Chapter 19 - The Point of No Return
For one terrible second, Sarah believed Julian had been shot.
Then she saw plaster falling from the wall behind him.
Victoria had missed.
Julian grabbed Sarah and pulled her behind a column.
Police flooded the ballroom.
“Drop the weapon!”
Victoria dragged Diane from the chair and pressed the gun near her shoulder.
“Stay back!”
Diane was sobbing.
“I’m sorry.”
Sarah looked at her.
“You’re going to be okay.”
Victoria screamed.
“No, she isn’t.”
“You don’t get to promise anyone anything.”
Julian stepped slowly into view.
“Victoria.”
She pointed the gun toward him.
“Do not come closer.”
“You wanted me here.”
“I wanted you to understand.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her voice broke.
“My father told me the merger was the only way our family survived.”
“He told me Sarah would ruin everything.”
“He told me the baby would control shares we needed.”
Sarah stared at her.
“So you declared him dead.”
Victoria began crying.
“I was twenty-four.”
“So was I.”
Sarah’s answer silenced her.
“I was younger than you.”
“I was alone.”
“I was pregnant.”
“And you looked me in the eye while my newborn son slept beside me.”
Victoria’s hand trembled.
Sarah continued.
“You had eight years to tell the truth.”
“You chose the lie every day.”
Diane suddenly twisted away.
Victoria fired again.
The bullet hit the floor.
Officers rushed forward.
Within seconds, Victoria was disarmed and pinned to the ground.
Sarah ran to Diane.
Julian reached them.
Nobody had been shot.
Nobody had died.
Outside the building, Victoria was placed inside a police vehicle.
Reporters crowded behind barriers.
Conrad arrived with attorneys.
He shouted toward his daughter.
Victoria looked at him through the window.
Then something in her expression changed.
She leaned toward a detective.
“I want to make a statement.”
Conrad stopped shouting.
Victoria pointed directly at him.
“My father planned everything.”
Conrad’s face went white.
Diane was transported to the hospital.
Before leaving, she handed Sarah a small key.
“The safe deposit box.”
Sarah wrapped her fingers around it.
“What else is inside?”
Diane looked toward Conrad.
“Records.”
“Payments.”
“Emails.”
“And a recording he never knew I made.”
Sarah stared at the key.
“What recording?”
May you like
Diane’s answer ended any chance Conrad Sterling had of escaping responsibility.
“The night he ordered Henry Black to erase Leo permanently from the trust.”
