Chapter 9: The Ring and the Betrayal
“Because she's not the sister you think she is.””
Elias Vale stood in the shattered chapel doorway, rain shining on the shoulders of his black coat.
Nathan looked from him to Amelia.
Amelia had gone pale.
Samuel's weapon was already raised.
“Elias,” he said.
The man smiled.
“Still angry with me?””
“You buried our sister.””
“No.””
Elias glanced at Amelia.
“I made the world believe she was buried.””
Amelia stepped forward.
“You left me with them.””
“I kept you alive.””
“You disappeared.””
“So did you.””
Samuel moved between them.
“Enough.””
Elias's smile faded.
“You always were the sentimental one.””
Samuel raised his gun.
“Take one more step.””
Elias looked at Nathan instead.
“You have your father's eyes.””
Nathan's expression hardened.
“Everyone keeps telling me who I look like.””
Elias shrugged.
“I expected you to be taller.””
“Disappointed?””
“Not yet.””
Gunfire erupted outside.
Nathan turned toward the windows.
Daniel shouted:
“They're moving around the east side!””
Nathan looked at Amelia.
“Who is Elias?””
She whispered:
“The reason I survived.””
Samuel glared at her.
“You trust him?””
“No.””
Elias laughed softly.
“She should.””
Nathan stepped toward him.
“You said she's not my sister.””
Elias nodded.
“Not by blood.””
Nathan stopped.
“What?””
Amelia closed her eyes.
Elias looked almost amused.
“Your mother couldn't save all three children.””
Richard suddenly said:
“Elias.””
“Don't worry, Richard. I'm done protecting your secrets.””
Nathan turned toward his father.
“Tell me.””
Richard stared at Amelia.
Then at Samuel.
Finally, he looked at Nathan.
“She isn't your sister.””
Nathan felt the same cold disbelief all over again.
“Then who is she?””
Richard's voice broke.
“Your mother's daughter.””
Nathan frowned.
“What does that mean?””
“Evelyn had Amelia before she married me.””
Nathan stared.
“So she's…”
“Your half-sister.””
Samuel looked confused.
Richard continued.
“Evelyn married me when Amelia was still a child. I raised her as my own.””
Nathan looked at Amelia.
“But you said—”
Amelia interrupted.
“Because I wasn't born a Whitmore.””
Nathan's mind raced.
“Then whose daughter are you?””
Amelia looked at Elias.
He answered.
“Mine.””
Silence.
Nathan stared at Elias.
Elias smiled.
“Your mother was my sister.””
Nathan's mouth went dry.
“My mother?””
“Evelyn Vale.””
Nathan looked toward Eleanor.
She nodded slowly.
“The Vale family and the Whitmore family were tied together long before Richard.””
Nathan turned to Amelia.
“She's my cousin.””
Amelia nodded.
“And the person who raised you?””
“My aunt.””
Nathan's eyes moved toward Eleanor.
Eleanor's face was filled with sorrow.
“I raised Amelia after Evelyn died.””
Richard whispered:
“And I raised Nathan.””
Samuel looked between them.
“So there were never three Whitmore children.””
“No,” Eleanor said.
“There were two.””
Nathan looked at Samuel.
“And one half-brother.””
Richard nodded.
Samuel took a step back.
His face was suddenly empty.
“So the council manipulated the entire story.””
“Yes.””
Elias lowered his weapon.
“They needed you to believe there were three heirs.””
Nathan frowned.
“Why?””
“Because the original trust was designed around three signatures.””
Nathan thought of the document.
“The third trust.””
Elias nodded.
“There was never a third child.””
Nathan's eyes moved toward Amelia.
“Then whose signature?””
Elias smiled.
“Your mother created the third trust for the person she trusted most.””
Nathan understood.
“Margaret.””
Everyone looked toward the chapel entrance.
Margaret stood beside Victoria.
Her face was pale.
Elias nodded.
“She isn't a Whitmore.””
Nathan walked toward Margaret.
“Then what are you?””
Margaret looked at him.
For the first time since he had known her, she seemed tired of hiding.
“I was Evelyn's legal proxy.””
Nathan stopped.
“Proxy?””
“Your mother knew the council would never honor a trust controlled by one of her own family members.””
“So she chose you.””
“She chose someone the council would never notice.””
Nathan remembered Victoria's words.
Just staff.
Margaret's expression hardened.
“That was the point.””
Elias stepped forward.
“Margaret held the third vote.””
Nathan looked at the ring in his hand.
His mother's signet.
“The ring.””
Margaret nodded.
“The ring identifies the legal guardian of the trust.””
Nathan looked at Amelia.
“So Thomas was wrong.””
“No,” Margaret said.
“He was protecting himself.””
Nathan looked at her.
“What does that mean?””
Margaret took a breath.
“The ring doesn't make Amelia powerful.””
She looked directly at Nathan.
“It makes the person who gives it away the guardian.””
Nathan frowned.
“Gives it away?””
“Yes.””
Richard stepped forward.
“Your mother told me never to let the council get the ring.””
Nathan looked at the ring.
“And now?””
Margaret's voice softened.
“Now she would tell you to choose carefully.””
Elias suddenly raised his weapon.
Everyone turned.
He wasn't aiming at Nathan.
He was aiming at Richard.
“You lied to Evelyn,” Elias said.
Richard stared at him.
“I loved her.””
“You sold her to the council.””
“I was trying to protect the children.””
“You gave them Samuel.””
Richard's face collapsed.
“What?””
Nathan turned.
“What did he mean?””
Elias looked at Nathan.
“Ask your father where Samuel spent his childhood.””
Samuel stared at Richard.
“Yes.””
Richard's eyes filled.
“You need to hear the whole truth.””
“Then tell me.””
Richard's voice trembled.
“The council took Samuel.””
Samuel went completely still.
“I thought you sent me away.””
“I did.””
“To them?””
“I had no choice.””
“You always say that.””
Richard swallowed.
“They threatened Nathan.””
Samuel stepped toward him.
“So you gave them me.””
“Yes.””
“And what did they do?””
Richard couldn't answer.
Elias did.
“They trained him.””
Nathan's chest tightened.
“For what?””
“To become the next head of the organization.””
Samuel looked at Elias.
“I never became one of them.””
“You came close.””
Samuel's jaw clenched.
“I killed people.””
Elias nodded.
“You were sixteen.””
Nathan looked at his brother.
Samuel's eyes were cold now.
“I didn't want to.””
Nathan said softly:
“I believe you.””
Samuel looked at him.
That small sentence seemed to hurt more than an accusation.
A burst of gunfire interrupted them.
Daniel shouted:
“They're inside!””
Nathan turned.
Men were rushing through the chapel doors.
“Move!””
The group scattered.
Nathan grabbed Margaret and pulled her behind a stone pillar.
Samuel fired across the room.
Amelia ducked beneath a pew.
Victoria crawled toward the altar.
Elias disappeared behind a column.
Nathan saw one gunman raising his weapon toward Victoria.
He fired.
The man dropped.
Victoria looked at him in shock.
Nathan shouted:
“Stay down!””
“I didn't ask you to save me!””
“I'm not saving you. I'm preventing another body in my house.””
She almost laughed.
Then someone grabbed her from behind.
Victoria screamed.
Nathan ran.
The attacker dragged her toward the side door.
Nathan fired once.
The man fell.
Victoria collapsed.
Nathan reached her.
She looked up at him.
“Why?””
Nathan offered his hand.
“Because my mother taught me not to become the people I'm fighting.””
Victoria stared at him.
Then took his hand.
They rose.
Across the chapel, Elias confronted Samuel.
“You should come with me.””
Samuel shook his head.
“No.””
“They'll kill you.””
“They already tried.””
“They'll keep trying.””
Samuel raised his weapon.
“Then they'll keep failing.””
Elias smiled.
“Just like your father.””
He turned toward Nathan.
“One more thing.””
Nathan looked at him.
“The council isn't after the trust anymore.””
“Then what?””
Elias pointed toward Margaret.
“They're after her.””
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Why?””
“Because she has the original ledger.””
Margaret went completely still.
Nathan turned.
“Margaret?””
She reached inside her coat.
There it was.
A thin black book.
Older than the copy in Nathan's hand.
The original.
Nathan stared.
“You had it.””
She nodded.
“Your mother gave it to me the night she died.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because your mother said you weren't ready.””
Elias laughed.
“Now he is.””
The chapel went silent.
Outside, the gunfire suddenly stopped.
A voice came through a loudspeaker.
“Nathan Whitmore.””
Everyone froze.
The voice belonged to Thomas Reed.
Impossible.
Thomas was dead.
Nathan stared toward the chapel doors.
The loudspeaker crackled again.
“Come outside alone.””
Nathan looked at Margaret.
Then Samuel.
Then Amelia.
A final message followed.
“Or we detonate the house.””
Victoria's face drained.
“There are children in the east wing.””
Nathan looked at the ceiling.
His entire world seemed to narrow to one choice.
Then Margaret opened the original ledger.
Inside the front cover was a handwritten note from his mother.
Nathan read it aloud.
“When they force you to choose between your family and the woman who serves them, remember this: the woman kneeling at your feet may be the one holding the fate of every person standing above her.”
Nathan looked at Margaret.
Then he took off his mother's ring.
He placed it in Margaret's palm.
“Protect them.””
Margaret stared at him.
“What are you doing?””
Nathan turned toward the chapel doors.
“Going outside.””
Samuel grabbed his arm.
“Alone?””
Nathan looked at him.
“No.””
He glanced at Amelia.
Then Victoria.
Then Eleanor.
Finally, he looked at his brother.
“I'm done letting other people decide who belongs to my family.””
Samuel's expression softened.
“Good.””
Nathan loaded his weapon.
Then the doors opened.
And standing on the other side was Thomas Reed.
Alive.
Smiling.
With a detonator in one hand and a wedding ring in the other.
Nathan stopped.
Thomas lifted the ring.
“Recognize this?””
Nathan's blood ran cold.
It was not his mother's ring.
It was Victoria's engagement ring.
Thomas smiled.
“Because your fiancée left something important inside it.””
Nathan looked at Victoria.
She whispered:
“What did he put in my ring?””
May you like
Thomas pressed the detonator.
“Ask her what happened the night your mother died.””
