Chapter 8 - MY HUSBAND CAME BACK FROM THE DEADThe first bullet hit the wall six inches from Agent Kim’s head.
Everyone dropped.
“FEDERAL AGENTS!” she shouted.
Another shot shattered the banister.
Julian laughed from the upper floor.
“Still dramatic, Rachel.”
He knew Agent Kim.
That was new.
Cole pulled me behind the staircase.
“Stay down.”
“You knew he was coming?”
“No.”
“You seem to know everyone!”
“Evelyn, later.”
Smoke drifted from the upstairs hallway.
Not fire.
Tear gas.
Julian had planned this.
Police officers moved toward the stairs.
A window broke in the rear of the house.
Agent Kim swore.
“He has multiple people.”
Robert’s people?
Julian’s?
At this point the distinction barely mattered.
Cole pushed the lockbox into my hands.
“Take the drive.”
“What?”
“The red flash drive. Take it.”
I found it.
“Now go through the service passage.”
“There is no—”
“Yes, there is.”
I stared at him.
“My father showed me.”
Of course he had.
Dad and Cole had secrets I was still discovering.
Cole pressed a panel behind the staircase.
A narrow corridor opened.
“Where does it go?”
“Wine cellar.”
“You’re coming.”
“I’ll follow.”
“No.”
“Evelyn—”
“I’m done leaving people behind.”
Gunfire sounded upstairs.
Agent Kim shouted, “MOVE!”
Cole entered behind me and sealed the panel.
We moved through darkness.
“Tell me about the payment,” I whispered.
“Your father discovered someone had tampered with his car two weeks before his death.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Not the brakes. The ignition.”
“He knew someone wanted him dead?”
“He suspected.”
“Why didn’t he call police?”
“He did. Quietly. They found nothing.”
“And the money?”
“He paid me to investigate Robert.”
“Why you?”
“Because Robert thought I hated Henry.”
I stared at him.
“Did you?”
“For a while.”
“Why?”
Cole hesitated.
“Your mother.”
I froze.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“I know.”
“What does she have to do with you?”
Cole looked toward the cellar door.
“This is not the time.”
“It became the time when people started shooting.”
He sighed.
“Your mother and I grew up together.”
I stared.
“She knew you?”
“She was my closest friend.”
“Dad never told me.”
“Because he blamed me for something that wasn’t my fault.”
“What?”
“Her accident.”
Mom had died in a boating accident.
Cole had been there.
“I was piloting.”
The revelation hit harder than expected.
“Dad blamed you.”
“For years.”
“And later hired you?”
“Eventually he learned the steering mechanism had failed.”
I tried to absorb it.
Dad hiring the man he had once blamed for Mom’s death.
Then trusting him with my life.
“He paid you to pretend Robert could recruit you.”
“Yes.”
“Did Robert?”
“Eventually.”
“That’s why Julian trusted you.”
“Exactly.”
We entered the wine cellar.
A faint emergency light glowed.
Cole moved toward the exterior hatch.
Then footsteps sounded above.
He stopped.
Someone was coming.
The cellar door opened.
Julian entered holding a pistol.
He looked almost amused.
“There you are.”
Cole stepped in front of me.
Julian aimed at him.
“Adrian, you really do have a hero complex.”
“You murdered Dawson.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was boring.”
I felt sick.
“You killed a man so police would think you were dead?”
Julian looked at me.
“It nearly worked.”
“You’re insane.”
“No. I’m adaptive.”
His clothes were wet and dirty.
A bruise covered one side of his face.
But the charm was still there.
That effortless confidence I had mistaken for strength.
“Give me the drive.”
I held it behind my back.
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
“Evelyn.”
“I said no.”
“Do you think these people can protect you forever?”
“You couldn’t kill me when I was unconscious on a yacht.”
That hit him.
His jaw tightened.
“You got lucky.”
“You got greedy.”
He stepped closer.
Cole raised his hands.
“Julian, listen.”
“Shut up.”
“You want Robert, not Evelyn.”
Julian’s attention shifted.
“There we agree.”
Then I understood.
“You’re going after Robert.”
Julian smiled.
“He planned to sacrifice me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“I know now.”
“He promised me eighty million.”
“And you believed him.”
“I believed paperwork.”
I almost laughed.
“You married me without reading my trust?”
“I read the version Robert gave me.”
Of course.
Robert had altered it.
“He set you up.”
“Yes.”
“And now you want revenge.”
“I want leverage.”
He pointed at the flash drive.
“That gives it to me.”
“Why should I help you?”
“Because Robert killed your father.”
The cellar went silent.
“Prove it.”
“The drive proves the money.”
“Money isn’t murder.”
“No.”
Julian reached into his jacket.
Cole moved.
“Easy.”
Julian removed a phone.
He played an audio file.
Robert’s voice.
Once Henry leaves the office, the mechanic has a two-hour window. I don’t care how it looks. I care that he doesn’t reach Manhattan tomorrow.
My knees weakened.
Dad.
His last drive.
The rain.
The guardrail.
All of it became murder in a single sentence.
I wanted to hear more.
Julian stopped the recording.
“Full file for the drive.”
Cole said, “Don’t.”
I ignored him.
“Send it to me.”
“Drive first.”
“Audio first.”
Julian smiled.
“There’s the Hart blood.”
“You killed people for Robert.”
“Yes.”
“My father?”
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“Not until afterward.”
“Did Vanessa?”
“No.”
“Who tampered with the brakes?”
“A man named Carl Benton. Robert’s fixer.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Of course.
“How?”
Julian shrugged.
“Heart attack.”
I stared.
“You killed him.”
“He knew too much.”
My skin crawled.
This man had slept beside me for nearly two years.
I had shared breakfast with him.
Christmas.
Birthdays.
My grief.
How many deaths had those hands caused?
Julian held out his palm.
“The drive.”
I lifted it.
“You know what Dad always said about leverage?”
His expression changed.
“He said leverage only works while the other person believes you have something they need.”
Then I snapped the flash drive in half.
Julian screamed.
He lunged.
Cole tackled him.
The pistol fired.
Wine bottles exploded.
I ran toward the hatch.
Julian struck Cole with the gun.
Cole fell.
Julian grabbed me.
“You stupid little—”
I slammed my head backward into his nose.
He screamed.
I twisted free.
Then Robert’s voice came from the cellar entrance.
“Enough.”
Everyone stopped.
My uncle stood there.
Two armed men behind him.
Robert looked older than he had in court.
No grieving expression now.
No family warmth.
Just exhaustion.
“Julian,” he said, “you have become extremely inconvenient.”
Julian laughed through his bleeding nose.
“You should’ve paid me.”
“I intended to.”
“You intended to frame me.”
Robert shrugged.
“Both can be true.”
I stared at my uncle.
“You killed Dad.”
He looked at me.
For a second I saw something almost human.
Regret.
Then it disappeared.
“Henry left me no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“That’s something wealthy people tell themselves after they win.”
“You were wealthy.”
“Your father controlled everything.”
“And that justified murder?”
“He was going to destroy me.”
“You stole sixty million dollars!”
Robert’s face tightened.
“I built Hart Capital with him.”
“You stole from it.”
“I took what I earned.”
“You killed your brother.”
His eyes went cold.
“Yes.”
The word hit me harder than shouting would have.
No denial.
No excuse.
Just yes.
Julian slowly raised his phone.
Robert’s eyes followed.
“You’re recording.”
Julian smiled.
“Always.”
Robert pointed his gun at him.
“That ends now.”
I realized what was about to happen.
If Robert shot Julian, we might lose the audio about Dad.
If Julian shot Robert, we might lose testimony.
Two murderers deciding which one survived.
I looked toward Cole.
He was conscious.
Watching me.
His hand rested near a broken wine bottle.
I moved half a step.
Robert noticed.
“Evelyn.”
I stopped.
He looked sad.
“I truly did love you.”
“Please don’t say that.”
“You were always Henry’s favorite thing in the world.”
“I was his daughter.”
“And therefore his weakness.”
My eyes filled.
“You planned to kill me too.”
“I planned for Julian to kill you.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“At least he admits delegation.”
Robert ignored him.
“The foundation would have protected the Hart name.”
“You mean protected you.”
“History rarely cares about the distinction.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Robert’s men looked toward him.
He swore.
Julian smiled.
“I called them before I entered.”
For once, Julian had done something useful.
Robert pointed the gun at him.
“You idiot.”
Then everything happened at once.
Cole threw the wine bottle.
Robert fired.
Julian ducked.
I dropped behind a barrel.
One of Robert’s men ran.
The other surrendered.
Cole lunged at Robert.
The gun slid across the floor.
Julian grabbed it.
He aimed at my uncle.
“Finally.”
“Julian!” I screamed.
He looked at me.
That hesitation was enough.
Federal agents crashed through the cellar door.
“DROP IT!”
Julian stood frozen.
Ten weapons aimed at him.
For a moment, I thought he would fire.
Instead, he smiled.
He placed the pistol down.
Robert was handcuffed.
Then Julian.
As officers dragged them apart, Julian looked over his shoulder.
“Evelyn.”
I said nothing.
“I did love one thing about you.”
I stared.
“What?”
He smiled.
“You never knew when to quit.”
I watched them take him away.
Then Agent Kim approached.
“It’s over.”
I looked at my father’s ledger scattered across the cellar floor.
“No.”
She waited.
I picked up Julian’s phone.
Robert’s confession had been recorded.
May you like
So had everything else.
“It’s just finally provable.”
