Chapter 14 - The Ballroom
At midnight, Claire walked into the Bellamy Grand carrying a leather folder.
The ballroom was dark except for the chandelier.
The tooth had been cleaned from the floor days earlier.
Claire could still see exactly where it had landed.
"Julian?"
He stepped out near the stage.
His tuxedo was gone. He wore jeans, a black sweater, and the expression of a man who still believed he could negotiate his way out of anything.
Arthur sat ten feet away, wrists tied.
"Show me the documents," Julian said.
Claire opened the folder.
"Let him go first."
Julian smiled. "You finally sound like your father."
"That's not a compliment."
She moved closer.
A tiny recorder sat inside the lining of her coat.
Mara and police were three blocks away. Julian had signal scanners near the doors. The recorder was not transmitting.
Claire needed him to talk.
"Why Sophie?" she asked.
"Don't be dramatic."
"She was six."
"She was leverage."
Arthur pulled against the rope.
"You miserable—"
Julian struck him across the face.
Claire did not move.
"You drugged her."
"Halpern did."
"You ordered it."
Julian shrugged. "Temporary discomfort. She would've been fine."
Claire's vision blurred with rage.
"And my brakes?"
For the first time, his eyes changed.
"Dominic got nervous."
"That's not an answer."
Julian stepped closer.
"You were never supposed to die. Not unless you forced us into it."
The words were exactly what Claire needed.
She kept her face blank.
"So if I signed away control, I lived?"
"Probably."
Arthur made a sound of disgust.
Julian ignored him.
"Do you know what it's like being married into your family? Every room, every dinner, every headline—Arthur Bellamy's daughter and her husband. I built companies too. Nobody cared."
Claire almost pitied him.
Almost.
"So you tortured your daughter because your ego hurt."
Julian's jaw tightened.
"Don't call it torture."
"What would you call it?"
He took one more step.
"Necessary."
Claire heard Sophie's voice in her head.
No, I don't forget.
She looked past Julian at the mirrored wall.
A red light blinked above the service door.
Not Julian's scanner.
A fire alarm sensor.
Claire reached into the folder and pulled out the trust documents.
Then she tore them in half.
Julian's face changed.
"What did you do?"
"Those are copies."
He lunged.
Claire grabbed the silver emergency pull station beside the stage and yanked it down.
Alarms exploded through the ballroom.
Sprinklers dropped from the ceiling.
May you like
The service doors unlocked automatically.
And Julian realized too late that fire code had just defeated his security plan.
