Chapter 12 - VICTORIA'S CONFESSIONVictoria finally confessed.
She had been raised by the family.
Not loved.
Trained.
Taught to manipulate.
Taught to lie.
Taught that survival required obedience.
She had known about Rebecca.
She had known about the baby.
But she hadn't killed Rebecca.
She had only helped cover it up.
The person who killed Rebecca was her father.
Thomas.
But Thomas hadn't acted alone.
He had received instructions from Charles Hale.
The dead man.
Ethan looked confused.
“How?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because Charles wasn't dead.”
“He was hiding.”
“For twenty-four years.”
“Where?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then the mansion doors opened.
A man walked inside.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Carrying a cane.
Ethan stared.
He recognized him.
The photograph.
The face.
The family portrait.
His great-grandfather.
Charles Hale.
Alive.
Everyone froze.
Charles smiled.
“You finally found the truth.”
Ethan held his son tighter.
“You killed Rebecca.”
Charles shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Charles looked toward Victoria.
She began crying.
Charles said:
“She did.”
Victoria's face went white.
“No.”
Charles smiled.
“Tell him.”
Victoria shook her head.
“I was seventeen.”
“You still pulled the trigger.”
Ethan stared.
“You killed Rebecca?”
Victoria collapsed onto the floor.
“I didn't know she was going to die.”
Ethan couldn't speak.
Charles continued.
“She was going to expose everything.”
Victoria covered her face.
“I was scared.”
Ethan looked at her.
For the first time, he saw not a monster.
But a person destroyed by the same family that had destroyed everyone else.
Then Charles raised his cane.
A hidden blade appeared.
The FBI agents shouted.
Charles smiled.
“You think this ends with an arrest?”
May you like
He pressed a button.
The mansion's walls began to close.
