Chapter 9 - Blood and Betrayal
A gunshot echoed through the concrete garage.
It was not Delaney who fired.
Silas pulled his trigger, sending a bullet through the housekeeper's shoulder.
Delaney collapsed, dropping her weapon and the briefcase.
Silas stumbled backward, clutching his own bleeding wound.
Martha helped Maxwell walk over to his injured brother.
"You shot her to save me?" Maxwell asked, bewildered.
"I thought you were the one paying the doctor to keep me paralyzed."
Silas coughed, spitting a drop of blood onto the floor.
"I never paid Vance a dime, Max."
"I was trying to find out who was poisoning you."
"I burst into your room that night because I thought Martha was the assassin."
Maxwell and Martha exchanged a stunned look.
If Silas wasn't the mastermind, then who was pulling the strings?
The answer arrived with the slow, echoing sound of clapping hands.
Dr. Vance stepped out from the shadows of a black van.
He held the real black ledger in one hand and an assault rifle in the other.
"A very touching family reunion," Vance mocked.
"But Silas is right, he isn't smart enough to orchestrate a hostile takeover."
Vance aimed the rifle at the three of them.
"I have spent five years building loyalty among your captains, Maxwell."
"Once you burn to death tonight, I become the new head of the Rourke empire."
"The ledger guarantees my control over your offshore funds."
May you like
Dr. Vance smiled and rested his finger on the trigger.
"It's a shame you miraculously learned to walk just in time to die."
