“I didn’t know she’d turn!”
“YOU KILLED HER!”
Claire fired.
The gunshot exploded.
Hayes cried out as the bullet struck his shoulder.
He fell.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Claire dropped the gun.
Her face crumpled.
“Oh God.”
Margaret approached slowly.
“Claire.”
“I killed him.”
“No.”
Hayes groaned.
“Unfortunately, I’m still here.”
Claire
sank against the wall.
Daniel crouched beside her.
Russell began laughing weakly.
I looked at him.
“What’s funny?”
He winced.
“After thirty years… that’s the first honest family conversation we’ve ever had.”
Despite everything, a broken laugh escaped me.
Then the sound of sirens appeared in the distance.
Margaret turned toward the hidden corridor.
“We have minutes.”
“For what?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“To find out who poisoned Russell.”
Everyone became still.
Russell stared at her.
“You know?”
“I know where the proof is.”
She pointed toward the corridor.
“And if I’m right, **the person who poisoned him isn’t in this room.**”
—
# PART 4 — **THE SECRET BEHIND RUSSELL’S FORTUNE**
We followed Margaret through the hidden corridor while Daniel and Claire helped Russell walk.
Hayes remained behind, clutching his wounded shoulder and swearing that he would have all of us arrested.
No one cared.
The corridor ended at a
steel door.
Margaret entered a six-digit code.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a room colder than the basement.
Rows of servers hummed beneath fluorescent lights.
Russell stared.
“You rebuilt it.”
Margaret nodded.
“I never dismantled anything.”
“What is this?” I asked.
“The real inheritance.”
Russell looked at me.
Not the house.
Not the money.
Not his company.
**Information.**
Margaret approached a terminal.
“Russell’s network wasn’t just blackmail.”
Russell added quietly, “It became an archive.”
“Of what?”
“Corruption. Bribery. Financial crimes. Violence. Cover-ups.”
Daniel looked around.
“You kept evidence on everyone?”
Russell nodded.
“At first for leverage.”
“And later?”
His eyes dropped.
“Insurance.”
Margaret inserted a drive.
“Three months ago, someone accessed Russell’s medical file.”
A timestamp appeared.
Claire leaned closer.
“Who?”
“His private physician.”
Russell frowned.
“Dr. Bennett?”
“His credentials were used.”
