The monitor alarm screamed.
Paramedics pushed Alexander away.
“Sir!”
They began CPR.
Maria stood frozen.
Alexander looked at her.
“What does he think you know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that!”
Ethan started crying.
Reed stepped between them.
“Alexander.”
Alexander walked away.
He pressed both hands against the window.
Below him, Boston glittered in the darkness.
His wife murdered.
His father shot.
His son abused.
His home burned.
Every person he trusted had lied.
Then Reed approached.
“We found something on your father’s desk.”
He handed Alexander an envelope.
Written on it:
FOR ALEXANDER ONLY.
Alexander opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Son,
If you’re reading this, then I waited too long.
Catherine discovered something I should have told you years ago.
The money was never the real secret.
The company was.
Your grandfather built Blackwood Industries with another family.
Their name was removed from every official record after 1989.
But their ownership never legally disappeared.
Alexander frowned.
He kept reading.
They own half of everything.
And Catherine found their heir.
Alexander turned the page.
There was only one sentence.
You already know her.
A photograph slipped from the envelope.
Alexander picked it up.
It showed Catherine standing beside a young woman.
The young woman was Maria.
On the back, Richard had written:
MARIA DELGADO — 50% LEGAL HEIR TO BLACKWOOD INDUSTRIES.
Alexander looked up.
Maria stared at the photograph.
“No.”
Alexander handed it to her.
Her hands began shaking.
“That’s impossible.”
Reed looked between them.
“If this is real…”
Alexander finished the sentence.
“Maria isn’t my employee.”
He looked at the Blackwood logo mounted on the conference-room wall.
“She owns half my company.”
Then the elevator doors opened.
Vanessa Sterling stepped out.
Her dress was torn.
Blood ran down one side of her face.
She raised both hands.
“Don’t shoot.”
Police surrounded her.
Alexander stared.
“You came back?”
Vanessa looked at Richard being rushed toward the elevator.
Then at Maria.
Then at Ethan.
Finally, she looked at Alexander.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with something Alexander had never seen before.
Terror.
“I wasn’t trying to take over Blackwood Industries.”
Sie blickte in Richtung des abgedunkelten Konferenzraums.
“Ich habe versucht, die Person aufzuhalten, die es schon getan hat.”
Alexander trat näher.
“Wer?”
Vanessa flüsterte:
“Catherine.”
Alexander hörte auf zu atmen.
“Meine Frau ist tot.”
Vanessa schüttelte langsam den Kopf.
“Das wollte sie, dass du glaubst.”
