CHAPTER 11 — THE BROTHERS
CHAPTER 11 — THE BROTHERS
George stared at Richard.
“How did you get that?”
“You left it in the bank van.”
Richard walked closer.
Police vehicles waited out of sight beneath the bridge approach.
A microphone was hidden beneath his shirt.
But George did not know that.
Clara struggled in George’s grip.
“Richard, don’t.”
George pressed the knife closer.
“Put the ledger down.”
Richard obeyed.
“You always thought I was weak,” he said.
“You are weak.”
“Yes.”
Richard’s eyes filled with regret.
“I let you frighten me. I let you use Julian. I let Clara believe our family was honorable.”
George laughed.
“You took the money.”
“I did.”
Clara’s face tightened with pain.
Richard continued.
“I told myself it was a loan. Then I told myself I was protecting my son. Every lie made the next one easier.”
“Touching.”
“But I kept copies.”
George’s smile disappeared.
Richard pointed toward the river.
“The recorder Audrey threw was empty.”
George turned toward her.
Audrey held up the real recorder, concealed beneath her gown’s torn lace sleeve.
Police sirens erupted from both sides of the bridge.
George dragged Clara backward.
“You think this ends with me?”
Julian’s voice came through Richard’s phone speaker.
“It does.”
George looked around.
Julian had connected remotely from the old Westbridge office.
On Richard’s screen appeared archived emails, server logs and scanned contracts.
Julian had found the original records.
Every forged approval.
Every payment.
Every message George had sent ordering employees to replace certified steel.
George’s face twisted with rage.
“You ungrateful boy. I built your career.”
“You used my name.”
“I gave you opportunities.”
“You murdered Sienna.”
George’s control finally broke.
“She was going to destroy everything!”
The confession echoed through Richard’s hidden microphone.
Police rushed forward.
George shoved Clara away and ran toward the maintenance scaffolding.
He slipped on wet metal and caught the railing.
For a moment, he hung above the river.
Julian heard his uncle’s desperate breathing through the phone.
Audrey reached the railing.
George looked up at her.
“Help me.”
She stared at the man who had killed her sister and destroyed her marriage.
Then she lowered a safety cable.
“Take it.”
George grabbed it.
Police pulled him back onto the bridge and handcuffed him.
George looked at Audrey in disbelief.
“Why?”
Her eyes were cold.
“Because Sienna wanted justice.”
She stepped back.
“Not another death.”
As George was taken away, Clara looked at Richard.
He moved toward her.
She raised one hand.
“Not yet.”
Then Julian’s voice came through the phone.
“Audrey.”
She almost ended the call.
May you like
But he whispered one final sentence.
“The Greyford Bridge is failing.”
