Chapter 13 - Face to Face in the FoyerMark didn't hesitate. With a primal roar of fury, he grabbed the edges of the jammed wooden panel and threw his weight upward, smashing the remaining hinge mechanisms until the heavy square of flooring broke completely free, flipping over onto the living room carpet.
Light flooded down into the vault.
Mark vaulted out of the opening first, fists clenched, ready for a fight. I followed right behind him, my hand gripping the heavy metal flashlight like a club.
Standing in the center of the living room were Vanessa and a tall, silver-haired man in a tailored dark suit—Arthur Vance, Vanessa’s uncle and the former estate liquidation director.
Arthur froze, his hand still hovering over the disabled keypad on the wall, while Vanessa stumbled backward, her face draining of all remaining color as she looked at us rising out of the hidden floor.
“Mark... Thomas...” Vanessa stammered, her hands trembling as she clutched her designer handbag like a shield. “You... you weren't supposed to be down there.”
“You poisoned her,” Mark said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a terrifying, deadly resonance that made Arthur take a step back. “All those medical files in the vault... the private physicians, the altered test results. You and your uncle systematically poisoned Sarah to get your hands on this estate, didn't you?”
Arthur Vance’s expression hardened from panic into cold, calculating arrogance. He dropped his hand, adjusted his tie, and scoffed.
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“You have zero legal proof, Mark,” Arthur sneered. “A few old medical receipts and some paranoid ramblings in a basement don't hold up in a court of law. The statute of limitations on estate oversight has passed, and the title transfer is—”
Before Arthur could finish his sentence, the front door swung wide open again.
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