CHAPTER 9 — VICTOR LAURENT
CHAPTER 9 — VICTOR LAURENT
The gun was pointed directly at Julian's chest.
For several seconds, neither man moved.
The underground vault was colder than Julian expected.
Not ordinary cold.
The kind of cold that seemed to seep through the walls and settle inside his bones.
Behind Victor stood rows of steel cabinets, old photographs, encrypted drives, paper files, and dozens of locked boxes.
At the center of the room was a single wooden table.
On it sat three objects.
A black leather folder.
A silver key.
And a photograph of Martha.
Julian's eyes never left the man holding the gun.
His father.
Victor Hale.
Alive.
Older than Julian remembered.
His hair was almost completely gray now. A deep scar crossed the left side of his jaw. His face had become thinner, harder, but there was no mistaking those eyes.
Julian had seen them in childhood photographs.
He had remembered them in dreams.
He had spent twenty-seven years imagining what his father might look like.
He had never imagined this.
“Put the gun down.”
Victor didn't move.
“You shouldn't have come.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“That's what everyone keeps telling me.”
Victor's finger remained near the trigger.
“You don't understand what you've walked into.”
“My mother is missing.”
“I know.”
“Someone is threatening to kill her.”
“I know.”
“You sent me the message.”
“No.”
Julian's expression hardened.
“Then who did?”
Victor looked toward the ceiling.
“Someone who wants both of us dead.”
Julian stepped forward.
“Who?”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Your uncle.”
The words landed like a physical blow.
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
Julian shook his head.
“Richard has been helping us.”
“No.”
“He protected my mother.”
“No.”
“He warned me about Elena.”
Victor's mouth twisted bitterly.
“Because Elena is the one person who can expose him.”
Julian stared at his father.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to survive long enough to find out.”
Victor lowered the gun.
Not completely.
Just enough.
Julian noticed.
“You abandoned us.”
Victor looked away.
“I know.”
“You let Mom believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me grow up thinking I wasn't worth staying for.”
Victor's face tightened.
“That was never the reason.”
“Then give me one.”
Silence.
Julian's voice rose.
“Give me one reason you disappeared!”
Victor finally looked at him.
“Because someone had already tried to kill you.”
Julian froze.
“What?”
“You were six months old.”
Victor walked toward the table.
He placed the gun down.
Then opened the black folder.
Inside were photographs.
A hospital nursery.
A young Martha asleep in a hospital bed.
A baby.
Julian.
And a man standing outside the nursery.
Richard.
Julian stared.
“That's impossible.”
“It isn't.”
Victor pulled out another photograph.
Richard was holding a folder.
A medical chart.
Julian's birth certificate.
Victor's hand tightened around the photograph.
“He tried to have your paternity records altered.”
“Why?”
“Because if you disappeared, he would inherit everything.”
Julian looked at the files.
“What everything?”
Victor laughed without humor.
“The Hale estate.”
Julian frowned.
“I thought Grandfather left everything to you.”
“He did.”
“And then to me.”
“Yes.”
“So Richard couldn't inherit.”
“Not unless you were declared illegitimate.”
Julian's stomach dropped.
Victor slid another document across the table.
A legal petition.
CHALLENGE TO PATERNITY.
Julian stared at the signature.
Richard Hale.
“My uncle tried to erase me.”
“Yes.”
“And Mom?”
“She knew.”
Julian looked up.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because I asked her not to.”
Julian's eyes filled with anger.
“You had no right.”
“No.”
Victor's voice was quiet.
“But I thought silence would keep you alive.”
Julian slammed his palm onto the table.
“It didn't!”
The sound echoed through the vault.
“You weren't there!”
Victor didn't defend himself.
“You weren't there when I needed you.”
“I know.”
“You weren't there when Mom cried.”
“I know.”
“You weren't there when I graduated.”
“I know.”
“When I got married.”
“I know.”
“When I thought I was finally building something that belonged to me.”
Victor's eyes softened.
“I watched.”
Julian stopped.
“What?”
“I watched from a distance.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
Victor opened another folder.
Inside were photographs.
Julian at eight.
Julian at twelve.
Julian at seventeen.
Julian graduating.
Julian at twenty-five.
Julian with Bianca.
Hundreds of photographs.
Julian stared in disbelief.
“You were following me?”
“Protecting you.”
“That isn't protection.”
“I know.”
Victor closed the folder.
“It was the only thing I knew how to do.”
Julian looked away.
He hated the man standing in front of him.
But part of him desperately wanted to understand him.
Then he remembered Martha.
“Where is my mother?”
Victor's expression changed.
“She was taken because of me.”
“By Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Julian stared.
“You're Victor Hale.”
“Yes.”
“You built this entire vault.”
“Yes.”
“You've been hiding for twenty-seven years.”
“Yes.”
“And you don't know where your wife is?”
Victor looked down.
“No.”
Julian almost laughed.
“This is insane.”
“It gets worse.”
Victor opened a second compartment in the wall.
Inside was a series of surveillance monitors.
One screen showed the mansion.
Another showed the hospital.
Another showed a warehouse.
The fourth showed a woman sitting in a chair.
Martha.
Julian rushed toward it.
“Mom!”
She was alive.
Her hands were tied.
But there was something else.
She wasn't alone.
A man stood behind her.
Julian recognized him.
Richard.
Julian's face hardened.
Victor reached for the controls.
“Wait.”
The screen changed.
Richard leaned toward Martha.
“You should have listened to me twenty years ago.”
Martha shook her head.
“You'll never get it.”
Richard smiled.
“I already have.”
He held up a document.
“Your son signed the preliminary transfer.”
Julian froze.
“What transfer?”
Victor looked at him.
“The estate.”
“What?”
“Richard has been slowly transferring ownership through shell companies.”
Julian remembered the financial records.
The mysterious accounts.
The missing money.
The strange contracts.
Bianca's sudden interest in marriage.
The false pregnancy.
Everything.
Victor pointed at the screen.
“Richard didn't want you dead.”
Julian frowned.
“Then what does he want?”
“You.”
The answer was terrifyingly simple.
“He needs your signature.”
“Why?”
“Because you're the legal heir.”
Victor pulled out another document.
The final transfer agreement.
Julian's name was printed at the bottom.
His signature was already there.
Julian stared.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
Victor looked at him.
“Bianca forged it.”
Julian's stomach turned.
“No.”
“She had access to your passport, your identification, your financial records.”
“No.”
“She wasn't just your fiancée.”
Victor paused.
“She was Richard's employee.”
Julian shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
Victor pressed a button.
A recording began.
Bianca's voice filled the vault.
“I've done everything you asked.”
Richard answered.
“And Julian?”
“He trusts me.”
“And Martha?”
“She'll be gone before the wedding.”
Julian closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Bianca whispered:
“What happens after I marry him?”
Richard laughed.
“You won't marry him.”
A pause.
“You'll become his widow.”
Julian's eyes opened.
Victor stopped the recording.
Silence.
Julian looked at him.
“Bianca was going to kill me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the transfer only becomes permanent after your death.”
Julian stared at the document.
Suddenly the false pregnancy made sense.
The rushed wedding.
The medical authorization.
The life insurance policy.
The strange conversations about his health.
The insistence that he sign certain documents.
She had never wanted to become his wife.
She wanted to become his beneficiary.
Julian's voice was barely audible.
“She was going to kill me.”
Victor nodded.
“And Martha was collateral.”
Julian looked at the monitor.
Richard was still with Martha.
Then something unexpected happened.
Martha looked directly at the hidden camera.
And smiled.
Julian frowned.
“Why is she smiling?”
Victor's expression changed.
“Because she knows something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
On the monitor, Martha spoke.
Her voice was faint but clear.
“Julian can hear you.”
Richard froze.
Victor stepped toward the screen.
“What?”
Martha looked directly into the camera.
“I know you're watching.”
Richard's expression changed.
Then Martha said:
“Tell my son the truth.”
Richard stepped closer.
“What truth?”
Martha smiled.
“The truth about Victor.”
Julian looked at his father.
Victor went completely still.
Martha continued.
“Tell him why you disappeared.”
Victor whispered:
“She knows.”
“What?”
“She knows everything.”
The monitor flickered.
Then went black.
Julian turned toward Victor.
“What does she know?”
Victor didn't answer.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
“Victor.”
Still nothing.
Julian grabbed him by the jacket.
“What happened twenty-seven years ago?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“I killed someone.”
Julian released him.
“What?”
Victor looked at him.
“I killed the man who was going to kill you.”
“Who?”
Victor's voice cracked.
“Your grandfather.”
Julian stared.
“Grandfather was the person behind all of this?”
“No.”
Victor shook his head.
“He was trying to stop it.”
“Then why did you kill him?”
“Because I thought he had betrayed us.”
Julian stepped back.
“You thought?”
“I was wrong.”
Victor looked at the floor.
“Your grandfather discovered Richard's plan.”
“So he tried to expose him.”
“Yes.”
“And you killed him?”
“I confronted him.”
Victor's face became haunted.
“There was a struggle.”
“What happened?”
“I pushed him.”
Julian stared.
“He fell down the stairs.”
Silence.
“You killed him.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“I made it look like an accident.”
Julian couldn't breathe.
For twenty-seven years, he had believed his grandfather died naturally.
Instead, his father had killed him.
Even if accidentally.
Even if there had been a reason.
The truth remained.
Victor had buried it.
Along with himself.
Julian whispered:
“Why didn't you tell Mom?”
“Because she knew.”
Julian looked up.
“She knew?”
“She was there.”
Everything stopped.
Martha had witnessed it.
And she had kept the secret.
Victor sat down.
“I believed Richard was behind the entire conspiracy.”
“And was he?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you say you were wrong?”
Victor looked at him.
“Because Richard wasn't working alone.”
Julian felt a chill.
“Who else?”
Victor's eyes lifted toward the vault door.
“Your mother.”
Julian's face went blank.
“No.”
“Martha wasn't Richard's victim.”
Victor's voice was barely audible.
“She was his partner.”
Julian stared.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
The vault door suddenly locked.
A metallic sound echoed through the chamber.
CLICK.
Victor looked toward the door.
Julian turned.
“Who locked it?”
Victor reached for the gun.
The lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Then a woman's voice came through the speakers.
Calm.
Familiar.
Cold.
“Hello, Julian.”
He stopped breathing.
He knew that voice.
Martha.
But his mother was supposed to be trapped somewhere else.
The speakers crackled.
Then Martha said:
“I'm sorry you had to learn this way.”
Julian looked at Victor.
Victor's face had gone white.
The voice continued.
“Your father told you half the truth.”
A pause.
“And I am going to tell you the rest.”
The emergency lights turned red.
A hidden door opened behind them.
And Martha stepped into the vault.
She wasn't tied.
She wasn't injured.
She wasn't frightened.
She was wearing a dark coat.
And in her hand was a gun.
She looked at Victor.
Then at Julian.
And smiled.
“Hello, my son.”
Julian couldn't speak.
Martha raised the gun.
Not at Julian.
At Victor.
“You wanted to know who the real victim was?”
Her eyes hardened.
“It was never you.”
She pulled the hammer back.
“It was your father.”
Victor whispered her name.
“Martha…”
She shook her head.
“No more lies.”
Then she looked at Julian.
“You deserve to know what I did twenty-seven years ago.”
And for the first time in Julian's life, he realized something terrifying.
May you like
He had spent his entire life trying to discover who had betrayed his family.
He had never considered that the woman who raised him might have been the one who started it all.
