Chapter 41
[Chapter 41: The Dead Lock]
The smoke from Patricia’s revolver curled lazily into the cold air of the hangar. Outside, the sirens of the federal agents were muted by the thick walls, but inside, the silence between mother and son was absolute.
Noah, sensing the mortal danger, stopped crying and buried his face deeper into Ethan’s neck. Ethan stood up slowly, keeping his body positioned as a human shield between Patricia’s gun and the boy—his half-brother.
“Put the gun down, Mom,” Ethan said, his voice dropping into a deadly, guttural register. “The FBI is right outside. You won't walk out of here alive.”
“I’m already dead, Ethan,” Patricia whispered, her eyes wide, glassy, and completely unblinking. The immaculate veneer she had wore for decades was entirely gone. She was a ghost driven by pure, obsessive vengeance. “Richard took my youth, my dignity, and my money. And that girl took my position. But they’re dead now. Burned into the side of a mountain. This boy is all that’s left of the Miller fortune. He belongs to me.”
“He belongs to no one,” Ethan spat, his mind racing. He looked at the birth certificate in his hand, then at the smoking barrel of the gun. “He’s a child. And you're insane.”
“I’m his mother’s legal mother-in-law, and his father’s legal wife,” Patricia smiled, a sickening, triumphant twist of her lips. “On paper, with both of them dead, I am his natural guardian. You have no legal right to him, Ethan. You aren't his father. You aren't even his legal guardian anymore. You're just a stranger holding my son.”
She raised the revolver, aligning the iron sights directly with Ethan’s forehead.
Before she could pull the trigger, the side door of the hangar exploded inward. Tactical officers flooded the room, their red laser sights painting Patricia’s chest in an instant.
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“Drop the weapon! Drop it now!”
Patricia looked at the lasers, then at Ethan. With a chilling grin, she didn't fire. She dropped the gun onto the concrete, raised her hands, and began to laugh. A high, echoing laugh that filled the cavernous hangar as the officers tackled her to the ground.
