Chapter 10 - The Truth Beneath the Vance Estate
The gunshot never came.
Margaret's hand shook so violently that the pistol slipped from her fingers and struck the floor.
Ethan stared at her, unable to reconcile the woman who had raised him with the woman standing between him and his brother.
"Pick it up," he said.
She shook her head.
"I can't."
"Then tell me why you brought it."
"Because I needed them to believe I was following orders."
"Whose orders?"
Margaret looked toward the ceiling camera.
"The same people who have controlled this facility since your father died."
Daniel was coughing, struggling to reach the control panel. Isabella had pulled her sleeve over her mouth and was trying to force open a ventilation grille.
Ethan turned toward Margaret.
"Tell me how to get them out."
She rushed to the control panel and entered a code.
The hissing stopped.
A moment later, the door unlocked.
Daniel pulled Isabella into the corridor, where she bent forward, gasping for air.
Ethan remained inside.
"Now tell me the truth."
Margaret closed the door behind them.
"I was the one who initiated the succession transfer. But I didn't do it to steal your authority. I did it because the system was about to hand control to someone who intended to use it to kill Michael."
"Who?"
"V-17."
"You keep saying that as if it's a person."
"It is a person. The designation is only the name used inside the security network."
Margaret opened a hidden cabinet and removed an old photograph.
Richard Vance stood beside a younger Daniel, Chad, and another man whose face had been scratched out.
On the back was written:
THE FOUR WHO SWORE THE OATH.
"Your father created the network with three other men," Margaret said. "Daniel handled the legal structure. Chad's father controlled the private security operation. A third man managed the financial accounts."
"And the fourth?"
Margaret looked at Ethan.
"Richard."
Ethan studied the photograph.
"Then who is V-17?"
"Your father assigned that designation to the person authorized to override the network. He believed the designation would remain secret, even from the people running the operation."
"But someone took control."
"Yes."
"Who?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"I thought it was your father. After his death, I believed the authorization had passed to Michael. When Michael disappeared, the system began receiving commands from a source I couldn't trace."
Ethan felt his anger return.
"So you allowed the company to be robbed, you let me believe you were dead, and you helped keep my brother imprisoned because you didn't know who was controlling everything?"
"I was trying to find a way to free him without getting him killed."
"By pretending to be his dead mother?"
Margaret's face crumpled.
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds like you made the same choices everyone else made. You decided I was better off knowing nothing."
She looked away.
"I was afraid you would do what Michael did."
"What did he do?"
"He tried to expose the network publicly. He believed that if he revealed the financial records, the people responsible would have no choice but to surrender."
"And instead?"
"They captured him. They told me they would kill him if I cooperated with you."
Ethan shook his head.
"You could have told me."
"I could have."
The admission stopped him.
Margaret wiped her face.
"I was wrong. I thought protecting you meant keeping you away from the truth. I never understood that my silence was protecting the people who hurt you."
For several seconds, Ethan said nothing.
He wanted to forgive her. He wanted to hate her. He wanted to believe that the woman in front of him was his mother and not another person wearing a familiar face.
Instead, he asked the only question that mattered.
"Where is Michael?"
Margaret led him through another door into a small observation room.
A narrow window overlooked an adjoining chamber.
Michael lay on a medical bed, unconscious but breathing.
Ethan pressed his hand against the glass.
"Open it."
Margaret entered a code.
The door released with a mechanical click.
Ethan rolled into the room.
His brother's eyes opened slowly.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Michael smiled weakly.
"You look terrible."
Ethan laughed once, but the sound broke halfway through.
"So do you."
Michael reached for him.
Ethan took his hand.
"I thought you were dead."
"I know."
"I buried you."
"I know."
Ethan bowed his head.
"You let me grieve you."
Michael's expression changed.
"I didn't have a choice."
"You always had a choice."
Michael looked away.
"Maybe. But every choice I made put someone else in danger."
Ethan studied the scar on his brother's jaw.
"Who did this to you?"
Michael hesitated.
"The people who wanted the succession clause activated. They needed a reason to transfer control of the company. Your accident gave them one. My disappearance removed the only person who knew the original documents had been changed."
"Who changed them?"
Michael looked toward Margaret.
"She didn't."
"I know."
"Daniel didn't, either. Not originally."
Ethan felt his stomach tighten.
"Then who?"
Michael's eyes filled with something Ethan had never seen in them before.
Fear.
"Our father."
Ethan went still.
"That's impossible. Dad was dead before the network activated."
"Father created a second succession document before he died. He deliberately gave control to someone outside the family because he believed neither you nor I could protect the company from the old investors."
"Who?"
Michael swallowed.
"His firstborn."
Ethan glanced toward Margaret.
"You're saying Catherine?"
Michael shook his head.
"No. Catherine was only the beginning of the lie."
He reached beneath the blanket and pulled out a sealed envelope.
"I found this in the archive months ago. I couldn't read it until I recovered the original account key. The document names the person who holds V-17."
Ethan took the envelope.
The seal bore the Vance family crest.
He opened it carefully.
Inside was a single page containing a name, a date, and a signature.
Ethan read the name twice.
Then he looked at Michael.
"This can't be real."
"It is."
Before Ethan could ask another question, the facility's lights went out.
A heavy crash echoed from the corridor.
Margaret shouted for everyone to stay where they were.
The emergency lights flickered on.
Daniel appeared in the doorway, his face pale.
"We have a problem."
Ethan held up the document.
"What's happening?"
Daniel looked at the name on the paper and froze.
Then he stared at Ethan.
"The network has just recognized the new authorization."
A mechanical voice spoke from hidden speakers.
"V-17 identity confirmed."
A pause followed.
"Welcome home, Mr. Vance."
Ethan turned toward the dark corridor.
The voice continued.
"All previous security restrictions are lifted."
Michael began shaking.
"No," he whispered. "No, no, no."
Ethan gripped the document.
"What is it?"
Michael looked straight at him.
"That authorization wasn't supposed to activate until you died."
A door slammed somewhere below them.
The sound of footsteps approached.
Then Ethan's phone rang.
The caller's name appeared on the screen.
BROOKE WHITMORE.
Ethan answered.
For several seconds, he heard only her breathing.
Then Brooke whispered, "Ethan, listen to me. Catherine has the original records, and she's on her way to the estate."
"Why?"
"Because she wants the company."
Ethan looked toward the corridor.
"That's not possible. The succession clause just activated."
"I know." Brooke's voice cracked. "That's why you need to get out of there."
A distant car horn sounded through her phone.
Then came a man's voice.
"Tell him who signed the original order, Brooke."
Ethan recognized Chad.
Brooke began to cry.
"I didn't know what it meant when I signed it. I swear I didn't."
Ethan felt a terrible coldness spread through him.
"Signed what?"
"The order that transferred the security network after your father's death."
"Brooke, whose name was on it?"
She took a shaky breath.
"Yours."
The call ended.
Ethan looked down at the document Michael had given him.
The name identified as V-17 was not his father's.
It was Ethan Vance.
And the date beside it was three years earlier.
The night of his accident.
❤️ Want to read PART 2? It's already available!
👉 Go to our Facebook page → Tap Reels → Find PART 2 to continue the story!
🔔 PART 3 is coming in a few days!
May you like
💬 Comment "NEXT" below, and I'll come back to ❤️ your comment when Part 3 is posted!
👍 LIKE this video and FOLLOW our page so you don't miss the next part!
