I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 40
Joshua returned to the ballroom without alarming the guests. He informed the family privately that Melody had escaped and might be heading toward the gala. Raina resisted the instinct to let fear erase the night’s progress.
Security locked service entrances and checked every employee. Theo urged Raina to move to a protected suite, but she asked whether a confirmed threat existed inside the hotel. When Joshua said no, she chose to remain near the controlled ballroom rather than disappear into an isolated room.
Luke examined the message left in the transport vehicle. The phrase about a final stage echoed language from Melody’s encrypted drafts, but the handwriting did not match. Someone might have freed her and planted the warning to redirect security.
Traffic cameras found the medical van abandoned near the river. Melody’s restraints lay inside beside a second set of footprints. She had received help, willingly or otherwise.
Coco contacted Raina through the prosecutor supervising her cooperation. Melody had once visited her in custody, posing as a legal assistant. She offered to erase Coco’s charges if Coco helped persuade Raina to accept the altered trust.
Coco refused because she no longer trusted promises built on someone else’s ruin. Before leaving, Melody mentioned a “celebration beneath the city” where the Lincoln legacy would be rewritten.
Noah recognized the reference. Beneath the Grand Brookfield ran an old service tunnel connecting the hotel to Lincoln Group’s original headquarters. The sealed passage had once transported records between buildings.
Joshua led officers to the tunnel entrance while Raina monitored from the security room. Camera feeds showed movement near the archive vault below the ballroom. Melody was attempting to reach records preserved after her arrest.
The vault held more than succession papers. It contained original patents and ownership certificates underpinning major Lincoln assets. Destroying them would create years of litigation, though digital copies would prevent total loss.
A live feed activated on the security monitor. Melody appeared inside the vault with gasoline at her feet. Beside her stood Donald Carlisle, bruised and handcuffed, apparently taken during transport from custody.
Melody claimed Carlisle had confessed to financing the switch and deserved to burn with the records. Carlisle shouted that she arranged his escape only to use him as the final villain. Their alliance had never been stable enough to survive failure.
Raina spoke through the vault intercom. She told Melody that killing Carlisle would not make her a protector. It would only create another crime committed in Raina’s name without her consent.
Melody demanded that Raina come below alone. Joshua refused, but Raina proposed a controlled approach while officers entered through a second access corridor. She would remain behind reinforced glass and keep Melody focused on her.
In the tunnel, damp stone amplified every step. Theo walked beside Raina until the final security door, where operational rules required him to stop. He pressed the star charm into her palm and promised to be there when she returned.
Raina faced Melody through the glass. She acknowledged that Melody had preserved evidence and sometimes protected her, but refused to rename coercion as love. Good actions did not purchase ownership of another person.
Melody’s certainty wavered. Carlisle used the moment to knock the fuel container away. It struck the floor, and Melody reached for the igniter as Joshua’s team entered behind her.
Officers restrained both prisoners before flame touched the gasoline. Carlisle returned to custody, and Melody’s escape ended without the destruction she had designed as her final lesson.
Raina emerged from the tunnel to find her family waiting. No one praised her for being fearless; they knew she had been afraid. Noah thanked her for trusting them to do their part while she did hers.
The gala had nearly ended when Raina and Theo stepped onto the quiet hotel terrace. City lights stretched beneath them, and for a few minutes neither family history nor corporate danger demanded an answer.
Theo took out a small ring box but did not open it. He told Raina it would remain closed until she chose the moment, whether that took days or years. She placed her hand over his and smiled—just as a call arrived confirming that someone had already filed a marriage certificate bearing both their forged signatures.