Chapter 13 - THE HOUSE THAT BECAME A TRAPSteel panels dropped over every window.
The mansion became a fortress.
Charles had built the system decades earlier.
The agents were trapped.
The exits sealed.
Ethan grabbed his son.
Daniel pulled Maria and her daughter toward the basement.
Victoria followed.
Charles disappeared.
“Where is he going?”
Daniel looked toward the staircase.
“The vault.”
They followed.
The hidden vault opened.
Inside was one final room.
A table.
Four chairs.
And a single American flag.
Charles stood behind it.
“This family built this country.”
Ethan stared.
“You exploited people.”
“Every great empire does.”
“No.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“That's what people like you tell yourselves.”
Charles smiled.
“You're still young.”
“And you're still afraid.”
The old man's smile disappeared.
Ethan held up Rebecca's diary.
“You couldn't destroy the truth.”
Charles looked at it.
Then at the baby.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“Your son isn't merely evidence.”
Ethan froze.
“He is the heir.”
“To what?”
Charles pointed toward the wall.
A hidden screen appeared.
It displayed a family tree.
At the center was the baby.
And beneath his name:
SOLE SURVIVING HEIR TO THE ORIGINAL TRUST.
Ethan stared.
“What trust?”
Charles answered:
“The trust worth three billion dollars.”
Silence.
The money had been hidden for decades.
Protected by murders.
Protected by forged identities.
Protected by false deaths.
And now Ethan's son had become the legal successor.
Charles wanted control.
The family wanted control.
Everyone wanted the child.
Ethan looked at his son.
Then at Charles.
“You'll never touch him.”
Charles laughed.
“Then you'll have to kill me.”
Ethan didn't move.
Charles stepped forward.
“Go ahead.”
Then Maria screamed.
Everyone turned.
The vault door was closing.
Someone was trapped outside.
Daniel.
He had stayed behind to hold it open.
“Go!”
Ethan shouted.
Daniel smiled.
May you like
“Protect the boy.”
The door slammed shut.
