Chapter 3 - The Blackmail
The night air suddenly felt like ice in my lungs.
I looked at Lily, whose hands were clamped tightly over her mouth to muffle her sobs.
She had heard every single word her stepfather just said.
I pulled her further back into the shadows of the garden until Alan’s footsteps faded into the distance.
“Lily, look at me,” I commanded softly, slipping into the authoritative tone I used with my junior officers.
She shook her head, tears ruining her immaculate makeup.
“He is going to ruin everything, Nora,” she choked out.
“Alan told me that if I didn't convince Ryan to approve his company’s faulty equipment contracts, he would frame Ryan for taking bribes.”
My blood boiled instantly.
Alan was using my sister's wedding as a trap to exploit a rising military officer.
“Why didn't you tell me?” I asked, gripping her shoulders.
“Because Mom told me you wouldn't care, that you only cared about your career!” Lily cried.
The years of my mother’s toxic lies had successfully built a wall between us.
I pulled my younger sister into a fierce hug, feeling the fragility of her shaking frame.
“I am here now, and Alan is not going to touch you or your fiancé,” I promised.
I left Lily safely on a bench and walked back toward the dining room terrace with lethal intent.
Alan was standing by the outdoor bar, fixing himself another bourbon with shaking hands.
I stepped out of the darkness and grabbed his crystal glass, smashing it onto the stone patio.
“You are going to cancel your defense bids first thing in the morning, or I will end you,” I said quietly.
Alan sneered, recovering his false bravado.
“You are just a little sailor, Nora, you have no power in the real world,” he mocked.
“I have fabricated bank statements proving Ryan took fifty thousand dollars from me, and the press will have them by midnight.”
He leaned in close, reeking of alcohol and expensive cologne.
“There is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me.”
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A dark figure stepped out from the heavy velvet curtains of the terrace doors.
“She might not have to stop you, Alan,” Ryan said, his voice shaking with pure rage.
