{"id":11059,"date":"2026-09-15T12:41:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11059"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:41:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:41:31","slug":"part-16-victor-received-the-list-of-everyone-who-could-destroy-everhart-but-the-first-name-he-removed-revealed-bernard-had-misunderstood-his-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11059","title":{"rendered":"PART 16 \u2013 Victor Received the List of Everyone Who Could Destroy Everhart, but the First Name He Removed Revealed Bernard Had Misunderstood His Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ortiz evacuated the hospice within minutes.<\/p>\n<p>No arguments.<\/p>\n<p>No sentimental pauses.<\/p>\n<p>We were divided among armored vehicles and moved to separate locations.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, my family scattered because someone ordered us to survive rather than hide.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard went into federal custody under medical guard.<\/p>\n<p>Derek remained isolated elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The man arrested as Victor was still being held, but nobody trusted that identity anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus Vale remained hospitalized.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Kline\u2019s active-threat file had gone to an external address nobody could immediately trace.<\/p>\n<p>And somewhere, the person using Victor\u2019s network had a clean list of everyone who mattered.<\/p>\n<p>At the new secure facility, Ortiz put a printed copy on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Eight names.<\/p>\n<p>Benjamin Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Lena Ortiz.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel Reed.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>Edward Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>Claire Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBernard classified himself separately,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he assumed Victor needed him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother laughed without humor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat may be his last mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe protect everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor has people inside federal systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re operating outside ordinary channels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat phrase stopped reassuring me months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My father studied the names.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe won\u2019t attack all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy not?\u201d Harris asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause killing eight protected people creates attention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019ll remove the person whose death collapses the others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone looked toward me.<\/p>\n<p>I shook my head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot necessarily me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother said, \u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. Stop assuming I\u2019m the center because Bernard did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the list again.<\/p>\n<p>Everhart depended on information.<\/p>\n<p>Victor\u2019s power came from making people react predictably.<\/p>\n<p>Whose death would produce maximum confusion?<\/p>\n<p>Not mine.<\/p>\n<p>Not Ortiz\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Not Harris\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSamuel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re the only person connecting Riverdale to the old network without being family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re an independent witness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd if Samuel dies,\u201d I continued, \u201cMason becomes harder to investigate. Riverdale becomes easier to dismiss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel gave a thin smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz immediately doubled his protection.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing happened.<\/p>\n<p>Six hours.<\/p>\n<p>Then twelve.<\/p>\n<p>At midnight, an alert arrived.<\/p>\n<p>A body had been found in Samuel\u2019s assigned safe apartment.<\/p>\n<p>Harris went white.<\/p>\n<p>But Samuel was sitting beside us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz received the identification.<\/p>\n<p>Lieutenant Mason.<\/p>\n<p>Harris stared.<\/p>\n<p>Mason had been found dead in Samuel\u2019s room carrying Samuel\u2019s temporary identification.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had lured him there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy was Mason using Samuel\u2019s ID?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Harris shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe he was trying to reach Samuel without being logged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOr pretending to be him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My father said, \u201cVictor removed Mason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMason wasn\u2019t on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That mattered.<\/p>\n<p>Victor was not following Bernard\u2019s active-threat list.<\/p>\n<p>He was using it for something else.<\/p>\n<p>Harris sat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMason was compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know that,\u201d Ortiz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRiverdale files disappeared under him. Claire\u2019s evidence disappeared under him. Her safe-house location leaked after he was notified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo why kill his own asset?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the asset became identifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor cleans exposed connections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The active-threat list had not told him whom to kill.<\/p>\n<p>It told him which compromised assets were now dangerous to keep.<\/p>\n<p>If Harris was listed, remove whoever could implicate Harris.<\/p>\n<p>If Samuel was listed, remove whoever knew what Samuel had discovered.<\/p>\n<p>Victor was pruning his network.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz ordered analysts to map each name against known Everhart contacts.<\/p>\n<p>The pattern emerged quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Harris connected to Mason.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel connected to an old Everhart accountant still living under protection.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret connected to Marcus Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine connected to three former council associates.<\/p>\n<p>Edward connected to Dr. Kline and several shell-company managers.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie connected to Derek.<\/p>\n<p>Me?<\/p>\n<p>The list returned dozens.<\/p>\n<p>My entire adult life had become an Everhart intersection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to warn all of them,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz nodded.<\/p>\n<p>Agents started calling.<\/p>\n<p>The first warning came too late.<\/p>\n<p>The old accountant linked to Samuel was found unconscious from an apparent overdose.<\/p>\n<p>Alive.<\/p>\n<p>Barely.<\/p>\n<p>The second target disappeared before agents arrived.<\/p>\n<p>A former Everhart attorney connected to my mother.<\/p>\n<p>The third was Marcus Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Higgins\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>He vanished from his hospital room.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret heard the news in another secure room.<\/p>\n<p>She called me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarcus didn\u2019t leave voluntarily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe called me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTen minutes before he disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe apologized.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor working with Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret\u2019s voice broke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe finally learned what happened to his father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Victor tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. Bernard did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard had been manipulating Marcus too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere would he go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarcus spent his life believing Daniel abandoned us. If he learned Victor killed him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe might go after Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That made Marcus both victim and threat.<\/p>\n<p>I told Ortiz.<\/p>\n<p>She ordered a search.<\/p>\n<p>At 3:14 in the morning, Derek requested to speak to me.<\/p>\n<p>I refused.<\/p>\n<p>He asked again.<\/p>\n<p>I refused again.<\/p>\n<p>Then he sent a message through his attorney.<\/p>\n<p>I KNOW WHO VICTOR IS.<\/p>\n<p>That got my attention.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz arranged a secure video interview.<\/p>\n<p>Derek appeared in prison clothing.<\/p>\n<p>No expensive suit.<\/p>\n<p>No controlled lighting.<\/p>\n<p>Still Derek.<\/p>\n<p>He looked tired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou took your time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo hello?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He smiled faintly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou keep saying that like you deserve credit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The smile vanished.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor isn\u2019t a person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know the identity rotates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. You know people use the name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe role rotates automatically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExplain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverhart has succession rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother moved closer to the monitor but stayed outside Derek\u2019s view.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen one administrator is compromised, another takes operational control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho chooses?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe archive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot literally. A protocol selects from approved custodians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccess. Exposure. Continuity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A governance system.<\/p>\n<p>My mother whispered, \u201cBernard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stepped into view.<\/p>\n<p>Derek\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElaine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBernard maintained the medical records and identity-status updates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe could manipulate succession.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo who is Victor now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Derek looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat depends on who Bernard marked active before his arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cName.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know how to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProtection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re in federal custody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverhart created federal identities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen give us the method.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTransfer me first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo more bargains.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His expression hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen people die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople already did because everyone kept trading information instead of exposing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou still think exposure fixes this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. I think secrecy feeds it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>Derek did too.<\/p>\n<p>I continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell us or don\u2019t. But you get nothing from me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For several seconds, he said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then he laughed softly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother finally trained someone better than herself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine did not react.<\/p>\n<p>Derek leaned toward the camera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe administrator code is embedded in death records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery senior Everhart member has a status marker. When one dies or is compromised, the system recalculates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do we access it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBernard\u2019s medical branch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz had seized it.<\/p>\n<p>Technicians isolated the dataset.<\/p>\n<p>Derek gave them the query format.<\/p>\n<p>One by one, status entries appeared.<\/p>\n<p>Charles Hart \u2014 deceased.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Reed \u2014 deceased.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Bennett \u2014 deceased.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Vale \u2014 deceased.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine Morgan \u2014 inactive.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret Vale \u2014 inactive.<\/p>\n<p>Edward Morgan \u2014 compromised.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard Kline \u2014 compromised.<\/p>\n<p>Victor Sloane \u2014 compromised.<\/p>\n<p>Then:<\/p>\n<p>ADMINISTRATOR SUCCESSION COMPLETE.<\/p>\n<p>A new identifier.<\/p>\n<p>V-17.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResolve it,\u201d Ortiz ordered.<\/p>\n<p>Technicians cross-referenced the identity map.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>The identifier had been created recently.<\/p>\n<p>Derek stared at the result.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat shouldn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdministrators have to be preapproved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prior administrator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor appointed someone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore the archive segmentation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We traced V-17 through medical records.<\/p>\n<p>A birth date.<\/p>\n<p>An old hospital.<\/p>\n<p>A changed surname.<\/p>\n<p>Then a current identity.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My sister was in the adjacent secure wing.<\/p>\n<p>Derek looked genuinely shocked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBernard appointed Natalie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother said, \u201cOr Victor did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My father shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe doesn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Derek said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe role can transfer without consent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat authority does it give her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccess pathways. Accounts. Custodian contacts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Victor made Natalie administrator without telling her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Derek\u2019s expression became grim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich means everyone still loyal to the protocol now believes Natalie is Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>I answered immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her breathing was fast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lights went out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood.<\/p>\n<p>Security alarms sounded in the corridor.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz shouted orders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie, lock your door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStay away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hear people outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gunfire erupted somewhere in the building.<\/p>\n<p>Not close.<\/p>\n<p>Then closer.<\/p>\n<p>Harris drew his weapon.<\/p>\n<p>My father moved toward me.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz pushed him back.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie whispered, \u201cSomeone\u2019s opening the door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet behind the bed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The line cut.<\/p>\n<p>We ran.<\/p>\n<p>Federal agents flooded the corridor.<\/p>\n<p>Smoke poured from the secure wing.<\/p>\n<p>A fire alarm screamed.<\/p>\n<p>Two officers were down but conscious.<\/p>\n<p>The door to Natalie\u2019s room hung open.<\/p>\n<p>Empty.<\/p>\n<p>On the wall, someone had written one word.<\/p>\n<p>VICTOR.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret arrived under escort minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost corrected her.<\/p>\n<p>Then realized she meant nothing biological.<\/p>\n<p>She had watched Natalie grow too.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone had.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz received security footage.<\/p>\n<p>Three attackers entered disguised as federal emergency personnel.<\/p>\n<p>They did not kill Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>They escorted her.<\/p>\n<p>Carefully.<\/p>\n<p>Almost respectfully.<\/p>\n<p>One even covered her head while moving through smoke.<\/p>\n<p>Derek\u2019s explanation was right.<\/p>\n<p>They had not abducted her as a hostage.<\/p>\n<p>They had extracted their administrator.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie had spent years being manipulated because everyone considered her the easiest member of the family to control.<\/p>\n<p>Now, without understanding how or why, she had inherited operational authority over what remained of Everhart.<\/p>\n<p>My father stared at the empty room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was Bernard\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d my mother said.<\/p>\n<p>We looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>She pointed toward the wall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBernard wanted control. He would never give it to Natalie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen who did?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor\u2019s previous administrator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is only one person who could authorize succession without Bernard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe holder of the original identity key.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret.<\/p>\n<p>Every head turned toward Mrs. Higgins.<\/p>\n<p>She stared back at us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour ring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret looked at her wedding band.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Vale\u2019s ring.<\/p>\n<p>The identity key Bernard had forced her to use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you authenticated at the hospice,\u201d Elaine said, \u201cthe system recognized you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret\u2019s face drained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t appoint Natalie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe Daniel did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her dead husband.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe died before Natalie was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless the appointment wasn\u2019t Natalie specifically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret closed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Charles had intended her to inherit Everhart.<\/p>\n<p>She refused.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel carried the identity key.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps he had created a succession instruction years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Not a named person.<\/p>\n<p>A descendant.<\/p>\n<p>But Natalie was not Margaret\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n<p>At least, we had assumed she wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the DNA report from earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret was my aunt.<\/p>\n<p>We had tested her against me.<\/p>\n<p>Not Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>My mother understood at the same moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret backed away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elaine stared at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho was Natalie\u2019s biological mother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room went silent.<\/p>\n<p>My childhood rushed backward.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie six years younger.<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s difficult pregnancy.<\/p>\n<p>Months when I had been sent to relatives.<\/p>\n<p>No photographs of Elaine pregnant that I could clearly remember.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie\u2019s birth had always been discussed vaguely because my mother supposedly nearly died.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Elaine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She sat down.<\/p>\n<p>Tears filled her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie wasn\u2019t mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>I turned to her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas she yours?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Higgins\u2014the woman who had lived next door, watched us grow, guarded us, lied to us\u2014began crying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word barely existed.<\/p>\n<p>My sister was also my cousin.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n<p>The biological descendant of the woman Charles Hart had chosen to inherit Everhart.<\/p>\n<p>And someone had just activated that inheritance.<\/p>\n<p>The people who took Natalie were not carrying her away to kill her.<\/p>\n<p>They were taking her to the remaining network.<\/p>\n<p>To install her as its new leader.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11060\">Click here to continue reading: PART 17: Natalie Was Taken to Inherit Everhart, but the Sister I Had Spent Years Underestimating Refused the Role Everyone Had Prepared for Her<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ortiz evacuated the hospice within minutes. No arguments. No sentimental pauses. We were divided among armored vehicles and moved to separate locations. For the first time, my family scattered because &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11079,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11059\/revisions\/11079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}