Chapter 12 - PROJECT CROWN
Project Crown contained names.
Hundreds of them.
But not criminals.
Victims.
People Charles Sterling had manipulated into positions of power.
Judges.
Governors.
Federal officials.
Corporate leaders.
He had financed careers.
Buried scandals.
Destroyed opponents.
Then collected favors.
Eleanor intended to inherit the network.
Not the hotels.
Not the money.
The influence.
Arthur stared at her.
“You want to become my father.”
Eleanor smiled.
“No.”
“I want to become what he was too afraid to become.”
Claire suddenly moved.
She drove her elbow into the guard beside her.
Daniel attacked another.
Chaos exploded.
Arthur grabbed Eleanor.
The drive fell.
Maya caught it.
“Run!”
She ran toward the elevator.
Eleanor screamed.
“Stop her!”
Maya reached the doors.
They opened.
She stepped inside.
Then froze.
Judge Samuel Whitmore stood in the elevator.
Alive.
Maya stared at him.
“You’re dead.”
Whitmore smiled.
“No.”
Behind Maya, Arthur stopped fighting.
His face went blank.
“Samuel?”
Whitmore stepped onto the floor.
The man found in the SUV had been a body double.
Another Mirror Group deception.
Whitmore looked toward Eleanor.
“You took long enough.”
Arthur stared between them.
“You’re working together.”
Whitmore smiled.
“Arthur, who do you think taught Eleanor how your father’s system worked?”
Eleanor retrieved the drive from Maya.
Then handed it to Whitmore.
Arthur finally understood.
The gala.
The false murder.
The evidence.
The escape.
Everything.
Whitmore had orchestrated it.
Arthur whispered.
“Why?”
Whitmore’s smile disappeared.
“Because your father owned me for thirty-seven years.”
“And tonight…”
May you like
He held up Project Crown.
“…I finally own him.”
