Chapter 5 - The Gates FallThe Sterling gates had stood for eighty years.
Black iron.
Gold initials.
Security cameras nested in the stone pillars.
The gates had kept reporters out, protestors out, angry former employees out, and women like Vivian trapped inside.
Now they bent inward under the force of a police vehicle.
The sound rolled through the mansion like thunder.
Downstairs, guests scattered.
Some ran toward exits only to find them locked. Others called lawyers before calling loved ones. Board members whispered names. Investors deleted messages. Cousins wiped sweat from their upper lips.
Arthur heard every sound.
And still, he smiled.
“You think a warrant matters?” he asked.
Vivian looked toward the hallway.
Sirens flashed red and blue through the shuttered windows.
Arthur lowered his voice.
“Do you know how many judges I own?”
Mason laughed once, bitterly.
“Not all of them.”
Arthur’s eyes snapped to him.
Mason said, “Helena knew you’d say that. She didn’t leave the file with state police only.”
Clara looked at him.
Mason swallowed.
“She left copies with the FBI. The IRS. The SEC. Three journalists. And one person Arthur could never buy.”
Vivian frowned. “Who?”
A crash came from below.
Voices shouted.
“State police! Open the doors!”
Arthur’s composure cracked.
He turned and ran.
Not toward the main staircase.
Toward the library.
Mason cursed.
“The tunnels.”
Vivian grabbed Clara.
“What tunnels?”
Mason was already moving. “The old bootleg tunnels under the estate. Sterling men have used them for a century.”
Clara clutched the ledger.
“He’s going to destroy the rest.”
They ran after him.
The library doors were open when they arrived.
Books had been thrown from the shelves. A hidden panel behind Arthur’s desk stood open, revealing a stone staircase descending into darkness.
A cold draft rose from below.
Vivian stopped at the entrance.
Everything in her wanted to take Clara and run toward the police.
But Clara stared into the tunnel.
“He’ll escape,” she whispered.
Vivian knelt before her daughter.
“Clara, listen to me. Your job is not to catch him. Your job is to live.”
Clara’s mouth trembled.
“He hurt you.”
Vivian brushed hair from her face.
“And you saved me. Now let adults finish this.”
Mason took the ledger from Clara and gave it to Vivian.
“Get her downstairs. Give that to Reyes.”
Then he stepped into the tunnel.
Vivian grabbed his arm.
“Mason.”
He looked back.
“I helped build this monster,” he said. “Let me be useful tearing him down.”
Then he vanished into the dark.
A second later, Arthur’s voice echoed from below.
“Mason, if you follow me, you die with me.”
May you like
Mason’s answer came calm and broken.
“Maybe I should have died with Theodore.”
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