Chapter 13 - SEBASTIAN'S CHOICE
Police forced the vault door open twelve minutes later.
Thomas was gone before officers found the remote relay he had used in a neighboring utility room.
The building was searched from roof to basement.
No one found him.
Evie barely cared.
The old marina footage had consumed every other thought.
Sebastian had seen the cut line.
He had closed the hatch.
Noah had sailed out minutes later and died.
When police traced Sebastian's black car, they found it parked outside the abandoned Cross-Mercer shipping terminal at the river.
Evie knew immediately that Thomas had called him there.
The detectives wanted her returned to the hospital.
She refused.
Helen argued.
Evie refused again.
In the end, she remained in the armored vehicle while tactical teams surrounded the terminal.
Rain hammered the windshield.
The river beyond the warehouses was dark and violent.
Evie hated how much it resembled the weather described in her father's accident report.
A negotiator called Sebastian's phone.
No answer.
They called Thomas.
No answer.
Then a single gunshot echoed from inside the terminal.
Evie flinched.
Officers moved.
For three unbearable minutes, nobody told her anything.
Then the radio crackled.
“Two males located.”
Evie stopped breathing.
“Both alive.”
She sagged against the seat.
Thomas had fired into the ceiling when Sebastian tried to leave.
When officers brought them out, Thomas looked small inside an oversized raincoat.
Sebastian looked furious and broken.
Evie stepped from the vehicle despite Helen's protest.
Thomas saw her first.
His face crumpled.
“You look like Claire.”
Evie felt no warmth.
“Don't say her name.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
Sebastian took one step toward Evie.
Police stopped him.
She looked at him.
“Did you see the fuel line?”
His silence was enough.
“Say it.”
“Yes.”
Rain ran down his face.
“Did you know it was cut?”
“I knew it was damaged.”
“Did you know the boat was unsafe?”
“Yes.”
Evie felt something inside her go very quiet.
“Why didn't you stop him?”
Sebastian looked toward the river.
“Because I was angry.”
The answer was almost too small for the consequence.
“He had just told me he was going to expose everything.”
“So you let him sail on a damaged boat.”
“I told myself he would notice.”
“Did you warn him?”
“No.”
“Did you call him?”
“No.”
“Did you call the harbor master?”
“No.”
“You watched him leave.”
“Yes.”
Thomas began to speak.
“Evie, Sebastian didn't know the line would fail completely.”
She turned on him.
“And you did?”
Thomas froze.
There it was.
Evie stepped closer.
“You told Daniel to cut it.”
Thomas's shoulders sagged.
“I told him to loosen a line so Noah would miss the board meeting.”
“You used a nineteen-year-old to sabotage my father's boat.”
“I did not intend his death.”
“No one ever intends anything in this family.”
Her voice rose.
“You intend pressure.”
“You intend leverage.”
“You intend silence.”
“You intend protection.”
“And somehow people keep ending up dead.”
Nobody answered.
The rain fell harder.
Evie looked at Sebastian.
“You spent sixteen years pretending you were my guardian.”
“I was trying to make up for it.”
“You can't guard someone from a truth you helped create.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Evie's voice broke at last.
“You know now because I forced you to look at it.”
Police placed Thomas in a vehicle.
Sebastian was not handcuffed yet, but detectives informed him he would be questioned regarding obstruction and his failure to disclose evidence.
Before he was taken away, he asked Evie one thing.
“Do not let Daniel near you.”
She almost laughed.
“Still giving advice.”
His face crumpled.
Then he said, “Your father left one more instruction.”
Evie stared.
“In the vault?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“With me.”
“Of course.”
Sebastian reached slowly into his coat and removed a sealed envelope.
An officer checked it before handing it to Evie.
The front bore Noah's handwriting.
TO BE OPENED ONLY IF SEBASTIAN FAILS.
Evie's breath caught.
She looked at him.
“Did you know what it says?”
“No.”
For the first time, she believed that answer without hesitation.
Back at the hospital, Evie sat alone with the letter for almost an hour before opening it.
Noah's message was short.
Evie,
If Sebastian gives you this, then he has finally admitted enough of the truth to understand that he should not control what happens next.
Do not give the company to him.
Do not give it to Daniel.
Do not give it to anyone who tells you that preserving the family is more important than preserving your conscience.
Then came a legal instruction.
The patents could be transferred upon proof of fraud or coercion by any Cross-Mercer executive.
The transfer required Evie's signature.
A destination trust had already been created.
Its beneficiary was not Evie.
It was not her baby.
It was not any member of the Mercer or Cross families.
The beneficiary was the company's employee pension fund.
Evie stared at the page.
Noah had built a final escape route.
If the family ever became too corrupt to hold the company, the most valuable assets would pass to the people who had spent their lives working for it.
Her phone rang.
It was Daniel's attorney requesting a confidential call.
Evie answered.
Daniel spoke before she could say anything.
“I know what Dad gave you.”
Her blood ran cold.
“How?”
“He told my lawyer years ago that Noah left a contingency letter.”
“You knew?”
“I knew something existed.”
Daniel's voice became urgent.
“If you transfer those patents, the company collapses.”
“The pensions get them.”
“The operating company will lose access.”
“Then negotiate with the pension fund.”
“You don't understand.”
Evie looked at the bruised reflection of her face in the dark hospital window.
“I understand everything perfectly.”
The same words she had spoken in the hall now felt prophetic.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“If you do this, thousands of people could lose jobs.”
“Maybe.”
“You would destroy my father's life's work.”
“No.”
Evie looked at Noah's letter.
“I would end your family's right to own it.”
Daniel whispered one final warning.
“If you sign that transfer, Lauren will testify that you planned all of this.”
Evie went still.
“What are you talking about?”
May you like
Daniel laughed softly.
“You still think Lauren changed sides because she grew a conscience?”
