CHAPTER 18 #3
We moved through a hallway beneath the church.
At the end were two doors.
One led to Nesha.
The other led upstairs to the sanctuary.
My father had forced us to choose.
Dymond pointed toward the first door.
“Save Nesha.”
“And leave you with him?”
“You can’t save everybody at once.”
“Watch me.”
I gave Tasha the lock.
“Get to Nesha. Find the override panel.”
“What are you going to do?”
I looked at Shay.
“Take me to the sanctuary.”
???
My father stood at the altar beneath a wooden cross.
Rows of empty pews stretched between us.
The command device sat on the pulpit.
Victor Hale appeared on a large screen behind it.
He was still traveling along the river.
Two Circle founders.
Two men fighting over the same organization.
My father looked surprised when he saw me instead of Dymond.
“You were always stubborn.”
“You were always a liar.”
“I never lied about loving you.”
“You killed Dre.”
“I loved you enough to remove someone who would’ve destroyed you.”
“You put cocaine in my car.”
“To force you toward the storage unit.”
“You threatened my children.”
“I never intended for them to be harmed.”
“That’s what every monster says when the plan fails.”
Shay entered behind me.
My father’s expression hardened.
“You should’ve stayed on the highway.”
“You should’ve paid my father’s debt yourself.”
“I erased it.”
“No. You transferred it to us.”
Victor watched silently from the screen.
My father glanced toward him.
“You lost the empire.”
Victor smiled.
“And you lost your daughters.”
“They’ll understand.”
“No,” I said. “We won’t.”
The church speaker announced sixty seconds until Nesha’s room sealed.
My father looked toward the side entrance.
“Where is Dymond?”
“Gone.”
His hand moved inside his jacket.
I raised my gun.
“Keep your hands where I can see them.”
“If my heart stops, Nesha dies.”
“Then I’ll shoot you somewhere that hurts.”
“You already have a bullet near your chest. Do you believe you’re faster than me?”
“No.”
Dymond’s voice came from the balcony.
“But I am.”
My father looked up.
She stood above him with her gun aimed at his shoulder.
He smiled.
“There she is.”
“Release Nesha.”
“Kneel.”
Dymond descended the stairs.
“No.”
“You want to lead?”
“I want to bury the Circle.”
Victor laughed from the screen.
“Spoken like my daughter.”
Dymond looked at him.
“You don’t get to sound proud.”
The timer reached thirty seconds.
My father removed the command device from the pulpit.
“Last chance.”
A light flashed on the device.
The black lock in Tasha’s possession had connected.
My father looked down.
TRANSFER REQUESTED
The sanctuary doors opened.
Tasha stood there holding the lock.
Behind her, Nesha leaned against Karen.
Alive.
Meech had guided them through the physical override.
My father looked toward the screen showing his heartbeat connection.
DEAD-MAN SWITCH DISABLED
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
My mother raised her gun.
“You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”
He moved.
Four guns fired.
My father’s body jerked.
He fell beside the altar.
The command device slid across the floor and stopped at my feet.
Silence filled the church.
I stared at the man I had called Daddy.
Blood spread beneath him.
He looked up at me.
“I did it… for you.”
I knelt beside him.
“No.”
Tears burned my eyes.
“You did it because you wanted the empire.”
His breathing became shallow.
“You were supposed to inherit everything.”
“I already had everything.”
I looked toward my children’s photograph tucked inside my phone case.
“You just couldn’t understand it.”
His eyes moved toward Nesha.
“My daughter…”
She stood in the doorway, barely able to support herself.
“You don’t get to call me that now,” she said.
His eyes closed.
The heart monitor connected to the sanctuary screen flattened.
My father was dead.
Victor began clapping slowly from the screen.
“A beautiful ending.”
Dymond aimed her gun toward his image.
“You’re next.”
“You just killed the only man keeping the Circle from choosing its emergency successor.”
The command device lit up.
THE WARDEN: TERMINATED
SUCCESSOR PROTOCOL ACTIVE
Names flashed across the screen.
Dymond Carter.
Keyshia Carter.
Janesha Carter.
Tasha Carter.
Shay Carter.
Every woman in the sanctuary.
“Why is my name there?” Shay asked.
Victor smiled.
“Because your father wasn’t born a Shay.”
The device scanned us.
Then stopped.
SUCCESSOR CONFIRMED
We waited for a name to appear.
Instead, the sanctuary doors locked.
Gas hissed through the vents.
Victor leaned toward the camera.
“The Circle doesn’t belong to a Carter anymore.”
A woman stepped into view beside him.
She had silver hair, a scar across one cheek, and eyes I recognized immediately.
Nesha dropped to her knees.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“You know her?”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Janesha.”
Nesha began shaking.
“That’s my mother.”
The dead woman standing beside Victor held up a matching command device.
The screen changed.
SUCCESSOR: MONICA REED
Nesha’s mother looked directly at us.
“Seven million dollars was never an inheritance.”
The gas thickened around our feet.
“It was my payment.”