Katherine’s screaming, already running.
"Don’t hurt him! I’m coming!"
We’re racing back through the tunnel, but not fast enough.
Can’t reach in ti.
Jackson and his Marines were behind us, but the tunnel is narrow, and we’re in a single file. Every second was an eternity.
"Faster!" Katherine gasps. She’s pulling ahead of , driven by pure terror.
"Thirty seconds," Diane’s voice crackles through my phone. She’s streaming this, wanting us to watch. "Or your brother’s brains decorate Susan’s lovely wallpaper."
"Diane, please! Take , not him!" Katherine’s sobbing now. Running and desperate. "He’s innocent! He’s never done anything to you!"
"Twenty seconds."
I can see Elliot’s face on my phone screen as we run. He’s terrified but trying to stay calm. That analytical mind was working even now, probably calculating survival odds.
Susan and Rose are frozen behind him, helpless.
"Elliot, listen to ," Katherine shouts at her phone. "Whatever happens, I love you. You’re the best brother anyone could ask for."
"Katherine-" Elliot’s voice cracks. "Don’t let her-"
"Ten seconds."
We burst out of the tunnel and into the estate’s basent, taking the stairs three at a ti.
Katherine’s running for the safe room. I’m right behind her, but she’s faster. Fueled by desperation.
"STOP, I’m here! Don’t hurt him!"
She reaches the door and throws it open so hard it slams against the wall.
Diane was standing there with her gun pressed to Elliot’s temple. Smiling like this was Christmas morning.
"Hello, Katherine. So nice of you to join us."
"Katherine, she says she’s going to kill us all anyway," Elliot says. His voice was remarkably steady, given the circumstances. "Statistically, compliance has a zero percent survival rate based on her pattern."
Despite everything, Diane laughs. "Smart boy. Yes, I am." Her smile widens. "But Katherine gets to watch, and she gets to know it’s her fault. That everyone she loves died because of her choices."
Katherine’s weapon was drawn, but her hand trembled. She can’t shoot because it’s too close to Elliot. One wrong move and he’s dead.
"Let him go," Katherine says, her voice breaking. "Please. I’ll do anything."
"Anything?" Diane tilts her head, considering. "That’s quite an offer. What could you possibly give that I don’t already have?"
"My life. Take my life, but please, let him go."
"Katherine, no!" Susan speaks for the first ti. "You can’t-"
"Quiet," Diane snaps. Then she turned to Katherine: "Fine. You want to save him? Trade places. You, for him. Your life for his."
"Done." She said it imdiately without hesitation.
"Katherine, no!" I was in the doorway now, my weapon raised, but I was having the sa problem: I couldn’t shoot without risking Elliot. Diane’s positioned herself perfectly, using him as a shield.
Katherine’s already moving, setting down her weapon carefully with her hands raised and walking toward Diane.
"Take and let Elliot go."
Diane’s smiling wider, this was exactly what she wanted all along.
"Katherine, don’t-" I start.
"Tony, it’s okay." She looks at over her shoulder. Her eyes were full of love, fear, and determination. "Save Elliot, that’s all that matters. Promise that."
"No. We don’t trade, we fight-"
"There’s no ti to fight!" Her voice breaks completely. "She’ll kill him! You know she will, and I can’t... I can’t lose him, Tony. I can’t."
Diane’s watching this exchange, Savoring every mont of our anguish.
"Such devotion. Charles would have loved this." She sounded almost wistful. "The self-sacrifice, the noble gesture. All so beautifully useless, of course. I’m killing you all anyway."
"Then why the trade?" I demand, stalling, and trying to think of an angle. Any angle. "What’s the point if you’re planning murder regardless?"
"Because I want Katherine to know she chose wrong. That her sacrifice ans nothing and that everyone dies regardless of her choices." Diane’s eyes gleam with malice. "I want her last thoughts to be regret, failure, and the knowledge that she couldn’t save anyone. Not her clients, not her brother, and not even herself."
She gestures with her free hand, but the gun never wavers from Elliot’s head. "Katherine, co here. Slowly. Any sudden movents and I paint the walls with his brain matter."
Katherine’s walking with each step asured, her hands raised shoulder-height.
I’m calculating - angles, trajectories, distance... anything.
But Diane was too close to Elliot, one wrong move and he dies.
Jackson’s beside now, his two Marines flanking. All of us have clear shots at Diane.
But none of us can take it.
"Stand down," I mutter to them. "We can’t risk it."
Katherine reaches Diane and stands directly beside her now.
"Let him go," Katherine says quietly. "We had a deal."
"In a mont, I want to savor this." Diane pulls Katherine closer with her free arm, her gun now pressed against Katherine’s temple instead of Elliot’s. "There. Now I have what I want. The great Katherine Blaire. The woman who thought she could save everyone. The hero who convinced herself that love and determination could overco anything."
She shoves Elliot toward hard, and he stumbles.
"Take him and get out. All of you."
I caught Elliot and pulled him protectively behind .
"Katherine-" My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears.
"Go," she says, her voice steady despite the gun to her head and the tears streaming down her face. "Get everyone out. That’s an order, Tony."
"I’m not leaving you-"
"Yes, you are." More tears now. "Because if you don’t, she kills Elliot anyway. Then Susan, Rose and then everyone. At least this way, they live. Soone lives."
"Katherine, I can’t-"
"I love you, Tony." She’s morizing my face. "Rember that. No matter what happens. No matter what you see or hear. I love you, and I’ve always loved you."
Diane’s smiling triumphantly. "How touching. True love conquers all except bullets, and bullets tend to win in my world." She raises her voice. "Now get out. You have thirty seconds before I start shooting anyway. Katherine first, then I hunt down the rest."
I’m torn. Every instinct screaming to stay, to fight, to save her.
But Elliot’s trembling behind , Susan and Rose are helpless, and Jackson and his Marines are waiting for orders.
If I stay, we all die.
If I leave, maybe Katherine lives long enough for to find another way. To get FBI tactical. To-
"GO!" Katherine’s screaming now in full volu. "SAVE THEM! PLEASE! That’s all I’m asking, just save them!"
I grab Elliot’s arm and start backing toward the door.
Katherine’s eyes lock on mine, saying goodbye without words.
The door closes between us.
I’m in the hallway with Elliot beside - safe.
And Katherine’s inside. With Diane and a gun to her head.
"We have to go back," Elliot says imdiately. His voice was shaking but determined. "We have to save her, she’s my sister. The only family I have, we can’t leave her."
"We will save her," I promise. "But first, we get you sowhere secure, then we co back with a plan."
Through the door, I hear Diane’s voice. It’s muffled but clear enough.
"Now, Katherine. Let’s discuss your punishnt for ruining Charles Sterling’s legacy. For destroying everything he built and for killing the man I loved."
Katherine’s response is too quiet to hear.
Then Diane again, "This is going to hurt a lot. I’m going to make sure you feel every-"
A gunshot echoes through the estate. It was loud, final, and devastating.
Then silence.
Elliot’s scream tears through the hallway.
And I’m already moving back toward that door.
Toward Katherine.
Toward whatever horror awaits inside.
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