Chapter 13 - THE LAWYER'S LAST LIEChristopher pointed the gun at my father.
Then at me.
His hands were shaking.
“Put it down,” the investigator ordered.
Christopher ignored him.
“You don't understand.”
I stared at him.
“Then explain.”
He looked at my father.
“You were supposed to destroy the ledger.”
My father shook his head.
“You never had the courage.”
Christopher laughed.
“I was the one who kept you alive.”
My father looked tired.
“And you were the one who sold information to Jared.”
Everything became clear.
The trusted lawyer.
The confidential meetings.
The early warnings.
The documents that somehow reached the family.
He had been leaking information.
Christopher's face hardened.
“You think I wanted this?”
“No,” my father said.
“I did it because they threatened my daughter.”
I looked at Christopher.
“You have a daughter?”
He nodded.
“They took her eight years ago.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
“Jared.”
Christopher admitted Jared had blackmailed him for years.
Every case.
Every document.
Every secret.
He had been trapped.
He had helped arrange my marriage because Jared ordered him to.
But eventually he turned against them.
The ledger was the key to freeing his daughter.
“That doesn't excuse what you did.”
“I know.”
He lowered the gun.
The investigator moved.
Suddenly the lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Christopher collapsed.
The emergency generators activated.
On the floor beside him was a knife.
But the bullet hadn't come from him.
It had come from the hallway.
Someone else was there.
We heard footsteps.
Then a familiar voice.
“Elizabeth.”
Dwight.
He entered with blood on his sleeve.
“Are you okay?”
I ran toward him.
“Who shot you?”
“Jared.”
My father's face changed.
“He found you.”
Dwight nodded.
“He has the second ledger.”
“What second ledger?”
My father closed his eyes.
“There were two.”
I couldn't believe it.
“The first proves the laundering.”
“The second proves who ordered your father's assassination.”
I stared at him.
“Who?”
My father looked at Dwight.
Dwight shook his head.
“I don't know.”
My father whispered:
“It was someone inside our family.”
Susan?
Jared?
Christopher?
Someone else?
Then Dwight looked at me.
“There is one more problem.”
“What?”
“The wedding video.”
“What about it?”
“They altered it.”
My blood ran cold.
“They manipulated the footage to make you believe I had betrayed you.”
I looked at him.
“I saw you with Ashley.”
“Yes.”
“That was real.”
“Yes.”
“You kissed her.”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
He swallowed.
“She asked me to help her escape Jared.”
I remembered Ashley's fear.
Dwight continued.
“I knew she was recording.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Jared was watching every move I made.”
I wanted to believe him.
But trust wasn't something I could restore with one explanation.
Then my father spoke.
“Elizabeth.”
I turned.
“The final ledger isn't hidden.”
“Where is it?”
He looked at my wedding ring.
I froze.
“My ring?”
“The diamond.”
I removed it.
There was a seam around the setting.
We opened it.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
I stared at it.
Then my father smiled.
“That is why Dwight had to marry you.”
The card contained everything.
But before we could open it, every phone in the room buzzed simultaneously.
A message appeared.
THEY HAVE YOUR FATHER.
Then another.
COME TO THE WEDDING VENUE.
May you like
The final message was worse.
BRING THE LEDGER OR HE DIES.
