Chapter 17 - THE MACHINE
Nolan Price was arrested the next morning.
Peter Cole took a deal by lunchtime.
Once one man talked, the machine came apart.
Victor had stolen from Mercer projects for years. Peter created shell contracts. Nolan altered the fire report for money. When I found the transfer schedule, Victor planned a records-room fire to destroy evidence.
Mara Ellis was inside helping him copy files. He abandoned her when the fire spread.
Peter chained the service door because he believed the east corridor was empty.
Then Juliette and I ran into it.
After I became trapped, Juliette escaped through another passage. She lied to firefighters because she was terrified they would ask why we had been in the restricted wing. Victor used that lie instantly.
He convinced everyone I had already escaped.
When Mara’s body was found, he planted my bracelet near the remains.
The next morning, Nolan pushed for rapid identification based on personal property and dental similarities from damaged records.
It was not one perfect conspiracy. It was a chain of selfish decisions, each making the next lie easier. That made it worse.
Dad sat across from me in Marcus’s office as Peter’s recorded statement ended.
“I built a company where men like Victor became necessary,” Dad said. “I rewarded results and never asked enough questions.”
“You didn’t forge my death certificate.”
“No. But I created the room where people believed numbers mattered more than truth.”
I looked at him for a long time.
It was the first apology he had offered without asking me to make him feel better.
Marcus handed me one final document.
“What is this?”
“Your mother’s last trust amendment. The unsigned draft we found in the greenhouse was not the only copy.”
I read the first page.
If either daughter became incapacitated, missing, or legally deceased under disputed circumstances, control of the trust was to be held by an independent trustee until identity was conclusively established.
Victor had hidden the executed version.
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If that document was valid, every transfer after my death had been illegal from the start.
Including Juliette’s claim to the company.
