Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE DELIVERY UNIFORM
“Dad!” I screamed.
Thomas Walsh stood in the doorway, his broad shoulders filling the frame.
He looked older, tired, and deeply weathered by years of unfair hardship.
But his eyes burned with an absolute, righteous fury.
Behind him stood half a dozen of Sebastian’s personal, loyal security men—the ones Julian hadn't been able to buy.
“Drop the gun, Vance,” my father commanded, racking the shotgun with a deafening clack.
Julian stumbled backward, shocked.
“How did you get past the perimeter? I paid those men!”
“You paid the wrong men,” Sebastian said calmly.
Sebastian walked forward, placing himself directly between Julian’s gun and Vivienne’s family.
“You thought you controlled my house, Julian. But you forgot who actually runs it.”
Sebastian looked at me.
“The staff.”
I swallowed hard.
Earlier that morning, Sebastian had asked me to review the security logs because the head of security had been acting strange.
I had noticed a discrepancy and told my father when he called to check on me.
My dad had spent twenty-eight years waiting for Julian Vance to slip up.
He wasn't going to miss his chance.
Julian’s eyes darted around the room.
He was trapped.
But Julian Vance was a cornered rat.
Instead of surrendering, he grabbed the closest person to him.
He lunged forward and yanked Vivienne backward, pressing the barrel of his silver gun directly against her temple.
“Nobody moves!” Julian screamed.
Vivienne gasped, her hands flying up to her face.
“Let my daughter go!” Frank yelled, trying to fight past Ruth.
“Stay back, old man!” Julian warned, backing toward the broken doorway leading to the conservatory.
Sebastian froze.
“Julian. Let her go. You want the money? Take it. But leave the girl.”
“I’m taking the girl and the money!” Julian spat. “She’s my insurance policy!”
Julian dragged Vivienne through the archway into the glass-walled conservatory.
The rain was pouring heavily outside, drumming against the glass roof.
“Sebastian!” Vivienne cried out, her eyes wide with terror.
Sebastian took a step forward.
Julian fired a warning shot into the ceiling.
Glass rained down on the marble floor.
“Next one goes in her head!” Julian roared.
My father raised his shotgun, but the angle was impossible.
If he fired, he would hit Vivienne.
Julian dragged her toward the heavy garden doors at the back of the conservatory.
But Vivienne suddenly remembered something.
She remembered the small wooden box her father had given her just minutes ago.
The one containing the delicate silver bracelet.
ALWAYS HOME.
Vivienne gripped the wooden box in her hand.
She looked at her father, who was crying out for her.
She looked at her mother, who had waited five years for her to come home.
And for the first time in her life, Vivienne Ashcroft stopped being afraid of losing her perfect world.
She slammed her elbow violently backward, directly into Julian’s ribs.
Julian grunted, his grip loosening for a fraction of a second.
Vivienne swung her arm around and smashed the heavy wooden box squarely into the bridge of Julian’s nose.
Blood exploded from Julian’s face.
He howled in pain, dropping the gun.
Vivienne didn't run away.
She kicked the gun across the marble floor.
Sebastian lunged into the conservatory, tackling Julian to the ground.
The two men crashed into a row of expensive orchids, shattering the ceramic pots.
My father rushed in behind them, keeping his shotgun aimed squarely at Julian’s head.
“Don't move,” my father growled.
Julian lay on the floor, bleeding and panting, staring up at the barrel of the shotgun.
Vivienne scrambled backward, breathing heavily.
Ruth and Frank rushed into the room, throwing their arms around their daughter.
“Are you hurt?!” Ruth cried, checking her face.
“I'm okay, Mom,” Vivienne sobbed, burying her face in her mother’s faded coat. “I'm okay.”
Sebastian stood up, brushing the dirt off his tailored suit.
He looked down at Julian.
“It's over, Julian.”
Julian laughed. A wet, bloody, desperate sound.
“You think it’s over?”
Julian spat blood onto the white marble floor.
“You think your precious father was a saint, Sebastian? You think he didn't leave behind a contingency plan?”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
Julian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, heavy iron key.
He tossed it onto the floor at Sebastian’s feet.
“I wasn't just stealing money for myself, boy,” Julian smiled wickedly. “I was funding something else. Something Antonio started before he died.”
Julian looked directly at me.
“Ask Thomas Walsh why he really came here tonight.”
Sebastian turned to look at my father.
My dad’s face had gone completely pale.
He lowered the shotgun slightly.
“Dad?” I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest.
My father looked at the iron key on the floor.
Then he looked at Sebastian.
May you like
And he said the four words that changed everything.
“The basement is open.”
