Chapter 12 - THE SECOND GUNSHOT
Charles froze.
The second gun fell from his hand.
Blood spread across his sleeve.
Rachel Sloan stood twenty feet away.
Her weapon remained aimed at him.
“Don’t move.”
Agents rushed forward.
Charles looked at Daniel.
Even wounded and surrounded, he smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
Daniel said nothing.
Charles was handcuffed.
Claire was freed.
Ethan collapsed into Daniel’s arms.
For several seconds, neither brother spoke.
Then Ethan whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel held him tighter.
“You’re alive.”
Vanessa had been shot in the shoulder.
Paramedics treated her.
Before they carried her away, she looked at Claire.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
Claire stared at her.
“You’re not getting it.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I know.”
Claire continued.
“But you saved Ethan.”
Vanessa looked away.
“It doesn’t erase what I did.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice softened slightly.
“It doesn’t.”
That was all.
No dramatic forgiveness.
No easy redemption.
Just truth.
Charles was transported to federal custody.
The blue ledger opened dozens of investigations.
Bankers were arrested.
Executives resigned.
Politicians suddenly claimed they barely knew Charles Whitmore.
Daniel watched the empire his father built begin to crack.
Then Rachel called him.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“An account.”
Daniel expected another hidden fortune.
Instead, Rachel showed him the beneficiary.
Daniel Whitmore.
His own name.
Charles had moved twelve million dollars through an account registered to Daniel.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“No.”
Rachel’s expression was grim.
“Your father didn’t only frame Ethan.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He framed both of you.”
Federal investigators froze Daniel’s personal accounts the next morning.
Whitmore Holdings stock collapsed.
Reporters surrounded the mansion.
Daniel went from respected businessman to suspected criminal overnight.
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And Charles watched everything from a jail cell.
Smiling.
