Chapter 4 - The Brother's Sin
Mark's hands were shaking violently as he aimed the gun at me.
He begged me to just hand over the ledger so no one else had to get hurt.
I looked at Emily, who was tied to a wooden chair with a fresh bruise on her cheek.
Lily was huddled next to her, staring at her uncle in absolute terror.
I asked Mark how he could possibly point a weapon at his own niece.
Mark swallowed hard, tears pooling in his eyes.
He confessed that he had stolen three million dollars from our mother’s laundering operation to pay off his gambling debts.
Vanessa and Greg had discovered his theft and blackmailed him into doing their dirty work.
They told him that if he eliminated Emily and framed me for it, they would erase his debt entirely.
I took a slow step forward, keeping my eyes locked on the barrel of his gun.
I told Mark that Margaret would never forgive him, even if he did exactly what Vanessa wanted.
I promised him that if he put the gun down, I would give him the ledger to use as leverage against them.
Mark hesitated, his finger trembling against the trigger.
He looked at Lily, and the guilt finally broke his resolve.
He lowered the weapon and buried his face in his free hand.
I rushed forward and quickly untied Emily and Lily.
Emily hugged me tightly, her body shaking from the freezing temperature of the warehouse.
Mark handed me the gun and told me we needed to leave before Greg arrived.
He said Greg was bringing a team of professional fixers to clean up the mess.
Just as he finished speaking, the heavy metal doors of the warehouse shrieked open.
Blinding headlights from three black SUVs flooded the dark space.
Armed men poured out of the vehicles, fanning out to block every possible exit.
Margaret stepped out of the lead vehicle, wearing a tailored winter coat and a furious expression.
She looked at Mark with absolute disgust.
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Then she looked at me and smiled.
She said it was a shame we were all going to die in a tragic chemical fire tonight.
