Chapter 9 — The Gala Trap
Brightwell’s charity gala was canceled immediately, but Marcus released a video online.
He stood in darkness with his face partially hidden.
Behind him was the stolen container.
“Tomorrow, Brightwell Biotech will confess what it did,” he said. “If Olivia Bennett refuses, innocent people will pay the price her family refused to pay.”
The video spread across the country within minutes.
Public fury erupted.
Families of former patients accused Brightwell of hiding deaths.
Reporters surrounded the hospital.
Olivia’s board demanded that she deny everything.
Instead, she walked into a press conference and told the truth.
“My father concealed dangerous trial results,” she said. “I discovered the evidence today. I will release every file and cooperate with investigators.”
The board chairman, Charles Mercer, tried to pull her away from the microphones.
Olivia shook him off.
“Brightwell will compensate every victim.”
Mercer’s face twisted with rage.
“You’ll destroy the company.”
“If the company survives only through lies, it deserves to be destroyed.”
Across the room, Sophie noticed Mercer texting someone.
She photographed his screen.
The message read:
She is confessing. Move the package tonight.
Sophie showed Ruiz.
Police detained Mercer before he could leave.
Under interrogation, Mercer admitted he had been communicating with Marcus for months.
But he claimed he was not helping Marcus.
He was purchasing the stolen neurotoxin from him.
Mercer planned to sell it to a private military contractor.
The wedding conspiracy and the corporate scandal were connected by a second betrayal within Brightwell itself.
Marcus had never intended to poison the gala.
That threat was a distraction.
The actual exchange was happening that night at the city’s abandoned railway terminal.
Police organized a sting.
Olivia refused to stay behind.
“This began with my family and my company.”
Ruiz reluctantly allowed her into the surveillance unit.
At midnight, Mercer’s buyer arrived.
Marcus appeared carrying the refrigerated container.
Before the exchange could happen, gunshots erupted from the upper platform.
The buyer fell.
Marcus grabbed the container and fled into the terminal.
Sophie saw a second figure pursuing him.
It was Rachel.
May you like
She had escaped police custody.
And she was carrying Daniel’s gun.
