Chapter 9 - The Blackout
The first gunshot shattered the glass wall.
Everyone dropped.
William crawled behind the conference table as another round punched through a chair.
Detective Ortiz fired toward the hallway.
“Stay down!”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Daniel moved fast, pulling Emma behind a concrete column.
Marcus was gone.
William saw the stairwell door swinging.
“He ran.”
Ortiz shouted into her radio.
William ignored her and followed.
He reached the parking level in time to see Marcus sprinting toward a black SUV.
“Marcus!”
Marcus stopped.
For one second, William thought he might surrender.
Instead, Marcus raised both hands.
“I did what I was told.”
“By who?”
“You don’t understand what they have.”
“Who?”
Marcus looked terrified. “Your father kept insurance. Claire found part of it. Isabella found another part. That’s why everyone is hunting those letters.”
A car engine roared.
Headlights burst from the far ramp.
William jumped aside as a sedan shot through the garage.
It struck Marcus before anyone could reach him.
The driver never slowed.
Marcus hit the concrete and rolled.
William ran to him.
Blood spread beneath his shoulder, but he was alive.
“Stay with me.”
Marcus grabbed William’s lapel.
“Not the board,” he gasped.
“What?”
“Not… the board.”
“Who is it?”
Marcus’s eyes focused on William with desperate clarity.
“Your mother.”
William stopped breathing.
Eleanor Sterling lived in Palm Beach and had spent years pretending she barely cared about the foundation.
Marcus coughed.
“She knew everything.”
Then his grip went slack.
Paramedics rushed in.
William stepped back, stunned.
His phone rang.
It was the mansion.
He answered.
Emma’s voice came through, shaking.
“William, Charlotte is gone.”
His chest tightened.
“What do you mean gone?”
“I was told your mother sent a car for her.”
William looked at Marcus on the floor.
“My mother is in Florida.”
May you like
Emma went silent.
Then she whispered, “No. She’s upstairs.”
