Chapter 14 - THE LAST SHOT
“Dad!”
Everything happened at once.
Police stormed the hallway.
Julian dropped the gun.
Officers drove him to the floor.
I crawled out of my wheelchair.
Pain tore through my legs.
I didn’t care.
Dad lay against the wall.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Dad.”
His eyes opened.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding!”
“Shoulder.”
Even shot, he sounded irritated by the inconvenience.
Paramedics arrived.
The bullet had passed through the muscle without striking an artery.
He would survive.
I cried into his chest while he complained that I was squeezing his bad shoulder.
Julian was handcuffed.
As police pulled him downstairs, he looked at me.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked small.
Not charming.
Not powerful.
Not intimidating.
Just small.
“Audrey.”
I turned away.
He shouted louder.
“Audrey!”
I looked back one final time.
“What?”
His eyes filled with something that almost looked like tears.
“I loved you.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
My voice was calm.
“You loved owning me.”
He flinched.
“You loved having someone who gave up everything so you could feel important.”
“That’s not true.”
“You tried to kill me.”
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I continued.
“You tried to take Chloe away.”
“I was scared.”
“You murdered Vanessa.”
His face changed.
“You have no idea what happened.”
“I know enough.”
Police moved him toward the door.
He twisted around.
“You think your father is better than me?”
Dad was being treated behind me.
I looked at Julian.
“My father spent his life protecting people.”
Then I looked at the man I had married.
“You spent yours using them.”
That was the last private conversation we ever had.
The case took almost a year to reach trial.
By then I could walk with a cane.
Every step still hurt.
But every step was mine.
The prosecution presented everything.
The cut brake line.
The forged insurance papers.
The hidden accounts.
Vanessa’s financial records.
Marcus Vale’s testimony.
The nurse Julian hired.
The kidnapping attempt.
The gunshot inside Dad’s home.
Julian’s lawyers tried to paint Vale as the mastermind.
Then prosecutors played the message.
Everything is ready. She drives alone Thursday.
Julian watched the jury hear his own words.
For once, he had nowhere to hide.
The verdict came after nine hours.
Guilty.
Count after count.
I held Chloe’s hand.
Julian was sentenced to decades in prison.
Marcus Vale received a reduced sentence for cooperating.
The woman who tried to inject me pleaded guilty.
Julian’s company disappeared.
His reputation disappeared.
His money disappeared.
But one thing remained unfinished.
After sentencing, Detective Grant approached me outside court.
“I have something you need to see.”
She handed me an envelope recovered from Julian’s safe.
My name was written across the front.
Inside was a letter dated six months before my crash.
Not from Julian.
From my mother.
My mother had been dead for thirty years.
My hands started shaking.
I looked at Dad.
His face went white.
“Where did Julian get this?”
Dad whispered,
“I don’t know.”
May you like
I opened the first page.
And the first sentence changed everything I thought I knew about my family.
