CHAPTER 20 #2
He pulled Dymond against him and held his gun beneath her chin.
“One more step.”
I stopped.
Dymond struggled to breathe.
Blood ran from her hairline.
Victor looked at me.
“You could lead what remains.”
“I don’t want it.”
“That’s why you’re perfect.”
“Let her go.”
“Pick up the command device.”
It lay near my feet.
The screen was cracked.
Still active.
I picked it up.
“Authorize me as founder,” Victor ordered.
“The Circle already has a successor.”
“Monica is temporary.”
Monica heard him.
Her expression changed.
“You promised me control.”
Victor kept his eyes on me.
“I promised you a position.”
“You used me.”
“I employed you.”
Monica raised her gun.
Karen grabbed her wrist.
They fought again.
Victor tightened his grip around Dymond.
“Authorize me.”
“What happens to her?”
“She lives.”
“You lie.”
“So does everybody you love.”
Dymond looked at me.
Her lips moved.
I couldn’t hear her.
Then I understood.
Do it.
I pressed my thumb against the device.
A menu appeared.
FOUNDER AUTHORIZATION
Victor smiled.
“Choose Victor Hale.”
I scrolled through the names.
Victor Hale.
Monica Reed.
Dymond Carter.
Keyshia Carter.
Janesha Carter.
Tasha Carter.
One final option waited at the bottom.
DISSOLVE COUNCIL
I selected it.
Victor’s smile vanished.
“What did you do?”
The device asked for confirmation.
I pressed my bleeding palm against the screen.
CARTER BLOOD VERIFIED
CIRCLE COUNCIL DISSOLVED
Phones began ringing all around us.
Victor’s.
Monica’s.
Shay’s.
Even Deon’s phone inside the SUV.
Accounts vanished.
Security access disappeared.
Protected identities were released.
Victor looked toward his screen.
USER AUTHORITY TERMINATED
“You stupid girl.”
He shoved Dymond away and aimed at me.
The gun fired.
Dymond jumped between us.
The bullet struck her back.
She fell into my arms.
“No!”
Victor ran toward the Indiana side.
Rome fired.
The bullet struck Victor’s leg.
He collapsed near the broken pavement.
Shay reached him first.
She kicked his gun into the river.
“You ruined my family,” she said.
Victor laughed from the ground.
“Your family sold itself.”
He reached inside his jacket.
Shay fired.
Once.
Twice.
Victor’s body rolled through the broken section of guardrail.
He disappeared into the Ohio River.
This time, nobody followed him.
Nobody tried to save him.
I lowered Dymond carefully onto the pavement.
Her eyes were closed.
Blood spread across the back of her coat.
“Dymond.”
She didn’t answer.
“Open your eyes.”
Nothing.
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Karen crawled toward us.
Monica used the distraction to run toward the black car.
Nesha stepped into her path.
Her hospital gown moved in the wind.
Her body was weak.
But the gun in her hand was steady.
Monica stopped.
“Move, Janesha.”
“No.”
“I saved your life.”
“You abandoned it.”
“I’m your mother.”
“You said I shouldn’t call you that.”
Monica looked toward the approaching sirens.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“We can start over.”
“With seven million dollars?”
“With more than that.”
Nesha’s eyes filled with tears.
“You still think I want your money.”
“Everybody wants money.”
“I wanted you.”
For the first time, Monica’s face cracked.
Regret appeared.
Small.
Late.
Useless.
“Nesha—”
“Get on your knees.”
Monica looked at the gun.
“You won’t shoot me.”
“I stepped in front of a bullet for a woman who lied to me my whole life.”
Nesha glanced toward Karen.
“I don’t know what I’m capable of anymore.”
Monica slowly lowered herself to the pavement.
Tasha took the gun from her.
Police vehicles surrounded both ends of the bridge.
A helicopter moved overhead.
Spotlights covered us.
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
“GET ON THE GROUND!”
Rome placed his gun on the pavement.
Shay did the same.
Tasha lowered hers.
Nesha collapsed beside the guardrail.
I stayed with Dymond.
“Keyshia,” Karen said, “you have to put the gun down.”
“I’m holding her wound.”
“The police don’t know that.”
Red dots appeared across my chest.
Snipers.
I placed my weapon beside me and raised one blood-covered hand.
“She needs an ambulance!”
Officers rushed forward.
Some moved toward Monica.
Others pulled Rome and Shay to the ground.
Paramedics reached Dymond.
They pushed me away.
“I’m her sister.”
“Ma’am, move.”
“She was shot protecting me.”
“We need space.”
They cut open her coat.
The paramedic examined the wound.
“No exit.”
“Is she alive?”
“Barely.”
They loaded her onto a stretcher.
Another team rushed toward Karen and Nesha.
Tasha was handcuffed.
Rome was forced onto his knees.
Shay lay face-down near the guardrail.
Police surrounded me.
One officer read my rights.
Another cuffed my wrists behind my back.
My wound burned.
My knees shook.
But for the first time since Dre sent me to that storage unit, I didn’t run.
The archive was public.
The empire was gone.
Victor was dead.
My father was dead.
Monica was alive and in custody.
The truth existed outside our family now.
They could arrest me.
But they couldn’t bury everything.
A black federal vehicle stopped behind the police line.
A tall man in a dark suit stepped out.
He showed his badge to the commanding officer.
“Federal Agent Harris.”
I recognized the name.
Dymond had mentioned him before.
He walked toward me and examined the blood on my clothes.
“Keyshia Carter?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not under arrest.”
The officer beside me frowned.
“She’s wanted in connection with—”
“I know what she’s wanted for.”
Agent Harris unlocked my handcuffs.
“You’re being placed under federal protection pending testimony.”
I rubbed my wrists.
“What about my family?”
“Those without active warrants will receive protection.”
“And those with warrants?”
“They’ll need good attorneys.”
Tasha groaned.
“That sounds expensive.”
I almost smiled.
Then Agent Harris turned toward the ambulance carrying Dymond.
“Where are they taking her?”
“University Hospital,” an officer answered.
Harris’s expression changed.
“Stop that ambulance.”
The paramedic stared at him.
“She’s dying.”
“And University Hospital is compromised.”
He pulled his gun.
The ambulance driver saw him and accelerated.
The vehicle crashed through the police barricade.
“Dymond!” I screamed.
Agent Harris ran toward his car.
I followed.
He didn’t stop me.
We jumped inside while the ambulance sped toward Louisville.
“Who took her?” I asked.
Harris started the engine.
“The Circle.”
“We dissolved it.”
“You dissolved the council.”
He drove through the opening in the barricade.
“The Circle still has thousands of people.”
“Where are they taking her?”
“To the one person who can rebuild it.”
“Monica is in custody.”
“I’m not talking about Monica.”
He handed me a photograph.
A woman stood outside my beauty supply store holding Jayce’s hand.
She had been the person who took the first photograph through the window.
Not Nesha.
Not Kendrick.
A second photographer had been watching from across the street.
I looked closer at the woman’s face.
She had my eyes.
My nose.
My mother’s smile.
“Who is she?”
Agent Harris pressed the gas and followed the ambulance.
“Karen Carter’s youngest sister.”
“My aunt?”
“The daughter nobody told you existed.”
I turned the photograph over.
A name was written on the back.
SERENA CARTER
Beneath it were five words.
THE REAL KEY TO THE EMPIRE.