Chapter 11 - THE GLASS HOUSE
The black door opened onto a spiral staircase.
Claire climbed first.
Ethan carried Victor with Nathan’s help.
At the top, they entered the ruins of the original Hawthorne estate.
Snow covered the broken stone walls.
Beyond them stood a vast glass greenhouse.
Warm light glowed inside.
Eleanor waited beneath a row of white orchids.
Sophie sat in a high chair beside her.
Julian stood near the entrance with a gun.
Claire ran toward the glass doors.
Julian aimed at her.
“Stop.”
Claire froze.
Sophie saw her.
“Mommy.”
The single word shattered Claire’s control.
“I’m here, baby.”
Eleanor looked at Victor.
Her calm expression finally broke.
“You were supposed to be unconscious.”
Victor leaned against Ethan.
“You always underestimated Claire.”
Eleanor extended one gloved hand.
“The memory card.”
Claire held up the stuffed rabbit.
“Release Sophie first.”
Eleanor smiled.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“Neither are you.”
Police sirens sounded faintly below the mountain.
Detective Ruiz had survived the ambush.
Eleanor glanced toward the road.
Julian stepped closer to her.
“You said we had more time.”
“We would have if you had followed instructions.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“You promised me control of the company.”
“You will receive what you deserve.”
Claire recognized the familiar cruelty in Eleanor’s voice.
It was the same tone she used before ordering someone punished.
Julian heard it too.
Ethan looked at his cousin.
“She does not plan to leave you alive.”
“Shut up.”
“She used Nathan.”
“She used Grant.”
“She used my father.”
“What makes you believe you are different?”
Julian’s gun wavered.
Eleanor moved toward Sophie.
“Do not listen to him.”
Victor spoke from the doorway.
“She killed your mother, Julian.”
Julian turned.
“My mother died in childbirth.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice was weak but clear.
“Eleanor caused the overdose.”
“She wanted your father’s shares.”
Julian stared at Eleanor.
“You told me she was sick.”
“She was weak.”
“That is not an answer.”
Eleanor grabbed Sophie and lifted her from the chair.
Claire stepped forward.
“Put her down.”
Eleanor pressed a small blade against the child’s coat.
Sophie began crying.
Claire’s body went completely still.
Eleanor backed toward a control panel.
“The greenhouse roof contains six thousand pounds of reinforced glass.”
“One button releases every support lock.”
Ethan looked upward.
Snow had accumulated across the glass panels.
“If I cannot leave this mountain with the evidence, no one will.”
Nathan moved slowly along the outer wall.
Julian noticed him.
He fired.
The bullet shattered a glass panel.
Nathan fell behind a stone planter.
Eleanor pressed the first switch.
Metal locks released overhead.
The roof groaned.
Claire held up the rabbit.
“The card is inside.”
Eleanor extended her hand.
Claire tore open the seam.
She removed a tiny black memory card.
Then she snapped it between her fingers.
Eleanor screamed.
May you like
She pressed the final switch.
The greenhouse roof began collapsing.
