Chapter 25
Carrie lay flat on the cold, hard floor of her bedroom, staring blankly at the ceiling. The room was pitch-black and suffocatingly quiet. She barely had the energy to sit up, let alone stand. Her stomach gnawed at her with a hollow, aching hunger.
Suddenly, the heavy lock on the door clicked open.
The door creaked inward, spilling a sliver of hallway light into the dark room. Too weak to even push herself up, Carrie simply turned her head, squinting against the light.
A maid stood in the doorway, her face unreadable.
“The boss has released you. He wants to see you downstairs.”
Before Carrie could even process the words, a sob echoed in the hallway. Her mother, Helen, rushed into the room and dropped to her knees beside her.
“Oh, my baby. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you,” Helen cried, her tears falling onto Carrie’s pale cheeks.
She gently helped Carrie to her feet, supporting her trembling, weakened body as they slowly made their way toward the grand staircase.
As they descended, Carrie croaked out a question.
“What about Christopher?”
Helen had been keeping her updated through whispered conversations under the door.
“He’s downstairs. He was released an hour ago.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Carrie saw him.
Her father, Richard, sat rigidly at one end of the massive leather sofa, while Christopher sat at the opposite end, facing him. Christopher’s face was deathly pale, his lip split, and his posture slumped. Faint bruises covered his body. He had clearly been beaten.
Carrie slowly walked over and collapsed onto the sofa beside her mother, wincing at the ache in her bones.
Richard looked at them without a trace of pity. His eyes were cold, calculating, and utterly ruthless.
“I am releasing you both because the company needs its heirs looking presentable, and the situation has stabilized,” Richard said, his voice dripping with icy authority. “But hear me very clearly. This is my final warning. Your allowances are cut in half. If you cause even a fraction of the trouble you did before, I won’t just lock you in your rooms. I will cut you off completely. Do not test me.”
He stood up, adjusted his cuffs, and walked out of the room without looking back.
Carrie watched him leave, hot tears of humiliation and rage streaming down her face. Her hands clenched into tight fists in her lap.
Why would he do this to his own daughter? she thought bitterly. He had never treated us like disposable trash before.
Christopher didn’t say a word. He simply stood up, his eyes dead and hollow, and dragged himself back up the stairs to his room.
The next two weeks were a blur of recovery. Carrie and Christopher remained confined to their rooms in the mansion, slowly regaining their strength. Helen brought in a private doctor who visited daily to check their vitamin levels and treat their battered bodies.
By the end of the second week, Carrie had finally regained her energy. She could move around on her own without feeling dizzy.
Bored out of her mind and suffocating in her room, she decided to check on her brother.
As she passed her father’s study, she noticed that the door was cracked open just an inch. She paused, about to walk past, when Richard’s furious voice echoed from inside.
“It’s so hard for you idiots to do one simple job?!” Richard roared. “How the hell did the police raid the warehouse?!”
“We don’t know, sir,” a deep, unfamiliar voice replied nervously. “This has never happened before. We’ll be more careful. The police don’t know that the Vale family is the one operating the shadow company, but we need to lay low for a while.”
Carrie froze in the hallway.
Shadow company? Police raid?
She didn’t recognize the men’s voices. She filed the information away in her sharp mind, brushing off her confusion for the moment, and continued down the hall to Christopher’s room.
She knocked softly.
“Come in,” Christopher called out in an annoyed voice.
Carrie pushed the door open. Christopher was slouched in his gaming chair, aggressively clicking his mouse as he played a game on his PC, completely absorbed in it.
“What do you want?” he asked without taking his eyes off the screen.
“You never came to check on me, so I decided to check up on you,” she replied, walking inside.
“Now that you’ve seen me, I’m doing fine. You can leave.”
Carrie ignored him. She walked over to his bed and sat down, crossing her arms.
“Don’t you find this whole situation suspicious?” she asked.
“Suspicious of what?” he muttered, finally pausing his game.
“We were both locked up and beaten around the exact same time. It feels like someone targeted us specifically.”
“People are always targeting us, Carrie. We’re Vales,” Christopher said dismissively.
“No. This is different.” Carrie stared at him, her eyes serious. “And I’m going to find out who it is.”
Christopher let out a dry, mocking laugh.
“Do you think you’re in a movie or something?”
She rolled her eyes, lay back on his bed, and stared at the ceiling. Her mind raced back to the conversation she had just overheard.
“Does Dad have another company?” she blurted out suddenly.
Christopher’s hands froze on his controller.
“What?”
She sat up and looked at him intently.
“I saw some strange men in his office earlier. They were talking about a company we run that the police don’t know about. Something about a warehouse raid.”
“You must have heard wrong,” Christopher said, trying to brush it off.
“No, I know exactly what I heard.”
Christopher sighed and rubbed his temples.
“Okay, let’s say you heard right. What do you plan to do about it?”
Carrie stood up and began pacing around the room, her mind working furiously. Christopher’s eyes followed her nervously.
“What are you thinking of? Please tell me it’s not something crazy.”
She stopped pacing and gave him a wide, wicked smile.
“It’s not crazy. Just meet me in front of Dad’s office at 1:00 a.m.”
Christopher raised his eyebrows.
“And you just said it wasn’t crazy.”
1:00 A.M.
Christopher, dressed entirely in black, crept carefully down the dark hallway. He was trying to be as quiet as a ghost when his shoulder bumped into something soft.
“Hey!” he squeaked, jumping back.
He clicked on the small flashlight in his hand and shone it at the figure.
“Carrie, you scared me to death,” he whispered, clutching his chest.
She gave him a sharp side-eye.
“What are you scared of? And what are you wearing?”
She pulled a heavy ring of brass keys from her pocket.
“You... how did you get those?” he gasped.
“I stole them from the head maid’s key ring,” she said nonchalantly.
“Wow. Are you really my sister?”
“Shut up and help me.”
She slid the correct key into the lock.
Click.
The office door swung open silently.
They slipped inside and turned on a small, dim desk lamp.
“Let’s check for anything that doesn’t belong to the main Vale Corporation,” Carrie whispered. “And be careful not to scatter anything. We can’t leave a trace.”
Christopher nodded.
For twenty minutes, they meticulously searched the files, desk, and cabinets. They found nothing but standard corporate documents.
“I told you, you misheard him,” Christopher whispered, growing frustrated.
Carrie didn’t answer. Her eyes were locked on the dark corner of the room, partially hidden behind a heavy curtain.
She walked over and pulled the curtain back.
Sitting on a small pedestal was an old, heavy-duty steel safe. It was designed to blend into the shadows.
“What could the PIN be?” she asked, glancing back at her brother.
“How do you expect me to know?” he sighed.
He thought for a moment.
“Try Grandma’s birthday. Dad loved his mother more than anything.”
Carrie typed in the date.
BEEP.
ERROR.
“It declined,” she whispered.
“When did Grandma die?” Christopher suggested.
Carrie typed in the date of her grandmother’s passing.
BEEP.
CLICK.
The heavy metal door swung open.
“It opened!” she whispered excitedly, a triumphant gleam in her eyes.
She carefully reached inside and pulled out a thick stack of manila folders. She flipped them open under the dim light.
They had nothing to do with the main Vale Corporation. Instead, they contained a ledger for a shadow manufacturing plant.
A knowing, dangerous smirk spread across Carrie’s face.
“I told you I knew what I heard.”
Christopher leaned over her shoulder, his eyes widening as he read the documents.
“They’re selling fake, counterfeit products under our own brand name? That’s insane! If he gets caught, he’ll go to prison for decades.”
He looked at his sister.
“Why are you smiling like that, Carrie? You’re scaring me.”
“Do you know what we can do with this?” she asked, her voice dropping to a thrilling whisper.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Leverage,” Carrie said, her eyes flashing with dark ambition. “We can do whatever we want. Dad won’t ever have to threaten us or lock us up again. We hold the keys to his freedom. If he tries to control us, we hand this over to the police.”
“I don’t know, Carrie. Blackmailing Dad? That doesn’t seem like it will work. He’ll kill us.”
“Don’t be such a baby. How about we try it out today?”
“Today? Are you out of your mind?!”
“No, I’m not. And aren’t you tired of staying inside all day like a prisoner?” she challenged, stepping closer. “Take pictures of these files with your phone, and just follow my lead.”
A proud, ruthless smile crept across Carrie’s face.
She wasn’t just going to survive in the Vale family.
She was going to rule it.