Chapter 15 - The Man Behind the Mask
“In the ballroom?”
Elizabeth nodded.
“He entered before the gala.”
“As who?”
“I don’t know.”
My father opened his security tablet.
Guest photographs appeared.
Hundreds.
Elizabeth scanned them.
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
Then she stopped.
A man stood beside the orchestra.
White hair.
Glasses.
Waiter’s jacket.
Elizabeth touched the image.
“Him.”
My father zoomed in.
The face looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
Elizabeth said,
“Facial prosthetics.”
My timer showed four minutes.
We ran.
The ballroom was nearly half evacuated.
Security moved toward the waiter.
He saw them.
Then smiled.
He ripped off the glasses.
My father shouted.
“Victor Halden.”
Halden pulled a gun.
People screamed.
Security raised weapons.
Elizabeth shouted.
“Do not shoot him.”
Everyone froze.
Halden smiled.
“That’s right.”
He opened his jacket.
A medical sensor was strapped to his chest.
Green light.
Steady.
“My heart stops.”
“The estate disappears.”
I stepped forward.
“So what do you want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because you are Catherine Rowan’s heir.”
“You want the Whitmore estate.”
“I want what controls it.”
“What?”
“Whitmore Strategic Holdings.”
My mother whispered,
“Defense patents.”
Halden nodded.
“Satellites.”
“Encryption.”
“Autonomous navigation.”
“Technology governments would kill to control.”
My father said,
“And you thought Evelyn could transfer ownership.”
“She can.”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t even know it existed.”
“You don’t need to know.”
Halden smiled.
“You only need to sign.”
He removed documents from inside his jacket.
Prepared.
Witnessed.
Ready.
“You planned this entire thing.”
“I planned everything except Damian Cross being stupid enough to assault you before schedule.”
Damian’s voice came from the balcony.
“Go to hell.”
Everyone looked up.
Arthur had freed him.
Damian looked shaken.
He saw me.
Then lowered his eyes.
For the first time, there was no arrogance.
Halden raised his gun toward him.
Arthur stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
Halden smiled.
“Still protecting failures, Arthur?”
Arthur stared at him.
“I protected you once.”
“I’ve regretted it every day since.”
The timer reached two minutes.
I looked at the papers.
“If I sign, you disarm the bombs?”
“Yes.”
My mother whispered,
“He lies.”
“I know.”
I walked toward him anyway.
My father caught my wrist.
“Evelyn.”
“Trust me.”
He stared at me.
Then released me.
Halden handed me the pen.
I signed.
His smile widened.
He picked up his phone.
Typed a code.
The timer stopped at 00:37.
The ballroom exhaled.
Then Halden laughed.
“Thank you.”
He began backing toward the service corridor.
Security blocked him.
He raised the detonator.
“Move.”
I held up the documents.
“There’s a problem.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“You forgot something about Whitmore Strategic Holdings.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You need the heir’s signature.”
“You signed.”
“Yes.”
I smiled.
“But only after the heir has been legally recognized.”
His face changed.
“I haven’t been.”
The papers in his hand were worthless.
Halden stared at them.
Then at me.
“You little bitch.”
He raised the gun.
My mother moved.
So did my father.
But Damian moved first.
He hit Halden from the side.
The gun fired.
A chandelier exploded above us.
Halden crashed to the floor.
His heartbeat sensor flashed.
Red.
Then green.
Then red again.
Elizabeth screamed.
May you like
“Don’t let his heart stop.”
And suddenly the man who had spent twenty-three years trying to erase me became the one person everyone in the ballroom desperately needed to keep alive.
