Chapter 13 - THE ARCHIVE BELOW
Adrian handed Noah to Emma.
"Stay with him."
"No."
"Emma."
"Celeste died because everyone kept deciding what women in this family were allowed to know."
"I'm coming."
"I like her."
Adrian did not have time to answer.
They forced Shaw to unlock the private elevator.
Victoria came too.
The underground archive smelled of dust and cold stone.
Rows of locked cabinets stretched beneath the Walker headquarters.
Pike was already at the final vault.
"Stop," Adrian said.
Pike turned.
"Your father made this unnecessarily dramatic."
Gabriel showed the Walker seal scar.
"He expected thieves."
"Your father was a coward."
Victoria stepped forward.
"Charles trusted you."
"Charles was going to destroy everything."
"Everything you stole."
"Everything we built."
Emma said, "With Carver money."
"Ah. The spare sister."
Adrian saw Emma flinch.
He moved between them.
"Say that again."
He opened the metal case.
Inside was the original Walker Foundation charter.
A clause stated that fraud in acquisition of founding assets triggered automatic restitution to surviving heirs.
Emma.
And Noah through Celeste.
"The fortune doesn't belong to the Walkers."
"Legally, it belongs to whoever controls the evidence."
Victoria gasped.
"Don't."
Pike lit the corner of the charter.
Pike threw the burning paper toward a shelf of old files.
Flames climbed instantly.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Emma grabbed the charter and beat out the flames with her coat.
Adrian saw Pike disappear through a side door.
Then Victoria coughed and collapsed.
Gabriel looked toward Pike.
Then Noah's voice echoed in his mind.
People first.
Gabriel stared at him.
"Pike is getting away."
Adrian carried his mother toward the exit.
"Then we catch him later."
May you like
Behind them, an explosion tore through the archive.
And the original charter vanished into smoke.
