Chapter 14 - THE BROTHER WHO SOLD THEM
Richard Sterling had spent his life smiling behind William's shadow.
He ran the company's aviation division, attended every family holiday, and comforted William after Grace died.
He had also introduced Isabella to the family.
Police tracked the helicopter toward a private airfield in New Jersey. William, Emma, and Ortiz followed by car while federal aircraft closed the airspace.
Richard landed beside a waiting jet.
Isabella jumped out with the ledger.
Before they reached the plane, agents surrounded the runway.
Richard raised his hands.
Isabella ran into the hangar.
William followed despite Ortiz's order.
Emma followed William.
Inside, Isabella stood beside fuel drums with a flare gun. The ledger lay on a workbench.
Richard entered behind them.
“You were supposed to destroy the files,” Isabella snapped.
Richard said, “You were supposed to leave children out of it.”
She laughed. “Now you discover a conscience?”
William stared at his brother. “Why?”
Richard's face twisted. “Dad gave you everything. The company, the house, the name. I spent thirty years cleaning up disasters while you received applause.”
“So you helped kill Grace?”
“I helped Isabella frighten her. I did not know they would kill her.”
“Everyone keeps saying they did not know.” Emma's voice cut through the hangar. “No one wanted to know because the money kept coming.”
Isabella aimed the flare gun at the fuel.
“Move away from the ledger.”
William stepped forward. “This ends here.”
“It ended when Grace died.”
“No. It ends when Ethan gets the truth.”
Isabella fired.
Richard knocked her arm upward. The flare struck a metal beam and showered sparks.
She grabbed the ledger and ran toward the jet.
Emma pulled an emergency foam lever. Thick fire-suppression foam blasted across the hangar floor.
Isabella slipped and fell. The ledger skidded beneath the plane.
William reached it first.
Isabella drew a small pistol from her coat.
Richard stepped between them.
The shot struck his shoulder.
Agents rushed in and arrested her.
Even in handcuffs, Isabella looked at Emma with hatred.
“You think saving one child changes the world?”
Emma answered, “It changes his world.”
Richard was taken to surgery under guard.
The property ledger survived.
But when Ortiz opened it, the final pages were missing.
Those pages identified the public officials who had protected the scheme.
Isabella smiled from the back of the police car.
“You will never find them.”
Ethan called Emma from the safe house.
May you like
“I already did,” he said.
Grace had hidden photographs of every missing page inside his favorite storybook.
