Chapter 14 - Shattered Chains Just past midnight, the security lights at Rutherford Manor flickered-then died. 1 Inside, a single red emergency bulb glowed faintly in the east corridor. Mason sat alone at the grand piano, playing a disjointed nocturne. Each note cracked like glass under pressure. Upstairs, Lina Hart slipped the letter opener into her boot and paced. She heard it before she saw it: the soft crunch of gravel. A shadow passed beneath her window. Then a whisper at the locked door. *Tap. Tap. Tap.* Three quick knocks. Lina moved fast. She slid open the vanity drawer, grabbed the matchbook she'd hidden earlier, and wedged it into the door hinge-silent sabotage. When the knob clicked open, she stood tall. Not afraid. Ready. Downstairs, Bruce Chen moved like liquid shadow, flanked by his cousin Kai, dressed in tactical black. The perimeter alarm was down, the backup system disabled within seconds. "East wing," Bruce whispered. "Second floor. End room." Kai nodded and slipped off, clearing the hallway like muscle memory. Bruce crept past the gallery wall of family portraits. He paused briefly at one of Mason and Caroline at their engagement party-her eyes bright, his gaze elsewhere. He clenched his jaw. 10:14 115 < 14 Chapter 14 - Shattered Chains Not anymore. - Mason looked up as the power fully cut. The piano stopped mid-chord. He stood. "Caroline?" he called into the dark. No answer. His gut twisted. Upstairs, a door creaked open. Then footsteps-hers, running. "Caroline!" He bounded up the marble staircase, rage and fear blending into something combustible. Lina darted down the hallway, breath sharp but steady. Behind her, Mason's footsteps thundered. "You're not leaving!" he shouted. "Not like this!" She didn't reply. She reached the top of the grand staircase and halted. Mason stood just feet away, chest heaving. "I loved you," he rasped. "You owned me," she shot back. "No-I saved you!" "You *chose* Iris" 70:15 The 2/5 < 14 Chapter 14 - Shattered Chains He flinched. Lina stepped down one stair. "And when I survived? You didn't look. You moved on. And now that I've built a life without you, *now* you want it back?" He reached for her arm again-just like before. But this time, Bruce appeared behind him like a strike of thunder. "Let her go." Mason spun. "You. You've been poisoning her against me." Bruce's voice was ice. "She doesn't need me to poison anything. Your choices did that for you." "She was mine-" "No." Lina said. "I was never* yours." Mason lunged. Bruce moved first. A sharp pivot, a clean restraint hold-one arm across Mason's chest, one behind his back. Mason gasped as his knees hit the floor. Lina stepped past them. She unlocked the front doors just as floodlights roared back to life. Police sirens. Red and blue lit the hedges like fire. Officers rushed in, weapons drawn. "Hands in the air!" someone shouted. Bruce raised both hands calmly. "Suspect subdued. Room secure." They pulled Mason to his feet, handcuffing him. He didn't struggle. Just looked at Lina with bloodshot eyes. "I would've given you everything," he muttered. TO 15 3/5 < 14 Chapter 14 - Shattered Chains "You had everything," she replied. "And you crushed it." As Mason was led out under a hail of camera flashes, reporters screamed questions: >"Is it true she faked her death?" > "Miss Hart, did Mason Rutherford kidnap you?" > "Are you pressing charges?" Lina said nothing. Bruce draped his jacket over her shoulders. The gesture felt like armor. Not ownership. And that made all the difference. Inside, the crystal chandeliers still flickered with backup power. The ghosts of a dynasty clung to every wall. But Lina Hart didn't look back. She walked out into the night air, lungs expanding like sails in open water. A free woman. A fierce woman. No longer mourning the girl who once begged to be loved. Somewhere far behind her, Iris's memory finally sighed and let go. And Lina stepped forward-into a future she chose, On her own terms. 10:76