Chapter 12 - The Son's First Crime.
Claire stared at Evelyn as if the words had struck harder than the fall.
"Adrian was twenty-two."
"Old enough to know loyalty," Evelyn replied.
Mason shook his head.
"You're lying."
Evelyn laughed.
"You always were sentimental about the boy."
She pointed the pistol toward a box marked THOMAS.
"Open it."
Claire did not move.
Evelyn fired into the ceiling.
Concrete dust rained over them.
Mason opened the box.
Inside was a small camcorder sealed in plastic.
Evelyn told Claire to play it.
The recording showed the underground room seven years earlier.
Thomas Bennett stood near the desk, furious but alive.
Richard Vale was beside him.
A younger Mason guarded the door.
Then twenty-two-year-old Adrian entered.
Claire's chest tightened.
Thomas turned toward him.
"You don't have to become her."
Young Adrian looked terrified.
"Give me the ledger."
Thomas refused.
Evelyn's voice could be heard off camera.
"Make him."
Adrian grabbed Thomas.
They struggled.
Thomas fell against the edge of the metal desk.
His head struck hard.
He collapsed.
Young Adrian froze.
"I didn't mean to."
Richard rushed forward.
Mason called for an ambulance.
Then Evelyn entered the frame.
She checked Thomas's pulse.
"He's alive," Richard said.
"Then call someone," Adrian begged.
Evelyn looked at her son.
"And send you to prison?"
She ordered Mason out of the room.
The recording became chaotic.
The last visible image showed Evelyn kneeling beside Thomas while Richard shouted at her to stop.
The video ended.
Claire stared at the dark screen.
Adrian had caused the injury.
But Thomas had still been alive.
"What happened after that?" Claire whispered.
Evelyn's eyes were almost gentle.
"I protected my son."
Claire understood.
"You finished it."
Evelyn did not answer.
Mason stepped toward her.
"Richard tried to report you."
"Richard tried many things."
"So you killed him too."
Evelyn's hand tightened around the pistol.
"He died of a heart attack."
Mason laughed bitterly.
"After your doctor changed his medication."
A sound came from the stairs.
Adrian appeared behind his mother.
His wrists were bruised from handcuffs.
Claire stared at him.
"How did you get out?"
"The transport van crashed."
Mason's expression hardened.
"Mercer."
Adrian looked at Evelyn.
"Give me the gun."
She did not move.
"You ruined everything," he said.
"I saved you your entire life."
"You used me my entire life."
Claire watched mother and son turn on each other.
Adrian stepped down another stair.
"Tell her the truth."
Evelyn's face went still.
"Which truth?"
"Why I married Claire."
Claire already knew.
At least she thought she did.
Adrian looked at her, and for the first time shame replaced arrogance.
"I was supposed to get access to your father's files."
Claire said nothing.
"But after we got married, I found something else."
He looked at Evelyn.
"Something she never wanted you to know."
A siren sounded faintly outside.
Evelyn raised the pistol toward Adrian.
"Don't."
He kept talking.
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"Thomas Bennett wasn't the only person Evelyn hid beneath this house."
The gun fired.
