Chapter 8
Victor stopped twenty feet away.
Rourke’s gun was pointed directly at his chest.
Serena held Ethan with one arm.
A second handgun was in her other hand.
Lily was tied to the chair behind them.
Her lip was bleeding.
“Are you hurt?” Victor asked her.
“Forget me,” Lily said. “Get Ethan.”
Serena laughed.
“How touching.”
Victor looked at Serena.
“What do you want?”
“Finally.”
“You had plenty of chances to kill me.”
“Yes.”
“Yet I’m alive.”
Serena smiled.
“Because I need you.”
“For money?”
“For access.”
“To what?”
“Blackwood Holdings.”
Victor stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible with your signature.”
Victor almost laughed.
“You kidnapped my son because you think I’m going to sign my company over to you?”
“Not the whole company.”
“How generous.”
“Specific assets.”
Rourke shoved papers onto a metal table.
Victor glanced down.
Transfers.
Accounts.
Ownership documents.
“Sign.”
Victor looked at Ethan.
The child was exhausted from crying.
One cheek was red.
Victor’s voice changed.
“What happened to his face?”
Serena glanced down.
“He wouldn’t stop screaming.”
Victor took a step forward.
Rourke raised the gun.
“Stop.”
Victor did.
Every instinct inside him wanted to tear Serena apart.
Instead, he forced himself to think.
Hayes and officers were outside.
They needed time.
“Did you hit him?”
Serena rolled her eyes.
“Don’t become dramatic.”
“He’s fourteen months old.”
“And already as demanding as his father.”
Lily struggled against the ropes.
“You’re sick.”
Serena turned.
“Shut up.”
She pointed the handgun toward Lily.
Victor immediately spoke.
“Leave her alone.”
Serena looked back at him.
There it was again.
That strange smile.
“You really do care about her.”
“She protects my son.”
“Claire used to look at people like that too.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Stop talking about Claire.”
“Why?”
“Because you killed her.”
Rourke’s expression shifted.
Tiny.
But Victor saw it.
Serena did too.
“Don’t,” Rourke warned.
Victor focused on him.
“Serena told me what happened.”
“She talks too much.”
Victor understood.
There was tension between them.
Good.
He could use it.
“She said you gave Claire the pills.”
Rourke looked at Serena.
Serena snapped.
“I said no such thing.”
Victor continued.
“She blamed everything on you.”
“Shut up.”
Serena’s voice sharpened.
Victor almost smiled.
“You think she plans to take you with her?”
Rourke raised his gun higher.
“Stop talking.”
Victor ignored it.
“She has money offshore.”
Serena’s eyes narrowed.
Victor was guessing.
But her reaction told him enough.
“She never told you.”
Rourke glanced at Serena.
“Victor is trying to divide us.”
“Of course I am.”
Victor looked at Rourke.
“Because one of you is going to prison for murder.”
Neither spoke.
“And Serena thinks it’ll be you.”
“Victor.”
Serena pointed her gun toward him.
“Sign.”
Victor looked at the documents.
“What happens after?”
“You walk away with Ethan.”
“And Lily?”
Serena smiled.
“We’ll discuss that.”
“No.”
The smile disappeared.
Victor spoke clearly.
“Lily leaves with us.”
Rourke laughed.
“You’re not negotiating.”
Victor looked at him.
“I’m the only person here who can sign those documents.”
Silence.
He had them.
For now.
Victor walked slowly to the table.
He picked up a pen.
“Untie Lily.”
Serena shook her head.
“No.”
Victor dropped the pen.
“Then no signature.”
Serena pointed her gun toward Ethan’s leg.
Victor’s entire body froze.
“Pick it up.”
Rage nearly blinded him.
“Don’t point that at my son.”
“Pick up the pen.”
Rourke looked uncomfortable now.
“Serena.”
“What?”
“Don’t do that.”
She turned.
“You getting sentimental?”
“He’s a baby.”
Victor saw the crack widening.
Serena laughed.
“You helped kill his mother.”
Lily inhaled sharply.
Victor stared at Rourke.
There.
A confession, almost.
Rourke’s face darkened.
“You said she’d just get sick.”
Serena’s expression changed.
Victor’s heart hammered.
Outside, Hayes was listening.
Victor hoped they were recording everything.
Serena spoke slowly.
“Careful.”
Rourke continued.
“You told me the dose wasn’t lethal.”
“Shut up.”
“You said she’d go to the hospital, and we’d scare her.”
“Rourke.”
“I didn’t know you gave her more after I left.”
Victor stared at Serena.
She went pale.
There it was.
The truth.
Claire’s murder had not been an accident.
Not completely.
Victor took another step.
Serena pointed the gun at him.
“Don’t.”
Victor stopped.
“You killed her alone.”
“No.”
“You gave Claire the final dose.”
“Shut up!”
Ethan began crying harder.
Serena looked down angrily.
“Stop!”
Victor’s voice exploded.
“Don’t yell at him!”
Everyone froze.
Victor breathed hard.
Serena stared at him.
Then Ethan reached toward Victor.
“Da.”
That single word shattered something inside him.
Victor held out his arms.
“I’m here, Ethan.”
Serena tightened her grip.
Ethan cried.
“Da!”
Victor took another step.
Rourke turned slightly.
Serena screamed.
“Stay back!”
The sound echoed through the hangar.
Then Lily moved.
Victor never knew how she freed one hand.
Maybe the rope had loosened.
Maybe she had been working on it the entire time.
But she threw herself sideways and kicked the metal table.
It crashed into Rourke.
His gun fired.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Victor ran.
Everything happened at once.
Police stormed the doors.
“Drop the weapon!”
Serena grabbed Ethan tighter and backed away.
Rourke fired toward the officers.
Gunshots erupted.
Victor dove behind a crate.
Lily crawled away from the chair.
Hayes entered from the side.
“Rourke! Drop it!”
Rourke turned.
Another shot.
Then he collapsed.
His gun slid across the floor.
Serena screamed.
She ran toward the jet.
With Ethan.
Victor came out from behind the crate.
“Serena!”
She reached the stairs.
Victor chased her.
She turned and fired.
The bullet struck metal beside him.
Victor kept going.
Serena climbed into the jet.
The door started closing.
Victor grabbed the edge.
Serena kicked his hand.
He held on.
“Let go!”
“Give me Ethan!”
She kicked again.
Victor pulled himself inside.
Serena backed down the aisle.
Ethan screamed.
Pilots were gone.
The plane was empty except for them.
Victor slowly stood.
“Nowhere left to go.”
Serena laughed.
“You think?”
She raised the gun.
Victor stopped.
Then Serena opened another door.
Emergency exit.
Cold air rushed inside.
The jet was still stationary.
But Serena stood at the opening with Ethan.
Victor’s blood went cold.
“Serena.”
“Don’t come closer.”
“You’ll hurt him.”
“You made me do all of this.”
“No.”
Victor took a careful step.
“You chose this.”
“She had everything.”
“Claire?”
“Money. You. That child.”
Victor shook his head.
“She was your friend.”
“She was a thief.”
“Of what?”
“My life!”
Serena screamed so loudly Ethan began sobbing.
Victor remained still.
“No, Serena.”
Her face twisted.
“She always won.”
“This isn’t about Claire anymore.”
“It was always about Claire.”
Victor looked at Ethan.
“No. This is about him.”
Serena glanced at the child.
For one second, Victor saw something terrifying in her eyes.
Not love.
Not even hatred.
Nothing.
Ethan was simply leverage.
Victor extended his hands.
“Give him to me.”
Serena raised the gun.
“Back up.”
Victor didn’t move.
She pressed the weapon against Ethan’s side.
Victor stopped breathing.
Then Lily’s voice came from behind him.
“Serena.”
Serena turned instinctively.
Victor moved.
He grabbed Serena’s wrist.
The gun fired.
Ethan screamed.
Lily rushed forward.
Victor twisted Serena’s arm until the gun fell.
Serena clawed at him.
“Let go!”
Lily took Ethan.
Victor shoved Serena away from the open exit.
Hayes and officers entered.
“Down!”
Serena reached for the gun.
Victor kicked it away.
Officers tackled her.
She screamed.
Kicked.
Spat.
Cursed.
But the handcuffs closed.
Victor turned.
Lily was holding Ethan.
“Is he hit?”
“No.”
Victor rushed to them.
“Is he hit?”
“No, Victor. He’s okay.”
He grabbed his son.
Ethan wrapped both arms around his neck.
Victor closed his eyes.
For the first time since this nightmare began, he allowed himself to cry.
Behind him, Serena was dragged from the aircraft.
She looked at Victor.
“You think this ends with me?”
Victor stared at her.
Serena smiled through blood on her lip.
“Ask your detective who really paid Rourke.”
Hayes’ expression changed.
Victor noticed.
Serena laughed.
“Oh.”
She looked between them.
“He hasn’t told you.”
Victor turned toward Hayes.
“Told me what?”
Hayes said nothing.
May you like
Victor’s voice hardened.
“What haven’t you told me?”
