two federal officials.
Nine executives.
Dozens more surrendered after the evidence release began.
The reserve accounts froze.
Thirty-eight billion dollars became evidence.
I no longer controlled it.
Good.
At dawn, we emerged onto LaSalle Street.
Snow fell.
Cameras waited behind police barriers.
Reporters shouted my name.
Not Emily.
Evelyn Mercer.
Matthew stood beside me.
Adrian was already in an ambulance.
Catherine rode with him.
Brennan had been remotely threatened by four doctors.
Dana Cross approached.
“You’ll need to testify.”
“I know.”
“This will take years.”
“I know.”
“You won’t be able to disappear again.”
That scared me.
But disappearing had never really kept me safe.
It only kept me alone.
“I know.”
A reporter shouted:
“Ms. Mercer! Were you part of the Valentine criminal organization?”
Another:
“Did you inherit thirty-eight billion dollars?”
Another:
“Is Matthew Valentine your brother?”
I looked at Matthew.
He sighed.
“Uncle.”
I smiled.
“Don’t push it.”
For the first time, cameras captured me smiling.
Then my phone rang.
My mother.
I answered.
Her voice shook.
“Evie.”
“What happened?”
“Daniel.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He collapsed.”
Everything inside me froze.
She was crying.
“Doctors are working on him.”
I turned away from the cameras.
“Mom.”
“He asked for you.”
The world had just watched an empire fall.
May you like
But none of it mattered.
I ran.
