Chapter 15 - THE LAST HEIR
Arianne was sleeping when the hospital alarm suddenly began screaming.
Nurses rushed through the corridor.
A security guard shouted for everyone to stay inside their rooms.
Baldric arrived minutes later.
His daughter was awake.
Her eyes were wide with terror.
“Dad.”
He rushed to her bedside.
“Where's Gideon?”
Arianne immediately looked toward the door.
“He's with the nurse.”
Baldric turned.
The nurse was gone.
So was Gideon.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Arianne began screaming.
“GIDEON!”
Baldric ran into the corridor.
The hospital had become chaos.
Doctors.
Nurses.
Security officers.
Patients being moved away from the elevators.
Baldric's heart pounded as he searched every hallway.
Then he saw something on the floor.
A small toy car.
Gideon's.
He picked it up.
A message had been written underneath it.
THE BOY KNOWS WHERE THE MONEY IS.
Baldric's face hardened.
He immediately understood.
The Vances had never wanted Gideon as an heir.
They wanted him as a key.
Gideon knew something because someone had spent years teaching him things no child should ever have known.
Baldric called Charles.
No answer.
He called the police.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice spoke.
“Come alone.”
“Where is my grandson?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“If you touch him—”
“You'll never see him again.”
Baldric closed his eyes.
“Tell me where.”
The man gave him an address.
An abandoned warehouse outside the city.
Then the call ended.
Arianne grabbed his arm.
“Dad, don't go.”
Baldric looked at his daughter.
For twenty-five years, he had believed money could protect the people he loved.
Tonight, he finally understood that money had only made them targets.
He kissed Arianne's forehead.
“I brought this war to our family.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You didn't.”
Baldric looked at her.
She continued through tears:
“They did.”
He walked away.
But he wasn't going alone.
Outside the hospital, police vehicles were already waiting.
Charles appeared from the darkness with his arm bandaged.
Baldric stared at him.
“You knew where they would take him.”
Charles nodded.
“Because I've been there before.”
The two men got into the vehicle.
As they drove toward the warehouse, Charles finally revealed the last piece of the puzzle.
“Your wife didn't hide the fortune because she feared the Vances.”
Baldric looked at him.
“She hid it because she knew Gideon would eventually become their target.”
“Why?”
“Because Gideon is the only person who can legally unlock the final trust.”
Baldric's expression changed.
“What final trust?”
Charles looked at him.
“The one your wife created the night before she died.”
The vehicle went silent.
Then Charles added:
“And the person who controls it…”
May you like
He paused.
“…controls everything.”
