Chapter 47 - The Hearth’s Last Mechanism
"Let Chloe go," David demanded, stepping between the guards and his wife, his chest heaving. "Take me instead. I was the one who signed the power of attorney papers Arthur brought. I'm the one who let this madness into our family. Let her walk out to the street!"
Chloe looked up at David through streaming tears, her voice barely a whisper. "David... I'm so sorry... I thought we were getting a clean start... I didn't know..."
"Quiet, both of you," Sterling snapped, his patience evaporating. He pointed his cane at me. "Mrs. Miller, place the ledger on the central pedestal of the vault hatch. Enter the five-digit acoustic sequence. Once the pins withdraw, I will allow all four of you to walk out into the rain. You can keep your little suburban lives. We take the servers and the ledger, and Saint Jude vanishes forever."
"You're lying," I said. "The moment that door opens, you eliminate every witness."
"Then what is your proposition, Evelyn?" Sterling sneered, taking half a step forward. "Stand here until dawn while my men blow this house off its foundations?"
"No," I replied. "I'm going to open the vault. But not for you."
Before any of the guards could react, I didn't enter a code on the digital keypad. Instead, I struck the butt of my heavy revolver hard against a hollow brass rivet set into the side of the brick mantle—the exact spot my late husband had polished every Christmas Eve.
A sharp, resounding chime echoed through the basement, like the ring of a cathedral bell.
Deep beneath our feet, the subterranean hydraulics did not unlock. They engaged an internal pressure seal.
The heavy steel fire-doors installed in the 1960s renovation slammed shut on magnetic tracks across the staircase exit, cutting off the only path to the ground floor.
At the same instant, Marcus Vance lunged forward, tackling the mercenary holding Chloe to the ground. Gunfire exploded in the enclosed concrete space, deafening and blinding, muzzle flashes lighting up the darkness like strobe lights.
David threw his body over Chloe, shielding her against the floorboards as bullets chewed into the concrete walls, shattering mason jars and kicking up clouds of choking dust.
I dropped behind the granite mantle, keeping the master ledger clamped tight beneath my arm, raising my weapon as Julian Sterling scrambled backward, his cane clattering across the floor.
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"Kill her!" Sterling screamed, his aristocratic poise shattered into hysterical rage. "Retrieve the book! Kill them all!"
***
