Chapter 6 - WHAT EVELYN HAD DONEEvelyn Ashford had spent thirty-one years being underestimated.
Not by strangers.
By men.
Men saw the pearls, the quiet voice, the charity galas, the carefully arranged dinners, and assumed she was ornamental.
Evelyn had encouraged that belief.
It made people careless.
By the time Nathan, Clara, Daniel, Marcus, and federal agents entered Sterling Tower through an underground maintenance tunnel, Evelyn had already locked Charles Sterling's internal servers.
She had also downloaded twenty years of financial records.
What she hadn't planned for was Victoria.
They found Evelyn in the twenty-eighth-floor conference room.
Victoria stood behind her.
Gun pressed to her shoulder.
Howard Greer stood near the window.
Charles Sterling, pale from his hospital injury, sat on the opposite side of the table.
When Nathan entered, Victoria laughed.
"You really don't know when to stay home."
Nathan looked at his mother.
"You okay?"
Evelyn answered calmly.
"For the moment."
Clara stared at Victoria.
"Let her go."
Victoria smiled.
"You people keep saying that as though I respond to morality."
Daniel whispered, "No. You respond to leverage."
Victoria's eyes moved to him.
"Still alive. How disappointing."
Nathan stepped forward.
Victoria pressed the weapon harder against Evelyn.
"Stop."
He stopped.
Howard looked at Richard, who entered behind the agents.
"You should have retired ten years ago."
Richard laughed.
"I trusted you."
"That's why you should have retired."
Charles Sterling slammed his hand on the table.
"Enough."
Everyone turned.
He looked older than he had at the gala.
"Victoria, lower the gun."
She stared at him.
"What?"
"This is finished."
"You think because you got shot you've developed a conscience?"
"I think we're surrounded by federal agents."
Victoria smiled.
"We're not leaving through the lobby."
She nodded toward Howard.
He produced a small remote.
Marcus recognized it first.
"Bomb."
Nathan went still.
Howard smiled.
"Three charges. Structural support sections in the parking levels."
Richard whispered, "You're insane."
"No. I'm insured."
Sarah raised her gun.
Howard lifted the remote.
"One shot and I press."
Clara looked around.
Everyone was frozen.
Except Evelyn.
She laughed.
Victoria looked down at her.
"What?"
Evelyn said, "Howard, you've always been arrogant."
His expression changed.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I disabled the charges twenty minutes ago."
Howard stared.
Victoria pressed the gun against Evelyn's head.
"You couldn't."
"I've chaired this building's safety foundation for twelve years."
Charles suddenly smiled.
It was a sad smile.
"She's telling the truth."
Victoria looked at her father.
"You knew?"
"No."
"But I know Evelyn."
Howard pressed the remote.
Nothing happened.
Again.
Nothing.
Marcus moved.
Everything happened at once.
Victoria fired.
Evelyn ducked.
Marcus tackled Howard.
Nathan dragged his mother behind the table.
Agents rushed Charles.
Clara pulled Daniel down.
Victoria ran.
Clara saw her disappear through the executive door.
Without thinking, she followed.
"Clara!" Nathan shouted.
Victoria ran toward the rooftop staircase.
Clara chased her.
She knew it was reckless.
She also knew Victoria had spent eleven months terrorizing her brother.
Three years terrorizing Natalie.
And probably decades benefiting from what had destroyed Clara's family.
Clara wasn't letting her disappear.
They burst onto the roof.
Wind tore across the building.
Victoria stopped near the edge.
"Stay back."
Clara stopped ten feet away.
"You don't have anywhere to go."
"There's always somewhere to go if you have money."
"Not this time."
Victoria laughed.
"You still think this is about money."
"What else?"
"Nathan."
Clara frowned.
Victoria's smile became bitter.
"My family spent fifteen years positioning me."
"For him?"
"For Ashford."
"You were what? A corporate spy?"
"I was an investment."
Clara stared.
Victoria continued.
"Board memberships. Social circles. Schools. Charity events. Everything was arranged so Nathan and I would eventually meet."
"That's pathetic."
Victoria flinched.
Good.
Clara continued.
"You built your entire life around being chosen by a man."
"You know nothing about my life."
"I know Nathan didn't choose you once he saw who you were."
Victoria raised the gun.
Clara's pulse jumped.
"But he notices you," Victoria whispered.
Clara stared.
"That's what you hate most, isn't it?" Victoria said. "The maid."
"This isn't about me."
"It became about you when Nathan started looking for excuses to stay in the kitchen after midnight."
Clara thought of those nights.
Nathan asking if there was coffee.
Nathan sitting at the counter.
Nathan talking about business problems.
Nathan listening when Clara complained about rent, her brother, bad subway service.
She'd assumed loneliness.
Maybe it had been.
But not only that.
Victoria smiled.
"You didn't even know."
"No."
"Of course you didn't."
The rooftop door opened.
Nathan appeared.
"Victoria."
She swung the gun toward him.
Clara moved instinctively.
Victoria fired.
The bullet struck metal.
Nathan ducked.
Clara slammed into Victoria.
The gun skidded away.
Both women hit the roof.
Victoria grabbed Clara's hair.
Clara punched her.
Victoria clawed toward the weapon.
Clara caught her ankle.
Nathan reached them.
Victoria kicked Clara hard.
She rolled dangerously close to the edge.
Nathan froze.
"Clara!"
Victoria dove for the gun.
Marcus emerged and fired once.
The bullet struck beside Victoria's hand.
"Don't."
She stopped.
Agents flooded the roof.
Victoria was arrested.
This time, with attempted murder witnessed by federal officers, there would be no easy bail.
Back downstairs, Evelyn sat wrapped in a blanket.
Nathan knelt beside her.
"You could have died."
"So could you."
"You lied to me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Evelyn looked at Clara.
"Because Anna Morgan saved me."
Clara approached.
"How?"
Evelyn sighed.
"Thirty years ago, before Nathan was born, I discovered Richard had once loved your mother."
Richard looked uncomfortable.
Evelyn smiled faintly.
"I was furious."
Richard said, "Understandably."
"I confronted Anna."
Clara couldn't imagine it.
"What happened?"
"She told me Richard had chosen me, and that I should stop competing with a woman who wasn't competing."
Daniel snorted.
"That sounds like Mom."
Evelyn nodded.
"Then she showed me financial records involving Charles. She warned me that if I exposed them carelessly, Richard could be implicated."
"So you hid it."
"I investigated."
"For thirty years?"
"No."
Evelyn's eyes darkened.
"Then Nathan was born."
She looked at Charles Sterling.
Charles lowered his gaze.
"Someone tampered with my car."
Nathan stared.
"What?"
"Anna found out before I drove it."
Richard whispered, "You never told me."
"I thought you'd go after Charles and get yourself killed."
Evelyn looked at Clara.
"Your mother saved Nathan's life before he was born by saving mine."
Clara felt tears come.
Evelyn continued.
"I told myself I would expose everything someday."
"But someday kept moving," Clara said.
"Yes."
"And people got hurt."
"Yes."
Evelyn didn't defend herself.
That made Clara respect her more than any apology could have.
Sarah entered.
"We have Howard's laptop."
Everyone turned.
"He's been keeping records."
Daniel smiled.
"Insurance."
Sarah nodded.
"Enough for federal conspiracy, bribery, money laundering, fraud, obstruction, attempted murder."
Charles closed his eyes.
"It's over."
Sarah looked at him.
"For you? Almost certainly."
Then she turned toward Richard.
"But there's another problem."
Richard frowned.
"What?"
"Howard kept a list of every compromised Ashford project."
"How many?"
Sarah's expression said everything.
"Forty-seven."
Nathan slowly stood.
"If those buildings are unsafe..."
"Thousands of people could be living in them."
Clara looked at him.
The family scandal was no longer about their families.
Nathan understood.
"We inspect every one."
Richard said, "It could bankrupt the company."
Nathan looked at his father.
May you like
"Then it bankrupts us."
And for the first time, Clara saw exactly the kind of man Nathan Ashford could become.
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