“The trust has already frozen the voting shares.”
Thomas frowned.
“Not if the hidden trust controls them.”
“It does.”
“Then why the $480 million?”
“Because that's the amount required to settle the conversion instrument.”
Walter pointed to the bottom of the certificate.
TRUSTEE OF THE NORTH MERIDIAN CONTINUITY FUND.
Emma's voice was barely a whisper.
Rachel zoomed in.
Then she gasped.
“There's an authorized signature.”
Everyone stared at the screen.
The signature belonged to their mother.
Her mother looked at the screen.
Then at Thomas.
“I never signed that.”
Thomas stared.
“But the biometric seal matches.”
Before anyone could answer, every light in the library came on.
The main screen activated.
A live countdown appeared.
00:59:59.
Walter went white.
“They started the hour.”
“Started what?” Elise demanded.
Walter looked at the daughters.
“The transfer.”
Marcus reached for the tablet.
“Can we stop it?”
“Only one way.”
“One of the sisters has to reject the other.”
Walter's voice was grim.
“The trust needs conflict.”
“If you reject her, the trust stops.”
“And if I don't?”
Walter looked at the clock.
“The shadow trustee takes control.”
The countdown continued.
00:57:42.
Elise looked at her sister.
Neither spoke.
Then Emma whispered,
“I won't reject you.”
Elise's eyes filled with tears.
“Neither will I.”
Walter whispered,
“Then someone else gets to choose.”
Chapter 19
The first gunshot shattered the window.
Everyone dropped.
Glass exploded across the library floor.
Marcus tackled Elise.
Emma screamed.
Thomas pulled their mother behind the desk.
Walter rolled toward the bookshelf.
A second shot struck the wall.
Rachel crawled toward the control panel.
“Get down!”
Elise grabbed Emma.
“Are you hurt?”
Marcus looked outside.
“Sniper.”
“Police?” Elise asked.
“Not yet.”
Rachel looked at the countdown.
00:54:17.
“We need to move.”
“Not through the front.”
Walter pointed toward the floor.
“Basement.”
“There is no basement.”
“There is beneath this building.”
“You found it.”
“I found a door.”
“What door?”
Walter pointed behind the bookcase.
Elise remembered the brass key.
She pulled it from her pocket.
The key fit the lock.
The bookshelf moved.
A dark staircase descended.
“I never knew that was there.”
Walter smiled coldly.
“That's why your father made it.”
They descended.
At the bottom was a room filled with old equipment.
A single red light blinked above the door.
The countdown continued on a wall screen.
00:51:08.
Rachel checked the system.
“Someone is inside the network.”
“Can you isolate it?”
“I can try.”
Thomas looked at the screen.
Rachel stopped.
“Aster isn't being attacked.”
“Then what is it doing?”
Thomas stared at the data.
“Recording.”
“Recording what?”
“Our choices.”
A new screen appeared.
VOLUNTARY CONSENT REQUIRED.
“This is a test.”
“Your grandfather never trusted lawyers.”
Rachel gave him a look.
“So he built a moral judgment machine?”
“Something like that.”
Marcus stared at the clock.
“Then why the shooting?”
“That isn't part of the trust.”
The basement lights flickered.
A door opened behind them.
Cynthia walked in.
She was carrying a folder.
“Where were you?”
Cynthia closed the door.
“I was trying to stop this.”
“I knew enough.”
Elise pointed at the folder.
Cynthia placed it on the table.
“The original transfer agreement.”
Her face changed.
“This isn't the one we saw.”
“What is the difference?”
“The fourth signature.”
Elise leaned over the page.
There were four lines.
Marianne Morgan.
But beneath them was a fifth.
PROTECTOR.
“Who's the Protector?”
Cynthia swallowed.
“You?”
“Because your grandfather chose me.”
“You never told me.”
“Because I wasn't supposed to.”
Rachel looked at the signature.
“Who can appoint the Protector?”
Cynthia answered.
“The daughters.”
Elise's stomach dropped.
“So you were never the trustee.”
“Then why did Mom transfer authority to Walter?”
Cynthia looked down.
“Because she believed Walter was the only person who could keep the trust from activating.”
Thomas said quietly,
“She was wrong.”
Cynthia opened the folder.
“There's more.”
She removed a typed page.
Her face went pale.
Emma came closer.
Rachel took the page.
Then she whispered,
“Either daughter can become Protector.”
Marcus looked confused.
Rachel turned the page around.
“Only if the other daughter refuses.”
Emma stared at Elise.
“I'm not doing that.”
She turned toward him.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand exactly.”
She pointed at the screen.
“This is what everyone has been trying to make us do.”
Emma reached for her hand.
“Together.”
Elise squeezed it.
A loud knock came from above.
“The shooter has entered the building.”
Rachel checked the security feeds.
She stared.
“It's the police.”
Marcus frowned.
“State police.”
“I didn't call them.”
Elise's phone buzzed.
THEY'RE NOT HERE FOR THE SHOOTER.
THEY'RE HERE FOR THOMAS MORGAN.
A third message appeared.
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO SURRENDER THE FOUNDER.
“They know you're alive.”
Thomas's eyes darkened.
“Someone filed a death correction.”
She checked the public records.
“They filed something worse.”
Rachel looked at the screen.
“A criminal affidavit.”
Against Thomas.
For fraud.
For conspiracy.
For falsifying his own death.
For embezzling the trust.
And one final allegation.
Murder.
Emma looked at her father.
“Who did you kill?”
Thomas went completely still.
The police sirens grew louder.
Then the basement door opened.
A woman stepped inside.
Everyone raised their weapons.
She wore a dark suit.
Held a federal identification card.
And looked directly at Thomas.
“Thomas Morgan.”
“You have one hour to explain why you're alive.”
She lowered the card.
“Someone who has been waiting ten years for this family to come home.”
Chapter 20
The woman didn't draw a weapon.
That was the first thing Elise noticed.
The second was the expression on her face.
Not hatred.
Not fear.
Recognition.
She already knew all of them.
“Identify yourself.”