Chapter 7 - The Attorney’s Final Move
The standoff in the dimly lit cabin was agonizing.
Thomas stood firm, his hunting rifle trained on Daniel. Arthur stood in the doorway, his silenced pistol locked on Thomas. I stood between them, holding the brass key, the only thing keeping the violence from erupting.
“Arthur,” Thomas growled, refusing to lower his weapon. “I should have killed you at the cottage.”
“You always were a sloppy man, Thomas,” Arthur replied smoothly. He didn't look like a bleeding old man anymore. He looked like the ruthless fixer he had been for forty years. “Just like you were sloppy ten years ago.”
Daniel turned slowly toward Arthur. “What are you talking about?”
Arthur kept his gun on Thomas but shifted his gaze to Daniel.
“Thomas didn't poison your father to avenge Sarah, Daniel,” Arthur said, his voice dripping with condescension. “He poisoned Charles because Charles finally found the mechanic’s receipt. The one Thomas failed to burn ten years ago. The one that proved who actually paid to have Sarah’s brake lines severed.”
The room went completely still. The only sound was the crackling fire.
Daniel stared at Thomas in horror. “You?”
Thomas’s hands began to shake. The heavy rifle wavered.
“I did it for her!” Thomas screamed, tears finally spilling down his weathered face. “She was going to leave! She was going to take the baby and disappear! I couldn't let her take my daughter away from me!”
My brain stalled.
“Your daughter?” I whispered.
Thomas looked at Daniel, his face twisted in a mixture of hatred and profound grief.
“Emma isn't your biological child, Daniel,” Thomas spat. “Sarah and I… we had an affair. Charles knew. He made Sarah stay with you to protect the family image. But when she packed her bags that night… I panicked. I just wanted to stop the car. I didn't want her to die! I just wanted her to stay!”
Daniel backed away, his hands covering his mouth, reeling from the betrayal. The wife he loved, the daughter he raised, the father he mourned—it was all built on a foundation of lies.
“You killed my wife,” Daniel choked out. “You killed my father. And you let me blame myself for ten years.”
“And now, he’s going to kill us,” Arthur said coldly. “Which is why he needs to die.”
Arthur tightened his finger on the trigger.
“No!” I screamed.
I didn't think. I threw myself in front of Thomas, shielding the murderer with my own body.
“Lily, move!” Arthur barked, his calm demeanor finally cracking.
“No, Arthur!” I yelled, staring down the barrel of his pistol. “If you shoot him, Emma loses her biological father. And Daniel becomes a witness to murder. This ends now!”
Arthur glared at me. “He poisoned your father, Lily.”
“And who supplied the poison, Arthur?!” I shot back, the pieces finally clicking into place in my mind.
I looked at Vivian, still tied to the chair, her eyes wide with shock. Then I looked back at the old attorney.
“Answer one, open two,” I said, my voice rising over the storm outside. “Thomas cut the brakes. But Thomas didn't know about the fifty million dollar insurance policy. You did, Arthur. You set up the policy with Vivian as the beneficiary. You knew Thomas wanted to kill Charles, so you gave him the poison. You let Thomas do the dirty work, so you and Vivian could take the money!”
Vivian sobbed loudly. “He blackmailed me! Arthur found out who I really was! He threatened to tell Daniel I was Sarah’s sister unless I played the grieving widow for the insurance money!”
Arthur’s face hardened into a mask of pure malice. The benevolent grandfather act was gone completely.
“You’re too smart for your own good, Lily,” Arthur sneered. “Just like your mother. I had to get rid of her, too, when she started asking Charles for money for you.”
My blood ran ice cold.
“You killed my mother?” I whispered, the words tearing at my throat.
“A simple aneurysm,” Arthur mocked softly. “A localized toxin. Hard to trace. Just like Charles’s heart attack.”
I felt the ground drop out from under me. The man standing in front of me wasn't just a corrupt lawyer. He was a monster who had decimated my entire family.
“Give me the key, Lily,” Arthur commanded, extending his free hand. “The box contains Charles’s investigation. The proof of Thomas’s sabotage, and the proof of my… chemical acquisitions. Hand it over, and I will let you and Daniel walk away.”
“He’s lying!” Thomas yelled. “He’ll kill us all!”
Arthur didn't blink. “Five seconds, Lily. Or I shoot you where you stand.”
He raised the gun to my chest.
“Five.”
I clutched the key.
“Four.”
Daniel lunged for Arthur.
The silenced pistol fired with a sickening thwip.
But the bullet didn't hit me. And it didn't hit Daniel.
Thomas had swung his heavy hunting rifle like a baseball bat, catching Arthur squarely in the ribs just as he pulled the trigger.
The shot went wild, shattering a vase on the mantle.
Arthur collapsed in a heap, groaning in pain, the pistol skittering across the floorboards.
Daniel tackled Arthur, pinning the old man to the ground.
I spun around. Thomas had dropped his rifle. He was staring at his own shoulder, where a blossom of dark red blood was rapidly spreading across his jacket.
Arthur’s wild shot had hit him.
Thomas fell to his knees, gasping for air.
“Emma,” Thomas wheezed, looking up at me with dying eyes. “Get Emma. She’s in the cellar.”
I didn't hesitate. I ran out the back door into the freezing rain, throwing open the heavy wooden doors of the storm cellar.
“Emma!” I screamed into the darkness.
A small, terrified voice called back. “Lily?”
May you like
I rushed down the steps and grabbed her in my arms, pulling her tight against my chest. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
As I carried Emma up into the storm, I looked back at the cabin. The nightmare was finally unraveling.
