Chapter 6
The hidden door swung open.
Charles stood there, red-faced, breathing hard.
Behind him were two security guards.
And Detective Reynolds.
I backed away, my hands raised, the documents clutched to my chest.
"Give them to me, Lucien," Charles said, his voice low and dangerous. "And I might make this easy on you."
I looked at Reynolds.
The detective who was supposed to uphold the law.
The detective who'd helped cover up Elena's murder.
"You're all going to prison," I said.
Reynolds drew his gun.
"I don't think so," he said. "Drop the documents. Now."
I didn't move.
"Shoot me," I said. "And everyone will know why. Sarah Chen knows I'm here. She has copies of everything. If I don't check in in ten minutes, she sends it all to every news station in the city."
It was a bluff.
Sarah was in the car, waiting.
She didn't have copies of anything.
But they didn't know that.
Reynolds hesitated.
Charles' eyes narrowed.
"He's lying," he said. "Shoot him."
Reynolds' finger tightened on the trigger.
Then we heard it.
A small voice from the hallway.
"Daddy?"
Everyone froze.
Ava stood in the doorway of the study, her favorite teddy bear clutched to her chest, her hair messy from sleep.
She'd heard the noise.
She'd come to investigate.
And now she was standing there, looking at all of us.
At her grandfather with murder in his eyes.
At the detective with a gun pointed at her father.
At the guards with their hands on their weapons.
"Ava," I said softly. "Go back to bed, baby. Everything's okay."
But she didn't move.
She looked at Charles.
"Grandpa," she said, her voice trembling. "Why do you have a gun pointed at Daddy?"
Charles' face softened, just a little.
He lowered his hand, signaling Reynolds to lower the gun.
"Ava, sweetheart," he said, his voice sickeningly sweet. "Come here. Your father is... he's not well. He's been doing bad things. Grandpa will keep you safe."
He held out his hand.
Ava looked at his hand, then at me.
I gave her a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of my head.
She understood.
She always did.
"No," she said.
Charles' face hardened.
"Ava," he said, his voice sharper now. "Come here. Now."
She took a step backward.
"I want Daddy," she said.
And then she did something incredible.
She reached into her pajama pocket and pulled out a small, plastic toy phone.
The kind that plays music and makes animal sounds.
She pressed a button.
And Charles' voice filled the room.
"...Elena made her choice. She chose to dig into things that weren't her business. She chose to threaten everything I built. I gave her every chance to stop. She didn't take it."
The room went silent.
Ava had recorded him.
She'd been in the secret room earlier, hiding, and she'd recorded everything.
On her toy phone.
Charles' face went white.
Reynolds looked like he was about to be sick.
The guards exchanged nervous glances.
"How..." Charles whispered.
Ava pressed another button.
More of his voice.
"...the ledgers are safe. They're in the safe, in the hidden room, behind a bookshelf nobody knows about..."
And then Hale's voice.
"...And the girl? What if she remembers something? What if she talks?"
And Charles again.
"She's four years old, Thomas. Who's going to believe her?"
Ava looked directly at Charles, her small face serious.
"People will believe me," she said.
And in that moment, I was the proudest father in the world.
Charles roared and lunged for her.
I moved faster.
I tackled him to the ground, the documents flying from my arms.
The guards moved in.
Reynolds raised his gun again.
But before anyone could do anything else, we heard the sound of sirens.
Lots of sirens.
Getting closer.
Sarah.
She must have called the police when she heard the commotion.
Or when I didn't check in.
Either way, help was here.
Reynolds' face went pale.
He looked at the door, then at the gun in his hand, then at me.
He made a decision.
He lowered the gun and dropped it on the floor.
"I was never here," he said quietly.
But it was too late.
The front door burst open.
Police officers flooded the house, their guns drawn.
"Police! Nobody move!"
Sarah was right behind them, her phone pressed to her ear.
She saw me on top of Charles, saw Ava standing in the doorway, saw the scattered documents and the open safe.
And she smiled.
May you like
It was finally over.
Well, almost.
