Chapter 10 - THE RING BESIDE HIS BEDFor the first time, Emily understood exactly what Adrian had felt at the gala.
The second cut power.
Vale House disappeared into darkness.
Emergency lights turned the corridors red.
Adrian grabbed Emily and moved her toward the underground safe room.
“No.”
“Not negotiable.”
“My mother is upstairs.”
“Raphael is getting her.”
“My biological mother or grandmother?”
Adrian paused.
“That sentence is becoming complicated.”
“Welcome to my week.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Adrian pushed Emily into the safe corridor.
Gabriel met them.
“Twenty attackers minimum.”
“Police?”
“Roads blocked.”
“Samuel?”
“Inside.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“How?”
Gabriel looked toward Isabella’s wing.
“She gave him the tunnel codes.”
Emily swore.
Adrian almost smiled.
“Careful.”
“I’ve been shot seven times and married without permission. I’ve earned vocabulary privileges.”
They reached the safe room.
Helena and Raphael were already inside.
Emily grabbed Helena.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at Raphael.
“Keep them here.”
Emily immediately protested.
“Absolutely not.”
Adrian turned.
“I’m ending this.”
“Without us?”
“Yes.”
Helena stepped forward.
“Samuel wants me.”
“He wants Emily.”
“He wants both.”
Raphael loaded a handgun.
“And he wants me dead.”
Adrian stared.
Raphael shrugged.
“Family reunion?”
Emily lifted her cane.
“I hate all of you.”
Samuel’s men moved through the estate systematically.
But Vale House had been designed for siege.
Steel shutters dropped.
Hallways locked independently.
Security teams forced attackers into narrow corridors.
Adrian knew every passage.
Samuel knew almost as many.
They met inside the old ballroom.
Samuel Vale was eighty-one.
Thin.
White hair.
Walking stick.
He looked harmless.
That was perhaps the most frightening thing about him.
Adrian entered alone.
Samuel smiled.
“My nephew.”
“Uncle.”
“You built quite an empire.”
“You tried stealing it.”
“Stealing? I built the foundation your father wasted.”
Adrian pointed his weapon.
“Where are the hostages?”
Samuel smiled.
“You always were sentimental.”
“Where?”
A side door opened.
Two armed men dragged Isabella into the room.
Blood ran from her forehead.
Adrian’s jaw clenched.
Samuel looked at his sister-in-law.
“Isabella has always been weak.”
She whispered, “I believed you.”
“You believed what you needed.”
Samuel looked at Adrian.
“Bring Emily.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies.”
Adrian’s expression did not change.
But Isabella spoke.
“Don’t.”
Samuel pressed a gun against her head.
“Five seconds.”
“Samuel—”
“Five.”
Emily’s voice came from the balcony.
“Looking for me?”
Everyone looked up.
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
Of course she had ignored him.
Emily stood beside Helena and Raphael.
“Let her go.”
Samuel stared at Emily.
For the first time, emotion appeared.
“Astonishing.”
“What?”
“You look exactly like Helena did.”
Emily descended slowly.
Adrian whispered, “Emily, stop.”
She did not.
Samuel motioned.
His men seized her.
Adrian raised his weapon.
Samuel pressed his gun harder against Isabella.
“Drop it.”
Adrian obeyed.
Emily looked at him.
“Bad plan?”
“Terrible.”
Samuel smiled.
“I need one blood sample.”
Emily looked at him.
“And then?”
“You disappear.”
“Like Mateo?”
Helena stepped forward.
Samuel’s face changed.
“Your husband was foolish.”
“He was brave.”
“He was weak.”
Raphael raised his weapon.
Samuel laughed.
“And Raphael Serrano, the ghost.”
Raphael’s voice was ice.
“You killed my son.”
Samuel shrugged.
“Mateo killed himself when he believed morality mattered.”
Emily’s hand tightened.
A tiny microphone was hidden inside her sleeve.
Gabriel was recording everything.
So were federal agents now approaching the estate through the eastern woods.
Adrian had arranged it before entering.
Samuel continued talking.
Confessing.
Arrogance did what interrogation never could.
He admitted ordering the car bomb.
Admitted manipulating Vincent.
Admitted laundering billions.
Admitted arranging Anna Shaw’s death.
Then he said the worst thing.
“I should have killed Emily when she was an infant.”
Adrian moved.
Samuel fired.
Isabella shoved his arm.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Chaos erupted.
Raphael shot one guard.
Gabriel’s men stormed through both doors.
Emily dropped to the floor.
Adrian tackled Samuel.
Helena pulled Isabella away.
Within seconds, the room filled with agents.
“FEDERAL AGENTS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
Samuel stared upward from beneath Adrian.
He smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
Adrian leaned close.
“No.”
Emily approached.
“It ends with us surviving you.”
Samuel’s smile vanished.
Federal agents handcuffed him.
But as they lifted him, one final shot rang out.
Emily turned.
Adrian stumbled.
May you like
Blood spread across his shirt.
“ADRIAN!”
