Chapter 25 - THE MIDNIGHT DRIVE TO THE ESTATE
The rain began to pelt down against the windshield of Thomas’s luxury sedan as they sped down the darkened highway leading away from the city. The digital dashboard clock glowed 1:15 AM. Inside the car, the atmosphere was thick with tension and recrimination. Victoria kept dabbing at her eyes with a designer tissue, while Richard stared blankly out the window at the blurred lights of the passing suburbs.
"Drive faster, Thomas!" Victoria urged, her voice trembling. "If Julian reaches the estate before us, he'll manipulate Mother into signing over the entire estate trust to his offshore accounts. We'll be penniless!"
"I'm driving as fast as the road allows!" Thomas snapped back, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. "You think I want to sit in traffic while our entire empire collapses? Just shut up and let me concentrate!"
As they turned off the main highway onto the private, winding access road leading up to the Vance estate, Thomas noticed something strange. The automated perimeter security lights, which usually bathed the entire mile-long driveway in a welcoming amber glow, were completely dead. The iron gates stood wide open, swinging slightly in the cold wind, their heavy locks shattered as if rammed by a heavy vehicle.
"That's impossible," Richard said, leaning forward from the backseat. "Mother’s security system is military-grade. The gates never stay open unless..."
"Unless someone breached them," Thomas finished, his stomach dropping into a bottomless abyss. He slammed his foot on the accelerator, roaring up the winding gravel driveway toward the grand mansion.
As they crested the final hill, the sprawling mansion came into view. To their absolute horror, parked right in front of the grand mahogany double doors was a dusty, unmarked black SUV with its doors hanging wide open. And standing on the front porch, illuminated only by the flashing red and blue strobe lights of a newly arrived private security unit, were two armed guards holding a struggling, handcuffed figure in a heavy trench coat.
It was Julian Vance.
Thomas slammed on the brakes, throwing the car into park before the tires had even finished sliding on the wet gravel. All three siblings threw their doors open and bolted out into the freezing rain, running frantically toward the porch.
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"Uncle Julian!" Victoria screamed, pushing past a security guard. "What have you done?! Where is our mother?!"
Julian spat a mouthful of blood onto the wet stone steps, his eyes wild and furious as he glared at the grand front doors of the mansion. He laughed—a harsh, rasping sound that cut through the pouring rain. "Too late, my dear niece and nephews! You treated her like a ghost, and now you're going to watch her bury you all alive!"
