"What happened that night?" Naomi asked.
Evan shook his head.
"I don't know."
A sound came from behind them.
Footsteps.
Naomi turned.
Richard appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Don't open the flash drive here."
Evan immediately approached him.
"Where were you?"
"Trying to find you."
"How did you know we were here?"
Richard stopped.
He looked at the box.
"Because I know what you're holding."
Naomi stepped closer.
"Did my grandmother give this to you?"
Richard nodded.
"Years ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of whom?"
Richard looked down the dark hallway.
"Of the same people your grandmother feared."
Evan's expression hardened.
"Daniel?"
Richard hesitated.
"No."
"Then who?"
Before Richard could answer, the lights suddenly came on.
All three men and women froze.
At the end of the corridor stood Daniel Mercer.
He was no longer smiling.
He held a gun in his hand.
Naomi's breath caught.
"Daniel."
He looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
Evan stepped in front of Naomi.
"You don't have to do this."
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"You have no idea what I'm doing."
"You threatened us."
"I came here to stop you from making a mistake."
Naomi stared at him.
"What mistake?"
"Opening that drive."
Evan's voice became cold.
"What is on it?"
Daniel looked at the box.
"The truth."
"Then why stop us?"
"Because the truth doesn't just destroy my family."
He looked directly at Evan.
"It destroys yours."
Richard stepped forward.
"Daniel, put the weapon down."
Daniel's eyes filled with anger.
"My father spent twenty years protecting your family."
Richard replied quietly.
"Your father betrayed Eleanor."
Daniel shook his head.
"You don't know everything."
"I know enough."
"No."
Daniel's voice broke.
"You know what Jonathan wanted you to know."
Silence.
Naomi looked between them.
"What happened to my grandmother?"
Daniel stared at her.
"She survived."
Naomi's heart stopped.
"What?"
"Your grandmother didn't disappear."
"Where is she?"
Daniel looked away.
"She died five years ago."
Naomi felt the world tilt.
"Then why did you say she survived?"
"Because after the lawsuit, everyone believed she had vanished."
He lowered the gun slightly.
"But she lived under another name."
Naomi could barely breathe.
"Where?"
Daniel looked at her.
"California."
Evan frowned.
"Why would she hide?"
Daniel's expression became painful.
"Because someone tried to kill her."
Naomi's hands trembled.
"Who?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at the flash drive.
"That contains the recording."
"What recording?"
"The night she disappeared."
Naomi stepped closer.
"Give it to me."
Daniel shook his head.
"If you see it, there is no going back."
"I don't care."
"You should."
"No."
Her voice was stronger now.
"I spent my entire life believing my grandmother lost everything and disappeared because she was defeated."
She looked at Daniel.
"If she was alive all those years, I deserve to know why."
Daniel slowly lowered the gun.
Then he placed it on the floor.
"I agree."
He removed a small key from his pocket.
"The drive is encrypted."
Evan looked at it.
"Password?"
Daniel stared at Naomi.
"Your grandmother's favorite phrase."
Naomi frowned.
"What was it?"
Daniel smiled sadly.
"You should know."
He stepped toward her.
"She used to say it whenever you were afraid."
Naomi searched her memory.
Then she remembered.
Home, to a cat, is a feeling.
No.
That wasn't it.
She remembered her grandmother sitting beside her bed after a nightmare.
What had she said?
Naomi closed her eyes.
"Truth survives."
Daniel nodded.
"Exactly."
Evan inserted the drive into his laptop.
A password prompt appeared.
Naomi typed:
TRUTHSURVIVES.
The screen changed.
A single video file appeared.
They opened it.
The image was old and grainy.
Eleanor Brooks sat at a desk.
She looked younger than Naomi remembered.
But her eyes were the same.
Her voice came through the speakers.
"If you're watching this, something has gone terribly wrong."
Naomi covered her mouth.
It was her grandmother.
Alive.
Speaking directly to someone who had not yet been born.
Eleanor continued.
"The Carrington family will tell you I lost because I was weak."
She shook her head.
"I didn't lose."
The video suddenly froze.
The screen went black.
Daniel whispered:
"They found us."
Evan looked toward the hallway.
"Who?"
A loud crash came from the stairwell.
Then another.
Richard moved toward the door.
"Everyone out."
But the lights went off again.
And this time, the entire building went dark.
Chapter 8
Naomi could hear breathing in the darkness.
Someone was moving down the hallway.
Evan grabbed her hand.
"Stay close."
"I can walk."
"I know."
He didn't let go.
Richard moved toward the emergency exit.
"Stairs."
They followed him.
Daniel picked up the gun.
Naomi noticed.
"You said you weren't going to use it."
"I'm not."
"Then why take it?"
"Because I don't know who is coming."
They reached the stairwell.
Richard opened the door.
A red emergency light flickered above them.
They began descending.
One floor.
Then another.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Evan asked Daniel a question.
"Who was Eleanor hiding from?"
Daniel answered without looking at him.
"Your grandfather."
"My grandfather died twelve years ago."
"That doesn't mean his influence died with him."
Evan stopped.
"What are you saying?"
Daniel turned.
"Jonathan Carrington built systems inside the company that survived him."
"Systems?"
"People."
Naomi understood.
"You mean loyalists."
Daniel nodded.
"Executives. Lawyers. Bankers. Politicians. People who benefited from the empire."
Evan looked stunned.
"And they're still protecting the family?"
"Some are."
Richard interrupted.
"Not the entire family."
Daniel looked at him.
"Enough of it."
They reached the forty-eighth floor.
Suddenly, a door slammed above them.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps.
Someone was coming down.
Daniel whispered.
"Keep moving."
They hurried downward.
At the forty-third floor, Evan opened a maintenance door.
Inside was a narrow service corridor.
They entered.