Chapter 19 - Christmas Morning
Claire turned her body around Noah.
The gun fired.
A violent impact slammed into her shoulder.
She hit the floor.
Adrian shouted her name.
For one terrible second, Claire couldn’t breathe.
Then she heard Noah crying beneath her.
Alive.
“I’m okay,” she gasped.
She wasn’t sure if that was true.
Cross tackled Shaw into the server rack.
Lena kicked the pistol away.
Adrian crawled to Claire.
Blood darkened the top of her red dress.
“Look at me.”
“I am looking at you.”
“Can you move your fingers?”
She did.
“See? Still annoying.”
His eyes filled.
He pressed his forehead to hers for half a second.
Behind them, the server alarm screamed.
PURGE: 81%.
Ward staggered toward the terminal.
Lucas, still alive on the floor, caught her ankle.
She fell.
He looked at Adrian.
“Finish it.”
Adrian hesitated.
“Dad—”
“Finish it.”
PURGE: 94%.
Shaw broke free of Cross and ran toward the exit.
Lena blocked her.
“You kept my daughter in a cell for three years.”
Shaw sneered. “Move.”
Lena punched her.
Hard.
Shaw hit the floor.
Cross stared.
Lena shook out her hand. “I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.”
PURGE: 100%.
ROOT ARCHIVE DESTROYED.
Every monitor went black.
Ward stared at the dead screens.
Years of leverage, identities, blackmail, and control vanished in one silent second.
Then sirens rose outside.
Real federal sirens.
Cross held up his phone.
“I sent the evidence to Inspector General Reyes before Mercer.”
Adrian stared at him. “You had evidence?”
“Enough to start. Not enough to finish.”
Ward looked suddenly older.
Agents flooded the station.
This time, they wore body cameras.
This time, they called Ward by her full name and told her she was under arrest.
Claire watched from the floor as handcuffs closed around Evelyn Shaw too.
Then medics reached Lucas.
One of them shook his head.
Adrian knelt beside the man he had spent his whole life believing was his brother.
Lucas looked at Noah one last time.
“Tell him…”
His breathing rattled.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Tell him I tried.”
Adrian’s voice broke. “Tell him yourself.”
Lucas smiled faintly.
“Stubborn kid.”
Then his hand went still.
May you like
Outside, dawn began turning the snow blue.
Christmas morning had arrived.
