Chapter 9 - FORTY-THREE SECONDSGrant aimed at Nathan.
Lena stepped in front of him.
“No.”
Grant blinked.
“You?”
“You lied to me.”
“I gave you a life.”
“You gave me revenge against an innocent man.”
Grant laughed.
“Innocent?”
Nathan said quietly, “He’s right.”
Everyone looked at him.
Nathan kept his eyes on Grant.
“I’m not innocent.”
Grant smiled.
“Finally.”
“But neither was Anna.”
Grant’s smile vanished.
Maya frowned.
Nathan continued.
“My wife was investigating you.”
Lena stared.
“My mother?”
“She was an investigative journalist.”
Eleanor had told Maya Anna was merely Nathan’s weakness.
Of course she had omitted the rest.
Nathan said, “Anna discovered the first evidence that became Orpheus.”
Grant’s gun shifted.
“She stole from us.”
“No.”
Nathan smiled.
“She beat you.”
Grant fired.
Lena screamed.
Nathan pushed her aside.
The bullet struck a steel column.
Everyone scattered.
Maya grabbed Sophie.
Celeste attacked the corrupt agent.
Ruth swung her cane into his wrist.
The gun fell.
The agent stared at the elderly woman.
Ruth hit him again.
“You kidnapped me from dialysis.”
Even Maya paused.
Ruth was furious.
“You do not interrupt dialysis!”
She struck him a third time.
The agent collapsed.
Evelyn stared.
“I’ve always liked you.”
Ruth adjusted her hospital robe.
“Help me tie him up.”
Across the warehouse, Grant pursued Nathan.
Nathan was injured.
Slower.
Grant knew it.
“You ruined everything!” Grant shouted.
Nathan ducked behind machinery.
“No. Mother did.”
Grant fired.
“You were always her favorite!”
“She told me she was dead!”
“That made it worse!”
Nathan understood.
Grant had spent his childhood competing with a ghost.
An imaginary brother.
A perfect son Eleanor secretly watched from afar.
Nathan stepped into view.
“She destroyed both of us.”
Grant hesitated.
For one second, the brothers looked at each other.
Not billionaire and criminal.
Not villain and witness.
Two boys damaged differently by the same mother.
Nathan lowered his weapon.
“We can end it.”
Grant laughed.
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No.”
Nathan’s answer was immediate.
“I think I stopped.”
Grant’s face changed.
Nathan continued.
“That’s the difference.”
Grant raised his gun.
Maya saw it.
She shoved a rolling metal cart down the sloped floor.
It slammed into Grant.
He fell.
Nathan kicked the gun away.
Grant attacked him barehanded.
They crashed through rotten wooden barriers.
Nathan’s stitches opened.
Grant punched his wounded shoulder.
Nathan nearly blacked out.
Maya ran forward.
Celeste caught her.
“No.”
“He’ll kill him.”
“Watch.”
Nathan stopped fighting back.
Grant hit him again.
And again.
“Fight me!”
Nathan didn’t.
“FIGHT!”
“No.”
Grant froze.
Nathan spat blood.
“You want me to become the man I was.”
Grant hit him.
Nathan fell.
Still didn’t retaliate.
“You need me to prove we’re the same.”
Grant screamed.
He grabbed a broken metal pipe.
Raised it.
Lena stepped forward.
“Dad!”
Both men froze.
Nathan looked at her.
Dad.
The second daughter in one night.
Grant saw his defeat.
Not legal.
Not financial.
Something worse.
Nathan had people willing to call him family despite knowing what he had done.
Grant had spent billions buying loyalty and possessed none.
He swung the pipe.
A gunshot sounded.
Grant fell.
Maya turned.
Ruth held the corrupt agent’s weapon.
Everyone stared.
Ruth stared too.
“Oh.”
Maya’s mouth opened.
“Mom?”
“I was aiming at the wall.”
Grant groaned.
The bullet had hit his leg.
Nathan started laughing.
Then Maya.
Then Sophie.
Even Lena.
Ruth looked offended.
“I have cataracts.”
That made it worse.
Sirens approached.
Nathan crawled toward Grant.
Grant looked terrified.
“Stay away.”
Nathan sat beside him.
“You know the funny part?”
“What?”
“I spent my whole life thinking I needed to kill you.”
Grant stared.
Nathan looked toward his daughters.
“I don’t.”
Federal agents stormed the warehouse.
This time, Nathan knew the commander.
Deputy Director Elena Ruiz.
One of the few names absent from Orpheus.
Grant was arrested.
Again.
The corrupt agent was taken too.
Nathan voluntarily held out his hands.
Ruiz looked at him.
“What are you doing?”
“My name is in Orpheus.”
“I know.”
“I’m surrendering.”
Sophie rushed forward.
“No.”
Nathan looked at her.
“We talked about this.”
“That was before I liked you.”
Nathan smiled sadly.
“Terrible timing.”
Lena grabbed his other hand.
“I just found you.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to disappear.”
“I won’t.”
“You’re going to prison!”
“Yes.”
Lena’s eyes filled.
Nathan looked at both daughters.
“I spent years running from consequences. If I run now, everything I told you tonight means nothing.”
Sophie cried.
Lena cried.
Nathan cried.
Maya did not.
Until Nathan looked at her.
“Take care of them?”
Maya wiped her face angrily.
“Why me?”
“Because you’re terrifying.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the best I have.”
Maya hugged him.
Nathan froze.
Then hugged her back.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“Opening the basement door.”
Maya laughed through tears.
“I was looking for a circuit breaker.”
“Best electrician I ever met.”
Agents cuffed him.
Sophie kissed his cheek.
Lena held his hand until the last possible second.
Nathan walked toward the police vehicle.
Then stopped.
He looked at Maya.
“Your mother.”
Maya frowned.
“Ruth?”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
Nathan shook his head.
“The hospital records.”
Maya went cold.
“What about them?”
“Grant knew Ruth’s exact medications before you started working at the mansion.”
“Yes.”
“That bothered me.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
Nathan continued.
“So I checked something before coming here.”
“What?”
“Ruth’s kidney failure.”
Ruth looked up.
Nathan’s face became grim.
“It wasn’t natural.”
Silence.
Maya stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
Nathan looked toward Grant.
“I’m saying someone has been poisoning Ruth Bennett for three years.”
Grant smiled from the back of the federal car.
Maya’s blood turned to ice.
May you like
Then Grant mouthed two words through the window.
Ask Evelyn.
