Chapter 5 - THE SHOOTER ABOVE THE ESTATE
Federal agents dragged everyone behind cover.
Natalie pulled Ruth beneath the cake table.
Daniel crouched beside them despite his injured shoulder.
Julian remained exposed for one frozen second.
Then Agent Reed tackled him behind a marble planter.
A third shot hit the pool.
Water exploded upward.
The shooter was not aiming randomly.
The first bullet targeted Evelyn.
The second targeted Ruth.
Someone wanted witnesses dead and Natalie frightened.
A tactical team moved toward the hills.
The estate gates closed.
Helicopters circled above the canyon.
Evelyn was alive.
The bullet entered her upper chest and missed the heart.
Paramedics carried her toward an ambulance.
She grabbed Reed’s sleeve.
“Victor Kane.”
“Who is that?”
“Blackwell security contractor.”
Victoria looked away.
Reed noticed.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
The lie came too quickly.
Natalie remembered a man she had seen at Blackwell events.
Tall.
Quiet.
Gray eyes.
Always near service exits.
Victor Kane had once followed her from work.
Julian denied knowing him.
That denial was less convincing than Victoria’s silence.
Agents searched the estate’s private communications.
They found messages from Victoria to a prepaid phone.
STOP THE ACCOUNTANT.
IF NECESSARY, PRESSURE THE HAYES FAMILY.
The messages did not mention murder directly.
They did not need to.
Victoria’s attorney arrived by helicopter and demanded questioning stop.
Reed arrested her for obstruction, conspiracy, and witness intimidation.
She did not resist.
She looked at Natalie while officers placed cuffs around her wrists.
“This is temporary.”
Natalie answered, “So was your power.”
Victoria smiled.
“You still think this is about evidence.”
“What is it about?”
“Survival.”
She was led away.
Julian remained near the terrace.
The arrogance had gone.
He watched his mother enter the federal vehicle.
Natalie approached him.
“Did you know about Victor?”
“No.”
“Did you know my parents were investigated?”
“I knew my mother looked into them.”
“You threatened my father’s business license.”
Julian looked down.
“I wanted you to stop asking questions.”
“You called his clients.”
“I did not know she forged the deed.”
“That does not make the rest harmless.”
He stepped closer.
“Natalie, listen to me. We can fix this.”
“There is no we.”
“We were hours from being married.”
“We were seconds from becoming another Blackwell contract.”
His eyes filled with panic.
“I love you.”
“You grabbed my wrist while your mother laughed at my parents.”
“I was under pressure.”
“So was I.”
“You don’t understand what she does when people disobey.”
Natalie’s voice softened, but not with forgiveness.
“I understand exactly.”
Julian’s phone, now in evidence, received a message.
Agent Reed read it.
MIDNIGHT. OLD VENTURA PROPERTY. BRING NATALIE OR EVERYTHING BURNS.
The prepaid number belonged to Victor Kane.
The “old Ventura property” was Daniel’s stolen childhood land.
Beneath the luxury shopping center stood a sealed maintenance tunnel from the original farm.
Evelyn had mentioned it before surgery.
Victoria stored original Heritage Recovery records there.
Victor planned to destroy them.
And he wanted Natalie present.
Reed refused to use her as bait.
Natalie insisted.
“You have one message. He may disappear if I don’t answer.”
“He shot at your family.”
“That is why he believes I’ll come.”
Daniel stood.
“No.”
Natalie looked at him.
“You nearly lost your life today.”
“I nearly lost a shoulder.”
“He aimed at Mom.”
“And that is why you are not going alone.”
Ruth stepped beside them.
“You raised a lawyer,” she told Daniel. “You cannot expect her to avoid a fight because it became dangerous.”
Daniel looked at Natalie.
Then sighed.
“I hate when both of you are right.”
The plan was set.
Natalie would go to the Ventura property wearing a transmitter.
Agents would surround the underground tunnel.
Julian asked to come.
Reed refused.
Julian said something that changed the plan.
“Victor won’t believe Natalie came willingly unless I’m with her.”
Natalie looked at the man she almost married.
“Why would he trust you?”
May you like
Julian answered quietly.
“Because he thinks I’m still my mother’s son.”
