CHAPTER 8 – "The Final Will"
Midnight.
Rain poured over the abandoned Carter estate.
Lightning illuminated the mansion where Emily had spent her childhood.
Now it looked like a haunted palace.
Emily walked inside carrying the original will hidden beneath her coat.
Jonathan was waiting.
So were Victoria...
Ryan...
And her father.
Her daughter slept safely in a nearby cradle.
Jonathan applauded slowly.
"I knew you'd come."
Emily's eyes never left the baby.
"Let her go."
Jonathan shook his head.
"Not until I become the richest man in America."
Emily threw the sealed will onto the table.
"You wanted it."
"There it is."
Jonathan laughed.
"Finally."
He opened the envelope with trembling hands.
Inside...
One single sheet of paper.
Completely blank.
His smile disappeared.
"What is this?"
Emily smiled for the first time in months.
"My father never kept the real will on paper."
Jonathan froze.
"What?"
Emily reached into her pocket and removed a simple silver pocket watch that had belonged to her father since she was a little girl.
"You spent thirty years chasing documents..."
"But you never asked why my father never took off this watch."
She pressed a hidden button.
A tiny encrypted memory chip slid from inside the watch.
"The real inheritance..."
"The original ownership records..."
"And every confession..."
"Were hidden here."
Jonathan's face twisted with rage.
He lunged toward Emily—
A deafening gunshot echoed through the mansion.
Everyone turned.
Ryan had thrown himself in front of Emily.
The bullet meant for her struck him in the chest.
Jonathan fired again—
But FBI agents stormed through every entrance.
"Federal agents! Drop your weapon!"
Jonathan tried to escape through a secret tunnel...
Only to find armed officers waiting.
He was finally surrounded.
As he was dragged away in handcuffs, he looked back at Emily and laughed.
"You think you won?"
Emily held her daughter tightly.
"I already have."
Jonathan smiled one last time.
"No..."
"You've only defeated the man you could see."
He nodded toward Victoria.
She slowly began to laugh.
Not the laugh of a defeated woman...
But of someone whose plan had worked perfectly.
Emily frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Victoria looked into Emily's eyes and whispered,
"I was never after your father's fortune."
"I was after your daughter."
Emily instinctively held the baby closer.
Then she noticed something that made her blood run cold.
The tiny birthmark behind her daughter's left ear...
Was gone.
Emily stared in horror.
"No..."
"This isn't my baby."
Victoria smiled.
"Exactly."
The room fell into complete silence.
Somewhere...
May you like
The real Carter heir had already disappeared into the darkness.
THE END... OR IS IT?
