Chapter Nine
1931 Words
For weeks, I had been piecing together the truth, unraveling the lies that had cost my father his life.
And now, I had proof that Bernard wasn’t just a thief. He was a murderer.
The threats against me were getting worse. Whoever was protecting Bernard wasn’t going to let me keep digging.
But I wasn’t stopping.
Not until I took back everything he stole from us.
Later that night, I met William at a secluded diner outside the city.
He sat across from me, his blue eyes stormy with concern.
“You’re not safe,” he said.
I scoffed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
William exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “I heard something today. My father and Bernard—they had a meeting.”
I froze. “About what?”
His jaw clenched. “You.”
A chill ran down my spine.
Before I could respond, my phone buzzed.
A new text from a blocked number.
“Walk away, Emerald. Or your mother won’t be so lucky next time.”
My blood ran cold.
I showed the screen to William. His face darkened.
“This is it,” he said. “This is the moment where you decide if you’re walking away… or burning everything down.”
I looked at him, my pulse pounding.
We both already knew my answer.
I wasn’t walking away.
I was going to end this.
I was past the point of no return.
Bernard thought he could threaten me into silence. He thought I would walk away.
He was wrong.
I wasn’t just coming for the truth anymore. I was coming for justice.
And I wasn’t leaving until Bernard Lawson had lost everything.
William and I sat in his car outside Blue Sky Studios. The place that should have been mine.
The place my father built with his blood, sweat, and integrity.
The place Bernard stole.
“We can’t just walk in,” William muttered. “Not without a plan.”
I gripped the steering wheel. “We don’t need a plan.”
He turned to me sharply. “Emerald—”
I looked at him, my jaw tight. “We need proof. And I know exactly where to find it.”
William exhaled, rubbing his temple. “Breaking into Blue Sky isn’t exactly low risk.”
I arched a brow. “Since when do you care about risks?”
His blue eyes darkened. “Since you became the one taking them.”
For a moment, the tension between us was suffocating.
Then, finally—“If we do this, we do it right.”
I nodded. “Let’s bring Bernard down.”
Before we made our move, I went to see Mom.
She was sitting up, looking stronger than she had in months.
When I told her what I was about to do, she didn’t flinch. She didn’t even try to stop me.
Instead, she reached for my hand.
“Don’t let him win, Emerald.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wouldn’t.
Not this time.
That midnight, William and I slipped into Blue Sky Studios through a back entrance.
The building was eerily silent.
I knew exactly where to go—Bernard’s office.
We moved quickly, my pulse pounding in my ears.
William kept watch while I rifled through Bernard’s desk.
Then I found a ledger. Transactions. Bribes. Proof that Bernard had paid off officials to cover up my father’s death.
My breath hitched. This was it.
But before I could celebrate, a cold voice echoed through the office.
“Well, well. What do we have here?”
I froze.
Bernard was standing in the doorway.
And he wasn’t alone.
Behind him stood two men I didn’t recognize. Men with guns.
William moved instantly, stepping in front of me.
Bernard smirked. “Did you really think you could outplay me, Emerald?”
My fingers clenched around the ledger.
I had the proof.
But now, I had no way out.
And Bernard knew it.
Bernard smiled, slow and satisfied, like a predator who had just caught his prey.
The two armed men behind him shifted, their presence suffocating in the already tense room.
William tensed beside me, his fists clenched, but he didn't move. We were cornered.
And Bernard knew it.
"Did you really think I wouldn't see this coming?" he mused, stepping forward.
"You've been so predictable, Emerald."
I gritted my teeth, gripping the ledger in my hands. This was my father's truth.
The proof that Bernard had destroyed his legacy, stolen everything.
And now, he was standing between me and the justice I had fought so hard for.
I wasn't going to let him win
"Give me the book." Bernard extended a hand. "And maybe-just maybe-l'll let you walk out of here."
William shifted beside me, his body subtly moving in front of mine. Protective.
Ready.
I lifted my chin. "You must think I'm really stupid."
Bernard chuckled, shaking his head. "No, dear niece. Just desperate." His smirk darkened. "And desperation makes people reckless."
l exhaled slowly, my mind racing. There had to be a way out.
The guards were armed, but Bernard? He was too arrogant to carry a gun himself.
That was his weakness. I just had to use it.
I glanced at William, and he caught my look. A silent understanding passed between us.
He was ready.
We had one shot.
Bernard sighed, growing impatient. "Fine.
If you won't give it to me-"
I threw the ledger.
Not at him but at the lamp.
The room plunged into darkness.
Shouts erupted as the guards scrambled.
In the confusion, William lunged.
A grunt-a struggle then-a gunshot.
My heart stopped. I couldn't see. Couldn't breathe.
"William?" My voice was hoarse.
And then-a hand grabbed mine.
"Run!" William's voice. Urgent. Alive.
I didn't hesitate. We ran
We didn't stop running until we were blocks away, breathless and shaken.
William's arm was bleeding, his shirt soaked through.
"You're hurt." I reached for him, but he caught my wrist.
"I'm fine." His voice was tight. "We got what we needed."
I clutched the ledger to my chest. We did.
But Bernard wasn't going to let this go.
He would come for me, for William.
We ran.
Through the empty streets, through the biting cold, through the suffocating weight of what we had just done.
Bernard wouldn’t let this go.
We had humiliated him, we outplayed him.
And now, he was going to come for us with everything he had.
William’s grip on my hand was tight, his breathing ragged. He was hurt.
But stopping wasn’t an option. Not yet.
We made it to the small apartment William kept as a backup—a precaution for situations exactly like this.
The moment we were inside, I turned to him. “Sit down.”
“You’re bleeding, William.” I said looking worried.
His jaw clenched, but he sat. Stubborn. Always so damn stubborn.
I grabbed a first-aid kit and knelt beside him, gently lifting his sleeve.
A deep graze along his arm, not life-threatening, but enough to shake me.
I swallowed hard, focusing on cleaning the wound. Not on the way his muscles tensed under my touch. Not on the heat of his skin.
He watched me, his voice quieter now. “You were incredible back there.”
I glanced up. “So were you.”
Something shifted between us. Something unspoken.
But before I could name it,
A loud knock shattered the moment.
We froze.
Someone was outside.
And they weren’t knocking to say hello.
The knock came again. Louder. More insistent.
William and I locked eyes. Neither of us moved.
A voice followed. Low. Sharp. Dangerous.
“Open the door, Carter. We know you’re in there.”
My pulse pounded. Bernard had found us.
William stood, ignoring his injury. He reached for his gun, his expression unreadable. “Stay behind me.”
I swallowed hard. This was it.
William edged toward the door, his body tense, ready.
Another knock. More forceful this time.
“You don’t want to make this difficult.”
William glanced at me. “If things go south, run.”
My jaw tightened. “Not happening.”
A shadow passed under the door. They weren’t alone.
William took a steady breath, then yanked the door open.
A man stood there. Tall, broad-shouldered, a scar running down his jaw.
He wasn’t Bernard.
But he was here for him.
His cold gaze swept over William, then landed on me. A slow, knowing smile spread across his face.
“Ms. Lawson. We need to talk.”
The man’s cold gaze locked onto mine, his smile sending a chill down my spine. He stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the dimly lit apartment.
William tensed beside me, his hand subtly moving toward his concealed weapon. The air was thick with tension, every second stretching into an eternity.
“Who are you?” I demanded, my voice steadier than I felt.
The man’s smile widened, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Names are unimportant. What matters is that you have something that belongs to Mr. Lawson.”
My grip tightened on the ledger hidden behind my back. “This ledger? The one detailing all of Bernard’s illegal activities? I don’t think it belongs to him anymore.”
His expression hardened. “You’re making a dangerous mistake, Ms. Lawson. Hand it over, and we can all walk away from this.”
William stepped forward, his voice low and threatening. “And if we don’t?”
The man glanced at William, then back at me. “Then things get…unpleasant.”
A tense silence settled over the room. I could feel the weight of the ledger in my hand, the culmination of all our risks and sacrifices. Giving it up now would mean letting Bernard win.
But the danger was real, and I couldn’t ignore the threat standing before us.
Before I could respond, a faint sound reached my ears, a soft, rhythmic tapping. It was coming from the window.
William noticed it too. His eyes flicked toward the sound, then back to the man.
“Seems like you’re not the only one interested in this ledger,” William said, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.
The man’s brow furrowed in confusion. In that split second, William moved.
He lunged toward the man, knocking him off balance. The ledger slipped from my grasp, skidding across the floor.
Chaos erupted. The man grappled with William, both of them struggling for control. I scrambled to retrieve the ledger, my heart pounding in my chest.
Just as my fingers closed around it, the door burst open, and two more men rushed in.
“Time to go!” William shouted, breaking free from the scuffle. He grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the window.
Without hesitation, we climbed out onto the fire escape, the cold night air biting at our skin.
We descended quickly, the sounds of pursuit echoing above us. Reaching the alley below, we sprinted into the darkness, the city’s labyrinthine streets our only hope of escape.
As we ran, the city blurred past us, cold air biting at my skin as my legs burned from exhaustion. We had barely escaped.
A thought struck me—a realization that sent a new wave of fear coursing through me.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Bernard had always been one step ahead. He knew our moves before we made them.
Someone was feeding him information.
And if we didn’t find out who, we wouldn’t survive the next attack.
- Writer
