Chapter 12 - THE FINAL LIE
Police ordered Vanessa to drop the gun.
She dragged Adrian backward.
He could barely stand.
“Stay back!”
Richard was on the ground below.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
He was alive.
Angry.
And screaming at officers to arrest Vanessa.
She laughed hysterically.
“You hear him? Still giving orders.”
“Vanessa,” I shouted.
Her eyes found me.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“Of course you did.”
She tightened her grip on Adrian.
“He told me you would.”
Adrian looked at me.
There was shame in his face.
Real shame this time.
“Let him go.”
“No.”
“You don't need him anymore.”
“I never needed him.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
That sentence hurt him.
Good.
Vanessa looked down toward Richard.
“You want to know who the father is?”
I didn't care.
Not really.
But Adrian did.
I could see it.
He lifted his head.
“Tell me.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Marcus.”
Adrian went still.
“Mostly likely.”
“Most likely?”
She laughed.
“Don't act shocked. You were married when you started sleeping with me.”
He looked like she had slapped him.
“You told me it was mine.”
“I told you what I needed you to hear.”
There it was again.
The same pattern.
Vanessa had told him what he wanted.
I had told him truths he didn't want.
And he had chosen accordingly.
A negotiator called to Vanessa.
She ignored him.
“I loved you,” Adrian said.
She stared at him.
“No. You loved how I made you feel.”
His eyes moved toward me.
Vanessa noticed.
“Oh, don't look at her now.”
She pushed him.
“You hated that Eleanor never worshiped you.”
Adrian said nothing.
“She was smarter than you. Better connected than you. Calmer than you. You just didn't know why.”
“Shut up.”
“So when I told you she was nothing, you loved it.”
“Shut up!”
“You wanted her to be nothing.”
That broke something in him.
He looked at me.
I saw the answer before he admitted it.
Vanessa was right.
Maybe that was why he had never asked questions.
Because the version of me he invented made him feel bigger.
“Eleanor,” he whispered.
I shook my head.
Not now.
Maybe not ever.
Vanessa suddenly looked down.
Richard was speaking to police.
Her face changed.
“What is he saying?”
Richard pointed upward.
Officers began shifting position.
Vanessa panicked.
“You promised!”
Richard shouted, “You became a liability!”
She raised the gun.
Snipers moved.
I shouted, “Vanessa!”
She looked at me.
“Don't.”
For one second, something human returned to her face.
Fear.
She was pregnant.
Terrified.
Cornered.
I kept my voice calm.
“You still have a choice.”
“You think you're better than me?”
“No.”
“You have everything!”
“No, Vanessa. I had a husband who beat me because you whispered in his ear.”
Adrian flinched.
I continued.
“You had choices. So did he. So did Marcus. So did Richard.”
I pointed toward the gun.
“You still have one.”
Her hand shook.
Police shouted again.
Then Adrian did something unexpected.
He stepped away from her.
The gun remained pointed at him.
He said quietly, “She's right.”
Vanessa stared.
“You're choosing her?”
“No.”
His eyes found mine.
“I lost her.”
Then he looked back at Vanessa.
“And I'm done letting someone else decide who I am.”
Vanessa's face twisted.
She pulled the trigger.
Click.
Nothing.
Her gun was empty.
Adrian stared.
Vanessa stared.
Police rushed forward.
Within seconds, she was on the ground in handcuffs.
Adrian collapsed against a concrete pillar.
I thought it was over.
Then Dad's phone rang.
He answered.
His face went pale.
“What?”
I walked toward him.
“Dad?”
He lowered the phone slowly.
“The SEC just froze Mercer Global trading.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
May you like
He looked toward Richard.
“Because your uncle activated the second half of his plan before he came here.”
