Chapter 12 - The Benefactor
Victoria walked toward Alexander without fear.
"You always were difficult to surprise."
Alexander kept his weapon raised.
"Let Sarah go."
Victoria smiled.
"Still pretending this is about your wife?"
Sarah stared at Victoria with hatred.
Alexander looked at Cole.
The deputy commissioner held a gun near Sarah's head.
Silas stood beside the Golden Clock.
The antique had been placed on a steel table.
Victoria touched it almost lovingly.
"Our great-grandfather understood what this family really was."
Alexander said nothing.
"A machine."
Victoria continued.
"Money above ground."
"Power below it."
She explained that Edmund had been cheated out of control decades earlier when Alexander's father inherited the company.
Victoria grew up believing the Blackwood empire had been stolen from her branch of the family.
She spent years studying the tunnels.
Years rebuilding relationships with smugglers.
Years paying corrupt officers.
The Ouroboros Circle gave her the network she needed.
The clock would give her the complete map.
Alexander finally spoke.
"So you framed Sarah to force me into opening it."
"Sarah was convenient."
Victoria glanced at her.
"Everyone loves blaming the outsider."
Sarah's expression hardened.
Victoria continued.
"The police would destroy her reputation."
"The kidnapping would destroy you."
"And once Lily became frightened enough, you would do anything we asked."
Alexander felt fury rise when Victoria mentioned his daughter.
She saw it.
"There's the Alexander I remember."
Victoria held out her hand.
"The ring."
Alexander slowly reached into his coat.
He did not have the signet ring.
Marcus had retrieved a replica from a family display before they left the estate.
Alexander held it up.
Victoria's eyes brightened.
"Slide it across the floor."
Alexander obeyed.
Silas picked it up.
He carried it toward the clock.
Alexander watched.
Silas inserted the ring into a narrow slot.
Nothing happened.
Victoria frowned.
Silas tried again.
Still nothing.
Alexander smiled for the first time.
Victoria looked at him.
"You brought a fake."
"Of course."
Cole pressed his weapon harder against Sarah.
Alexander's smile disappeared.
Victoria stepped closer.
"Then your wife dies."
Sarah suddenly drove her heel backward into Cole's knee.
Cole shouted.
Marcus fired.
The lights exploded.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
May you like
Alexander heard Sarah scream his name.
Then gunfire began.
