CHAPTER 9 — THE WOMAN I HATED
CHAPTER 9 — THE WOMAN I HATED
The shot struck the pipe above Chloe’s head.
Steam burst into the corridor.
Kerr recoiled.
I rushed him.
We hit the floor hard.
The gun slid beneath a metal cabinet.
He grabbed my throat.
His fingers locked around it with shocking strength.
“You have ruined years of work,” he hissed.
I drove my knee into his side.
He grunted but didn’t release me.
My vision blurred.
Then Chloe swung the metal bar.
It struck Kerr across the shoulder.
He rolled away.
I dragged air into my lungs.
Chloe raised the bar again.
Kerr caught it with one hand and kicked her injured arm.
She cried out and fell.
He crawled toward the gun.
I reached it first.
I pointed it at him.
“Don’t move.”
He stopped.
For one second, we remained frozen beneath the flashing emergency light.
Kerr looked at the gun.
Then at me.
“You won’t shoot.”
“Try me.”
“You’re a prosecutor.”
“I’m also a daughter.”
That finally frightened him.
He slowly raised his hands.
“Your mother is not who you think she is.”
The words cut through the cold.
“What did you say?”
He smiled faintly.
“Your father warned you.”
My grip tightened.
“How do you know what the letter said?”
“Because I helped him write it.”
Chloe stared at him.
“You said Julian killed him.”
“Julian gave him the drug.”
“You supplied it,” I said.
“On Margaret’s request.”
The corridor seemed to narrow.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
He nodded toward my pocket.
“Your father didn’t trust her.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew about the missing pension money before he did.”
I said nothing.
Kerr continued.
“She helped Julian move the first transfer.”
“No.”
“She thought your father would forgive him.”
“That doesn’t make her part of murder.”
“No. But hiding the theft made everything after it possible.”
The temperature alarm sounded again.
Two minutes.
I stepped closer.
“Where are the tapes?”
“In the machinery room.”
“What is on them?”
“Your mother’s voice.”
Chloe looked at me.
“Elena, we need to open the warehouse.”
I kept the gun trained on Kerr.
“Walk.”
He laughed softly.
“You think the police outside matter? By the time they get in, your mother will already be dead.”
The contaminated medication.
My pulse jumped.
“The hospital stopped all medication.”
“Or so they told you.”
He was trying to provoke me.
I knew that.
But I also knew he had already entered the hospital once.
“Move.”
I forced him toward Freezer Room B.
Chloe limped behind us.
At the wheel lock, Kerr stopped.
“Open it.”
He shook his head.
“The mechanism is frozen.”
“Then unfreeze it.”
“The steam line.”
Chloe understood first.
She dragged the broken pipe hose from the corridor.
Together, we directed hot steam toward the wheel.
The metal groaned.
I kept the gun on Kerr while Chloe turned it.
The wheel moved.
One rotation.
Then another.
The manual release door opened.
Inside was a large red lever.
Chloe pulled it down.
Nothing happened.
Kerr smiled.
“Wrong release.”
I shoved the gun closer to his chest.
“Which one?”
“Lower panel.”
Chloe tore open the panel.
A second lever sat behind a plastic cover.
She broke it and pulled.
Far above us, machinery roared.
The loading door began rising.
The tactical team entered.
Kerr’s smile disappeared.
“Police!” voices thundered through the warehouse.
He moved suddenly.
Not toward me.
Toward Chloe.
He grabbed her and twisted her injured arm behind her back.
The gun in my hand shook.
“Drop it,” he said.
Chloe screamed through clenched teeth.
“Shoot him.”
“I said drop it.”
Boots pounded in the stairwell.
Kerr dragged Chloe backward toward the machinery room.
“Shoot him!” she shouted again.
“I can’t get a clean shot.”
“You hate me anyway.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
I did hate her.
I hated what she had done to Mom.
I hated every bruise.
Every threat.
Every stolen dollar.
But hatred was not permission to let someone die.
I lowered the gun slightly.
Kerr smiled.
Then Chloe drove her heel into his knee.
He stumbled.
I fired.
The bullet struck the floor beside his foot.
He released her.
The tactical team flooded the corridor and forced him down.
Within seconds, Kerr was face-first on the concrete, hands restrained behind him.
Chloe collapsed against the wall.
I knelt beside her.
“You missed,” she whispered.
“I didn’t.”
She looked at me.
For the first time, there was no arrogance in her face.
Only exhaustion.
Wells came down the stairs.
“Warehouse secure.”
“The tapes?”
“Team is collecting everything.”
“My mother?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation terrified me.
“What happened?”
“The hospital called.”
I stood.
“Tell me.”
“They found a second IV port hidden beneath the blanket.”
My mouth went dry.
“What was in it?”
“They don’t know yet.”
“Is she alive?”
May you like
Wells met my eyes.
“She’s in surgery.”
