The Deposition Prep

The shockwave felt like a physical blow, a concussive wall of heat that threw them into the azaleas. Sarah landed hard, her body covering Chloe’s, as the guest house erupted into a fireball. Glass shattered, wood groaned, and the night sky turned a violent, bruised orange.

Sarah gasped for air, her ears ringing, the smell of burning cedar filling her nose. She looked up. The guest house was an inferno.

"She missed," Chloe whispered beneath her, shaking violently.

"She didn't miss," Sarah said, pulling herself up. "She just didn't wait for us to burn."

She scanned the lawn. The flare had been a diversion. A way to keep them pinned while Elena made her move.

And there she was.

A silhouette against the flames, walking calmly toward the stables. She wasn't running. She wasn't panicking. She was executing the next phase of the plan.

"Agnes," Sarah said, looking around. "Where is Agnes?"

"She went to the back," Chloe said, her voice thin with shock. "She said she was going to cut the power."

Sarah helped Chloe to her feet. The girl was trembling, her eyes wide and glassy. She looked like a younger version of Sarah, but without the scars. Without the years of fighting.

"We have to go," Sarah said. "The stables."

"Why?"

"Because there's a service road," Sarah said. "And because Elena is heading there. Which means she has a vehicle."

They ran across the lawn, keeping low, using the hedges for cover. The main house was still standing, but the lights were flickering. Agnes had done her job.

The stables were dark, the smell of hay and horse manure thick in the air. Sarah pushed open the side door.

Empty.

The stalls were open. The horses were gone.

But in the center aisle, parked next to the tack room, was an ATV. An off-road utility vehicle.

And standing next to it, loading a rifle, was Elena.

She looked up as they entered. She smiled.

"You're persistent, Sarah. I'll give you that."

She raised the rifle.

Sarah shoved Chloe into an open stall. "Stay down!"

The shot cracked through the air, splintering the wood of the stall door.

Sarah dove behind a stack of hay bales. She pulled the fixer's gun from her waistband. Her hand was steady now. The fear was gone, replaced by a cold, hard certainty.

"It's over, Elena!" Sarah shouted. "The house is burning. The police are coming. You have nowhere to go."

"I have everywhere to go," Elena said. "I have accounts in countries you can't even spell. I have a new face waiting in Zurich. And I have the only thing that matters."

She patted the pocket of her gown.

The vial. The mother's blood.

"You're not taking it," Sarah said.

"Watch me."

Elena fired again, the bullet kicking up dust inches from Sarah's face. Then she jumped onto the ATV. The engine roared to life.

She spun the vehicle around, heading for the double doors at the end of the barn.

Sarah stood up. She aimed.

She could shoot the tires. She could shoot the engine.

But she didn't.

She aimed for the support beam above the doors. The one that held the hayloft in place.

She fired. Once. Twice. Three times.

The wood shattered. The beam groaned.

And then, with a crash that shook the ground, the hayloft collapsed.

Tons of hay and timber rained down, blocking the exit. The ATV slammed into the debris, throwing Elena over the handlebars.

She landed hard in the dirt. The rifle skidded away.

Sarah walked toward her, the gun trained on Elena's chest.

Elena groaned, trying to push herself up. Her face was bloody, her gown torn. She looked old. Broken.

"It's over," Sarah said.

"It's never over," Elena spat. "You think you've won? You've won nothing. You're still just a disappointing daughter fighting for scraps."

"I'm not fighting for scraps," Sarah said. "I'm fighting for the truth."

She reached into her pocket. She pulled out the diary.

"And I have it."

Elena’s eyes widened. She stared at the book.

"Burn it," she whispered. "Burn it, and I'll give you half. Half of everything. Fifty million dollars. Cash."

"You don't have fifty million dollars," Sarah said. "The accounts are frozen."

"I have offshore accounts," Elena said, desperate now. "Gold. Diamonds. Just burn the book."

"No," Sarah said.

She heard sirens in the distance. Real sirens. Getting closer.

"I'm going to give this to the police," Sarah said. "And then I'm going to watch you rot in a cell."

Elena laughed. A low, guttural sound.

"You really are naive, Sarah. Do you think the police will arrest me? I have judges in my pocket. Senators. Do you think a little diary is going to bring me down?"

"It's not just a diary," a voice said from the shadows.

Agnes stepped out of the tack room. She was holding a folder. A thick, legal folder.

"It's a deposition," Agnes said.

Elena froze. "What?"

"I gave a statement," Agnes said. "To Sarah's friend. The one you tried to burn."

"Marcus," Sarah realized.

"He came to see me," Agnes said. "Two days ago. Before the fire. We recorded everything. The poisoning. The harvest. The bribes."

She held up the folder.

"And we notarized it."

Elena stared at the housekeeper. Her face drained of color.

"You..." she whispered. "You traitor."

"I'm not a traitor," Agnes said. "I'm a witness."

The sirens were loud now. Blue and red lights flashed through the cracks in the barn doors.

"They're here," Sarah said.

Elena looked at the doors. Then at Sarah. Then at the gun on the floor.

She lunged for it.

Sarah fired.

The bullet hit the dirt in front of Elena's hand.

"Don't," Sarah said.

Elena stopped. She looked up at Sarah. Her eyes were filled with hate.

"You're just like him," Elena hissed. "Weak."

"No," Sarah said. "I'm like my mother."

The barn doors burst open.

"Police! Drop the weapon!"

Sarah lowered the gun. She placed it on the ground. She raised her hands.

Officers swarmed the barn. They grabbed Elena, handcuffing her, dragging her to her feet.

As they led her away, Elena looked back. She didn't look at Sarah. She looked at Chloe, who was standing in the doorway of the stall, watching.

"I made you," Elena whispered.

Chloe looked at her. Her face was blank. Cold.

"You made a mistake," Chloe said.

Sarah watched as they put Elena in the back of a cruiser. It was over. The nightmare was over.

But as she turned to hug Maya, her phone buzzed.

A text.

*From: Unknown.*

*Subject: The Will.*

She opened it.

It wasn't a copy of the will.

It was a photo of a letter. Handwritten. Dated yesterday.

*To my daughter, Sarah.*

*If you're reading this, I'm gone. But I didn't leave you nothing. Check the spine.*

Sarah frowned. *The spine?*

She looked at the diary in her hand. The old, cracked leather spine.

She ran her finger along the edge. There was a lump. A small, hard lump under the leather.

She used her fingernail to pick at the seam. It came apart.

She pulled out a small, silver key.

And wrapped around the key was a note.

*Safety Deposit Box 404. Zurich.*

Sarah stared at the key.

Elena hadn't gotten all the money.

Thomas had hidden the real fortune.

And he had left the key for her.