Chapter 9 - The Confession
Julian was shoved facedown onto the boardroom table, his arms twisted behind his back as steel cuffs clicked over his wrists. The elite directors scrambled out of their chairs, terrified of being associated with the disgraced heir.
"I didn't plan the hit alone, Adrian!" Julian screamed as the marshals hauled him toward the exit. "Ask Eleanor! Ask your precious grandmother what happened twenty-five years ago! Victoria was just a pawn! I was just a pawn!"
Adrian didn't blink. "Take him out."
The doors slammed shut behind Julian’s screams.
Within an hour, the board unanimously reaffirmed Adrian as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, officially stripping all of Julian’s holdings and transferring them back into the Vale trust.
By six that evening, the corporate battle was won, but the victory felt hollow.
I was in the private executive parking garage beneath Vale Tower, retrieving an archive box of medical records from Adrian’s armored Maybach, when the garage lights suddenly flickered and went out.
Emergency red backup lights hummed to life, casting long, bloody shadows across the concrete pillars.
A chilling click echoed behind me.
"Drop the box, Maya," a voice snarled from the darkness.
I turned around slowly.
Standing ten feet away was Victoria Langley.
She looked terrifying. Her clothes were torn, her hair matted with sweat. She had somehow escaped custody during her transfer from central booking, likely aided by Julian’s remaining loyalists before his own arrest. In her hand was a heavy crowbar, her knuckles raw and bloody.
"You took everything from me," Victoria breathed, stepping closer, her eyes completely unhinged. "I was supposed to have the penthouse. The jewels. The name. I was supposed to be Eleanor Vale’s successor! And you... a girl who scrubs toilets... ruined my life with one move."
"Victoria, it’s over," I said, backing toward the car. "Julian is in federal custody. The marshals have your accounts frozen. If you swing that bar, you spend the rest of your life in maximum security."
"I don't care!" she shrieked, charging forward, swinging the heavy steel weapon straight toward my head.
I ducked instinctively, throwing the heavy archive box into her chest. The papers exploded into the air like white confetti, knocking Victoria off balance. She stumbled, snarled, and lunged again, grabbing my hair with one claw-like hand while raising the crowbar for a second strike.
"Die, you bitch!"
Suddenly, the blinding high-beams of an SUV flared to life behind her, accompanied by the deafening roar of a supercharged engine.
The vehicle surged forward, slamming its bumper squarely into Victoria’s hip.
May you like
The impact threw her violently across the concrete floor, sending the crowbar skattering into the shadows.
***
