Chapter 14: The Billionaire's Final Confession
“Stay with me, Nicholas!””
I pressed both hands against my brother's chest wound.
Blood covered my fingers.
Federal agents surrounded us, shouting for medical assistance.
Victor knelt beside me.
“Lena, let them help him.””
“He's my brother!””
“I know.””
“Then do something!””
Victor turned toward the agents.
“GET AN AMBULANCE HERE NOW!””
Rebecca rushed across the ballroom.
The moment she saw Nicholas, she dropped to her knees.
“Nicky?””
His eyelids fluttered.
“Rebecca?””
She grabbed his hand.
“Don't you dare leave me. Do you hear me?””
Nicholas managed a weak smile.
“You still boss people around.””
Rebecca began crying.
“Somebody has to.””
Paramedics arrived minutes later.
They carried Nicholas onto a stretcher and rushed him toward the ambulance.
I followed, but a federal agent stopped me.
“Ma'am, you need to stay here.””
I turned on him.
“That's my brother!””
Victor stepped forward.
“She goes with him.””
The agent hesitated.
Then he moved aside.
At the hospital, a surgeon told us the bullet had narrowly missed Nicholas's heart.
He was alive.
But he needed surgery.
Rebecca sat beside me in the waiting room, holding his bloodstained jacket.
Neither of us spoke for nearly twenty minutes.
Finally, she looked at me.
“I spent twenty years believing my brother had been abandoned.””
I nodded.
“So did I.””
She wiped her cheeks.
“I should have looked harder.””
“You were a child.””
“So was he.””
She looked through the glass doors toward the operating room.
“My father told me Nicholas was happy in Switzerland. Every Christmas, he sent me a photograph. I never questioned it.””
I took her hand.
“Thomas Shaw destroyed both our families.””
Rebecca nodded.
“And Leon used him to do it.””
Victor approached with three coffees.
He placed one in front of me.
“We recovered the flash drive.””
I looked up.
“What's on it?””
“Financial records. Audio files. Photographs. And a video.””
“From who?””
Victor hesitated.
“Your father.””
I stood.
“Daniel?””
Victor nodded.
“He recorded it five years ago.””
“Play it.””
Victor placed his laptop on the table.
The video showed Daniel sitting inside a dark room.
His face was bruised.
“Lena,” he began, “if this recording has reached you, then Leon has found the ledger.””
He paused.
“But there's something I need to tell you about Victor.””
The camera shifted slightly.
Daniel continued.
“Twenty-five years ago, Victor's father discovered that Margaret was pregnant with twins. He knew Victor wasn't going to marry her, so he offered me money to disappear with the children.””
I looked at Victor.
His face was expressionless.
The recording continued.
“I refused. But then Victor's father threatened Margaret. He said he would take Lena and Nicholas away permanently.””
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“I agreed to raise Lena as my own because I loved her mother. I believed I could give her a normal life.””
He took a breath.
“But five years ago, Victor came to me with a terrible request.””
My stomach tightened.
The video continued.
“He asked me to help him fake his own death so he could expose Leon's financial network without putting Lena in danger.””
Victor suddenly stood.
“Turn it off.””
I looked at him.
“No.””
“Lena, you don't understand.””
“Then explain!””
Daniel's voice continued through the speakers.
“Victor told me that Leon had ordered a hit on his life. He wanted to disappear temporarily, gather evidence, and return when he could destroy the organization.””
I stared at Victor.
“Your death was supposed to be fake?””
Victor nodded.
“Originally, yes.””
“What happened?””
“Leon discovered the plan.””
I felt my throat tighten.
“And my mother?””
Victor looked toward Margaret.
She had been standing quietly near the entrance.
She stepped forward.
“Leon found out that I was helping Victor. He ordered the attack that nearly killed me.””
I shook my head.
“But you told me you died.””
Margaret began crying.
“Because Victor believed the safest way to protect you was to let everyone think I was gone.””
I turned toward him.
“You let me mourn my mother while she was alive?””
Victor lowered his head.
“I thought Leon would stop looking for you.””
“Did it work?””
“No.””
I walked away from the table.
For the first time, I understood why everyone had lied.
They had convinced themselves that protecting me meant keeping me ignorant.
But all their secrets had turned me into a target.
I turned back.
“No more lies. If we're going to finish this, everyone tells the truth.””
Victor nodded.
“Agreed.””
Then Rebecca's phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
“What do you mean the bank account was emptied?””
She listened.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
“Leon has transferred nearly two billion dollars out of Romano Holdings.””
Victor's expression hardened.
“He's preparing to disappear.””
Rebecca nodded.
“And Clara has been identified at a private airport in New Jersey.””
Victor reached for his coat.
“Let's go.””
An hour later, we stood inside a private airport hangar.
Leon was beside a black helicopter.
Clara stood near the open passenger door.
Two men loaded suitcases into the aircraft.
Victor approached with federal agents behind him.
“Leon!””
Leon turned.
For the first time, he looked genuinely surprised.
“Victor. You really are difficult to kill.””
Victor stopped several feet away.
“You're finished.””
Leon laughed.
“Do you think those agents can stop me? Half the people investigating this case are on my payroll.””
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Not anymore.””
She held up a document.
“Your accounts have been frozen. Your companies are under federal seizure.””
Clara looked at Leon.
“Tell me you have another plan.””
Leon ignored her.
He looked directly at me.
“Lena, come here.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“I can still make this right.””
“You tried to kill my family.””
“Because your family betrayed me.””
I stepped closer.
“You killed Elizabeth. You imprisoned my father. You poisoned Victor. You manipulated my brother.””
Leon raised his voice.
“I gave you everything!””
“You gave me nothing but pain.””
Clara suddenly reached into her purse.
Victor saw the movement.
“CLARA!””
She pulled out a gun.
But instead of pointing it at Victor, she pointed it at Leon.
“You promised me the company!””
Leon froze.
“Put it down.””
“You said we'd leave together!””
“I said what I needed to say.””
Clara's hand trembled.
“You used me.””
Leon smiled.
“Of course I did.””
She fired.
The bullet struck Leon in the shoulder.
He stumbled backward.
Federal agents rushed forward.
Clara dropped her weapon and began screaming.
Victor stood motionless.
Leon was forced to his knees.
For a moment, I thought it was over.
Then Leon looked up at me.
He smiled through the blood.
“You still don't know who ordered the original hit on your family.””
I stepped closer.
“You did.””
He shook his head.
“No, sweetheart.””
He looked toward Victor.
“Ask your biological father.””
Victor went pale.
Leon continued.
“Ask him who paid me to make Daniel disappear.””
Then he laughed.
May you like
And Victor said something that made my entire world collapse.
“Leon is telling the truth.””
