Chapter 7 - THE MAN I THOUGHT I HATEDDouglas pointed the gun at Garrett.
“Sit down.”
Garrett slowly returned to his wheelchair.
Christopher stood behind Douglas with his hands raised.
I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
“Christopher?”
He looked at me.
“I tried to warn you.”
Douglas pressed the gun harder against his neck.
“Shut up.”
Garrett's voice remained calm.
“Douglas, you don't need to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because you were never supposed to recover.”
The words hung in the air.
Douglas smiled.
“You were meant to die in that accident.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She closed her eyes.
Douglas continued.
“Ethan told me what to do.”
Garrett stared at him.
“And you agreed?”
“I agreed because you were destroying everything.”
“What everything?”
“My future.”
Garrett's expression hardened.
“You stole from the company.”
“I built that money.”
“You stole it.”
Douglas laughed.
“No. I followed orders.”
“Whose?”
Douglas hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
I saw it.
There was someone above him.
Someone Douglas was afraid to name.
Christopher spoke.
“Rebecca.”
Douglas turned.
Christopher met my eyes.
“Do you remember the hotel?”
“The one in Atlanta?”
He nodded.
“That's where they planned the accident.”
My skin went cold.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To stop it.”
Douglas laughed.
“You couldn't.”
Christopher continued.
“I tried.”
“Then why did you come home and tell me you were working?”
“Because if I told you, they'd kill you.”
I shook my head.
“You cheated on me.”
Christopher looked broken.
“I used Brenda as a cover.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Brenda was helping Garrett. We needed someone inside ApexBio.”
I couldn't breathe.
“So the affair was fake?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
He hesitated.
I almost laughed.
Even now, he couldn't give me a clean answer.
Douglas moved the gun toward him.
“Enough.”
Then Evelyn stepped between them.
“Douglas.”
He looked at her.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand everything.”
Evelyn lifted her chin.
“I know who ordered the accident.”
Douglas's face changed.
She smiled sadly.
“You thought I didn't.”
Silence.
Then she looked at me.
“Rebecca, the person behind all of this was not trying to steal Garrett's company.”
“Then what?”
“They were trying to acquire it legally.”
Garrett frowned.
“The merger.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn continued.
“Once the merger closes, whoever controls the voting shares controls Corbin Holdings.”
“And if Garrett is declared permanently disabled?”
“Douglas becomes his proxy.”
I looked at Douglas.
“So you were going to own the company.”
Douglas smiled.
“No.”
He looked at someone beyond us.
“I was going to serve the person who would.”
A gunshot exploded.
The window shattered.
Evelyn collapsed.
Garrett grabbed me.
“Down!”
Christopher tackled Douglas.
The lights went out.
We heard footsteps running through the corridor.
Then another shot.
I screamed.
Garrett pulled me through the secret passage.
Christopher followed.
Behind us, Douglas shouted:
“GET THEM!”
We ran blindly.
At the end of the passage, Christopher stopped.
“There's a door.”
He opened it.
We entered an underground garage.
A car waited.
Christopher threw me the keys.
“Get in.”
Garrett climbed into the passenger seat.
Christopher got behind the wheel.
“Who shot your mother?” I asked Douglas through clenched teeth.
Christopher looked at me.
“Not Douglas.”
“What?”
He pointed behind us.
A figure appeared in the passage entrance.
Ethan Vale.
He lifted a gun.
Christopher accelerated.
The shot shattered the rear window.
We sped into the night.
Garrett looked at me.
“My mother survived.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she knows where the original evidence is.”
“Where?”
May you like
Garrett's face turned pale.
“At your father's old house.”
