Chapter 13 - Julian’s Choice
Thomas aimed the gun at Julian.
“You always were weak.”
Julian laughed.
“Maybe.”
Then he looked at Conrad.
“But I’m tired of being hers.”
Agatha’s face became almost unrecognizable.
“You ungrateful fool.”
Julian ignored her.
He spoke to Conrad.
“Caroline came to me before she went to Briar House.”
Conrad froze.
“What?”
“She asked me to help expose Mother and Thomas.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
The answer came with shame.
“I was afraid.”
“You let her go alone.”
“Yes.”
Conrad moved toward him.
Thomas raised the gun.
“Stay back.”
Julian continued.
“She told me if anything happened to her, Elliot would someday need someone inside the family who knew the truth.”
Conrad stared.
“You knew for three years.”
“I knew some of it.”
“You watched me bury her.”
“I know.”
“You watched Elliot grow up without his mother.”
Julian’s eyes closed.
“I know.”
Conrad wanted to hit him again.
He wanted to do much worse.
Then Nathan spoke.
“Conrad.”
A warning.
Not now.
Agatha moved around the table.
“We can still fix this.”
Julian looked at her.
“No.”
“We sign the trust transfer. Thomas leaves. Nathan says he came voluntarily. We handle the rest through counsel.”
Nathan almost laughed.
Agatha glared.
“You think money can’t solve this?”
Nathan said, “Not anymore.”
Thomas’s hand tightened around the gun.
“Enough talking.”
He grabbed Nathan by the collar.
Julian stepped forward.
Thomas fired.
The gunshot exploded through the dining room.
Julian staggered.
For one second nobody understood.
Then blood spread across the sleeve of his dark suit.
He had been hit in the upper arm.
He crashed into the table.
Agatha screamed his name.
Police heard the shot.
Glass shattered in the terrace doors.
Officers entered from both sides.
Thomas grabbed Agatha and dragged her against him.
The gun pressed beneath her jaw.
“Back!”
Agatha went rigid.
Conrad stared.
The woman who had orchestrated decades of fear was now trapped by the man she had once used.
Thomas backed toward the west hall.
Sloan shouted.
“Drop the weapon.”
Thomas laughed.
“Tell them what you did, Agatha.”
“Thomas.”
“Tell your sons.”
“Stop.”
“You promised me Richard would finally recognize me.”
Agatha’s face twisted.
“I promised you money.”
“You promised me his name.”
“You were never a Hayes.”
Thomas flinched.
The cruelty of it was astonishing even now.
Conrad saw the mistake.
So did Julian.
Thomas turned his head toward Agatha.
Only for a second.
Julian kicked a chair into his legs.
Thomas stumbled.
Agatha dropped.
Conrad lunged.
He knocked the gun away.
Officers tackled Thomas.
Within seconds it was over.
Nathan was freed.
Paramedics entered.
Julian lay against the wall clutching his arm.
Conrad stood above him.
For years they had competed.
Argued.
Hated.
But Julian had just created the opening that saved everyone.
“You’re an idiot,” Conrad said.
Julian laughed painfully.
“Family trait.”
Conrad crouched.
“Why did you chain Elliot?”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
“I thought he had taken the recording.”
“He’s seven.”
“I panicked.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“I know.”
“You terrified him.”
“I know.”
“Mother approved it.”
Julian looked toward Agatha.
She was being handcuffed.
“Yes.”
“Would you have left him there?”
Julian stared at the floor.
“I don’t know.”
Wrong answer.
But perhaps the first honest one Julian had ever given.
Conrad stood.
“Then whatever happens next, you deserve it.”
Julian nodded.
“I know that too.”
Agatha passed them between officers.
She stopped beside Conrad.
“You think you won.”
“This isn’t winning.”
“You’ll destroy the family name.”
Conrad looked at her.
“No.”
He glanced at Nathan.
At Julian.
At the shattered dining room.
May you like
Then back at his mother.
“You already did.”
