The Deal
2451 Words
Episode 15: The Deal
The basement went completely dark.
Emma could hear her own breathing.
Then came the sound of a gun being loaded upstairs.
Click.
Rebecca stood frozen.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Everyone stay behind me.”
Alexander moved closer to Emma despite his injury.
“You're not going upstairs.”
Emma looked at him.
“My mother is up there.”
“She just admitted she made a deal with Victor.”
“I know.”
“That makes her dangerous.”
Emma shook her head.
“It makes her scared.”
Rebecca looked at her daughter.
“Emma…”
“You don't have to explain now.”
Emma stepped toward her.
“We're getting you out first.”
A heavy sound came from above.
Someone had kicked open a door.
Victor's voice echoed through the house.
“Rebecca!”
Daniel looked toward the stairs.
“We can't stay here.”
Sophia pointed toward the hidden passage.
“There has to be another exit.”
Emma remembered the secret room.
“My father built this place.”
She looked around.
“There must be another way out.”
Daniel searched the walls.
“Everyone spread out.”
They began looking.
Alexander leaned against the desk.
His wound was still hurting, but he ignored it.
Emma noticed.
“Are you okay?”
“I'll be fine.”
“You're bleeding again.”
“It's nothing.”
“You always say that.”
Alexander smiled.
“You always worry.”
“Because you keep getting shot.”
He laughed quietly.
Then a sound came from behind the wall.
Emma turned.
“Wait.”
“What?” Daniel asked.
“I heard something.”
She placed her hand against the wall.
A faint clicking sound came from inside.
She pressed the star-shaped symbol.
A section of the wall opened.
Behind it was another staircase.
Daniel stared.
“Your father really liked secret passages.”
Emma smiled faintly.
“He was paranoid.”
“No.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“He was careful.”
Everyone looked at her.
Rebecca stepped toward the passage.
“Your father knew someone would eventually come for you.”
Emma's expression changed.
“Then he knew this would happen.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know Victor would come?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he know you made the deal?”
Rebecca looked away.
“No.”
Emma stared at her.
“Then why did you do it?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Because I was desperate.”
Before she could continue, a gunshot came from upstairs.
Everyone jumped.
“Move!” Daniel shouted.
They entered the passage.
Daniel closed the hidden door behind them.
Victor's footsteps reached the basement.
He stopped.
“They're gone.”
Grant's voice answered.
“They couldn't have gone far.”
Victor laughed.
“Then find them.”
The passage was narrow.
They moved quickly.
After several minutes, they reached another door.
Daniel opened it.
They emerged into an abandoned garage behind the house.
A vehicle was waiting.
Sophia looked at Daniel.
“Whose car?”
“Mine.”
“When did you bring it?”
“Yesterday.”
Emma looked at him.
“You planned this?”
“No.”
He pointed toward the street.
“I expected trouble.”
They got inside.
Daniel drove away.
Emma sat beside Rebecca.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally, Emma asked:
“What did Victor want in exchange for Clara?”
Rebecca looked out the window.
“He wanted information.”
“What information?”
“Where Samuel had hidden the evidence.”
“And you knew?”
“No.”
“Then what did you give him?”
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
“I gave him a name.”
Emma's heart sank.
“Whose?”
“Clara's.”
“You gave him Clara's name?”
“I gave him her identity.”
Emma stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because Victor believed Clara knew where Samuel kept the evidence.”
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“Then you sent him after her.”
“I didn't know what he would do.”
“You knew what he was capable of.”
“I thought he would question her.”
“And then?”
“He disappeared with her.”
Emma looked away.
“How long?”
“Three days.”
“What happened after three days?”
“Clara escaped.”
Emma looked at her.
“Alone?”
Rebecca nodded.
“She came back to me.”
“Did she hate you?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“Because there was nothing I could say.”
Emma looked at Rebecca.
“Did Samuel know?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why did Clara say she trusted you?”
“She didn't.”
Emma remembered the phone call.
Clara had said:
“Your mother.”
She had sounded afraid.
Emma suddenly understood.
“She wasn't accusing you of betraying Samuel.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“What?”
“She was warning me about you.”
Rebecca's face changed.
Emma continued.
“You weren't the traitor.”
“I made a deal.”
“But you didn't give Victor the evidence.”
“No.”
“You gave him Clara.”
“Yes.”
“That means Clara may have known something else.”
Daniel looked at Emma through the mirror.
“She probably did.”
Emma turned toward him.
“What?”
“The evidence wasn't the real target.”
“What was?”
“Samuel.”
Emma's heart stopped.
“Why?”
Daniel looked serious.
“Because Samuel knew who the real mastermind was.”
Sophia nodded.
“And Victor needed him silenced.”
Emma stared ahead.
“Then why did Samuel survive?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Rebecca whispered:
“Because someone helped him escape.”
Emma looked at her.
“Who?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“I don't know.”
A message arrived on Daniel's phone.
He looked at it.
His face changed.
“What?”
Sophia asked.
Daniel showed them.
It was from an unknown number.
STOP LOOKING FOR CLARA.
Then another message arrived.
OR SHE WILL DIE.
Emma immediately grabbed the phone.
“Call the number.”
Daniel did.
It rang once.
Then disconnected.
“Track it.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“It was routed through several servers.”
Emma looked at Sophia.
“You work in technology.”
Sophia nodded.
“I'll try.”
She connected Daniel's phone to her laptop.
After several minutes, she looked up.
“I have something.”
“What?”
“A location.”
“Where?”
Sophia stared at the screen.
“Hayes Global.”
Emma froze.
“She's inside the company?”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned the car around.
“We're going back.”
Rebecca grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because that's what they want.”
Emma shook her head.
“They threatened Clara.”
“They want us to walk into a trap.”
“Then we'll walk in prepared.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You sound like your father.”
Emma smiled faintly.
“Good.”
They reached Hayes Global twenty minutes later.
The building was almost empty.
Most employees had already gone home.
Daniel parked underground.
They entered through a service entrance.
Sophia checked the security system.
“No alarms.”
“That's suspicious,” Daniel said.
They walked toward the elevators.
Emma noticed something.
“Where are the security guards?”
“Gone.”
Again.
Daniel looked at Sophia.
“Can you check the cameras?”
She nodded.
The security monitors showed empty hallways.
Then one camera changed.
A woman appeared.
Clara.
She was sitting in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
Emma rushed toward the screen.
“She's alive.”
Daniel looked at the location.
“Forty-second floor.”
They took the elevator.
As the doors opened, the hallway was dark.
A voice came from the speakers.
“Welcome back.”
Victor.
Emma looked around.
“Where is Clara?”
“Come to the boardroom.”
Daniel whispered:
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
They entered the boardroom.
Clara was sitting at the table.
Her hands were tied.
Emma immediately ran toward her.
“Clara!”
“Stop!”
Clara shouted.
Emma froze.
Clara looked terrified.
“Don't come closer.”
“Why?”
“Because the room is wired.”
Daniel checked the walls.
Sophia looked at the ceiling.
“She's right.”
A small red light blinked beneath the table.
Daniel's face went pale.
“Everyone back.”
They stepped away.
Victor's voice came through the speakers.
“Very good.”
Emma shouted:
“Show yourself!”
Victor laughed.
“You're finally learning.”
A screen turned on.
Victor appeared.
Beside him stood Grant.
And behind them was Samuel.
Emma's breath stopped.
“Dad.”
Samuel looked directly at her.
“Emma.”
Victor smiled.
“Now we can finish this.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
Victor looked at him.
“You.”
Alexander frowned.
“Why me?”
“Because your father left something inside you.”
Alexander looked confused.
“What?”
“A memory.”
Silence.
Victor continued.
“The night of the accident, your father told you something.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
A memory returned.
He was young.
Standing beside his father.
His father was bleeding.
He whispered:
“Never trust the person who brings the key.”
Alexander opened his eyes.
He looked at Emma.
“The key.”
Emma touched her pocket.
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
“Why is it important?”
“Because it opens the vault.”
“What vault?”
“The real one.”
Emma's heart raced.
“The vault beneath the company?”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
He looked at Samuel.
“Ask your father.”
Emma turned toward the screen.
“Dad?”
Samuel looked at her.
“It's beneath the old church.”
Emma remembered.
The chapel.
But the vault beneath the chapel wasn't the real one.
There was another.
Victor continued:
“Your father hid the evidence there.”
“Why didn't you find it?”
“Because only one person knows how to open it.”
Emma looked at the silver key.
“Me?”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
Samuel suddenly shouted:
“Emma, don't!”
Victor turned toward him.
“Quiet.”
Emma stared at her father.
“Why can I open it?”
Samuel shook his head.
“You were there.”
“When?”
“The night the promise was made.”
Emma tried to remember.
A church.
Rain.
Her father.
Clara.
Alexander.
A small box.
And someone else.
A man standing in the shadows.
Emma's eyes widened.
“I remember him.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Who?”
“The person who brought the key.”
Victor's expression changed.
“What did you remember?”
Emma looked at him.
“I remember the man.”
Victor stood.
“Who?”
Emma stared at the screen.
“He wasn't your man.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Who was he?”
Emma whispered:
“Mr. Collins.”
Victor's face became pale.
Grant looked at him.
“You said Collins was dead.”
Victor turned toward him.
“I thought he was.”
Suddenly the boardroom doors opened.
A man walked inside.
Mr. Collins.
Everyone froze.
Collins smiled.
“You should never believe everything you hear.”
Victor stared at him.
“You.”
Collins raised a gun.
“I've been waiting eight years for this.”
Grant stepped backward.
“Collins, what are you doing?”
Collins looked at Victor.
“You promised me control.”
Victor's face hardened.
“And you betrayed me.”
“No.”
Collins smiled.
“I betrayed everyone.”
He turned toward Emma.
“Because I was never working for Victor.”
Silence.
“Then who?” Emma asked.
Collins looked at Samuel.
“Your father knows.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
Collins continued:
“I was working for the person who started everything.”
Emma's heart raced.
“Who?”
Collins smiled.
Then he pointed his gun at Rebecca.
“Her.”
Emma froze.
“Mom?”
Rebecca's face went pale.
Collins laughed.
“She is the one who knows the real truth.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
Collins stepped closer.
“You made the first deal.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
He looked at Emma.
“Your mother didn't betray your father.”
“She betrayed someone else.”
Emma stared at him.
“Who?”
Collins smiled.
“Your real family.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Then another.
Someone screamed.
When the emergency lights came on, Collins was gone.
Victor was gone.
Grant was gone.
Clara was still tied to the chair.
Samuel was on the floor.
And Rebecca was holding a bloody envelope.
Emma rushed toward her.
“Mom!”
Rebecca looked at her.
Her hands were shaking.
“Emma…”
“What happened?”
Rebecca looked at the envelope.
“Your father gave me this eight years ago.”
“What's inside?”
Rebecca slowly opened it.
A photograph fell out.
Emma picked it up.
It showed five people standing together.
Samuel.
Rebecca.
Clara.
Victor.
And another person.
Emma stared at the final face.
She knew him.
Everyone knew him.
He had been dead for years.
But the photograph proved otherwise.
Emma whispered:
“This is impossible.”
Alexander looked at the photograph.
His face went completely pale.
“That's my father.”
Emma looked at him.
“No.”
Alexander shook his head.
“My father died eight years ago.”
Rebecca whispered:
“He didn't.”
The room fell silent.
Then Samuel slowly stood.
He looked at Alexander.
“Your father is alive.”
Alexander couldn't speak.
Samuel continued:
“And he's the one who started the entire conspiracy.”
Outside the building, a black car disappeared into the night.
Inside it, an older man looked at the photograph.
He smiled.
“Finally.”
He picked up his phone.
“Tell my son the truth.”
A voice answered:
“Which truth?”
The man looked out the window.
“The truth about who I really am.”
He ended the call.
And for the first time in eight years, Alexander's supposedly dead father was coming home.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD