Chapter 21 - JONATHAN’S FINAL VOICE
Rebecca created the distraction.
She threw a stone through a greenhouse window.
Agents turned.
Elise ran with June.
They entered Northbridge through the basement.
Monica followed.
The sealed room Thomas mentioned was part of the original servants’ wing, damaged by fire forty years earlier.
Elise remembered Jonathan forbidding contractors from renovating it.
At the time, she thought it was sentimental.
Now she understood.
They broke through the old door.
Inside stood a burned desk.
A metal safe.
June pointed.
“There.”
A violin case.
Jonathan’s old violin.
Inside the lining was letter six.
But footsteps approached.
Monica.
Elise locked the door.
Then inserted Thomas’s memory card into an old laptop.
One video file.
Jonathan appeared.
Bruised.
Bleeding.
Alive.
Elise covered her mouth.
June whispered, “Daddy.”
Jonathan looked directly at the camera.
“If Elise sees this, then Thomas kept his promise.”
He coughed.
“I don’t have long.”
Elise began crying silently.
“Monica Shaw ordered the attack on my vehicle. I discovered she has controlled Helena for more than fifteen years.”
Jonathan held up a notebook.
“The ledger exists. Michael Bennett hid it where neither Helena nor Monica could retrieve it.”
Jonathan smiled faintly.
“Elise will understand the seventh letter.”
He looked away from the camera for a moment.
Then back.
“Elise, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you with the truth.”
She touched the screen.
“You were always stronger than I was.”
June began sobbing.
Jonathan continued.
“Tell June that every song she plays badly is still my favorite song.”
June laughed through tears.
Then Jonathan’s expression changed.
“One final thing.”
Elise leaned closer.
“If Monica is watching this, she needs to know something.”
Jonathan smiled.
“The ledger was never the real evidence.”
The video ended.
Elise stared.
“What does that mean?”
A violent crash struck the door.
Monica.
“Elise!”
Another crash.
Letter six contained only a map.
Beneath Northbridge.
June looked at it.
“Tunnels.”
The old estate had been built during Prohibition.
Elise remembered stories about wine smugglers.
They entered a hidden stairwell behind the burned desk.
Seconds later, Monica broke into the room.
Elise and June descended underground.
The tunnel smelled of dirt and stone.
At the end was an iron door.
Elise opened it.
Inside sat dozens of archive boxes.
Bank records.
Contracts.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Enough evidence to destroy careers across three states.
But no ledger.
Then June noticed a music stand.
One final envelope rested on it.
Letter seven.
Elise opened it.
There was only one sentence.
The truth is hidden inside the lie everyone believed.
Monica entered the chamber.
Gun raised.
“Give it to me.”
Elise looked at the evidence surrounding them.
“What lie?”
Monica smiled.
“That Jonathan died alone.”
Then another voice came from the shadows.
“He didn’t.”
Sheriff Daniel Reeves stepped forward.
Alive.
Free.
And beside him stood Samuel Cross.
Daniel aimed his weapon at Monica.
“It’s over.”
Monica smiled.
“No.”
Then she pressed a button.
May you like
Explosions shook the tunnel.
The ceiling began collapsing.
