Chapter 8 - THE NAME BEHIND THE CONSPIRACY
The attackers vanished before police arrived.
One was dead.
Two escaped.
Sterling remained locked in the guest room.
He looked genuinely terrified.
Everett stood in the doorway with a cane.
“Who sent them?”
Sterling laughed nervously.
“You think I know?”
Everett stepped closer.
“Alan Whitfield?”
Sterling said nothing.
Willa watched him.
“You’re scared.”
Sterling glared at her.
“Stay out of family business.”
Everett struck him across the face.
Sterling staggered.
“That is my wife.”
The room went silent.
Everett lowered his hand.
“Now answer.”
Sterling wiped blood from his lip.
“You think I planned everything?”
“Yes.”
“I planned to take the company.”
“And kill me.”
Sterling looked away.
Everett’s voice dropped.
“Who else?”
Sterling swallowed.
“Grant Allison.”
Willa froze.
The hospital administrator.
The man who had pushed through the investigation that ended her career.
Everett looked at her.
Sterling continued.
“Allison and Whitfield had been laundering money through medical supply contracts for years.”
“Using Kane trucks?” Everett asked.
“Yes.”
“And when I noticed?”
“You started auditing shipments.”
“So you drugged me.”
Sterling shook his head.
“Whitfield started with small doses. We needed you confused.”
Willa’s stomach turned.
“And the crash?”
Sterling closed his eyes.
“Allison arranged it.”
Everett grabbed his collar.
“You let them try to kill me.”
“I thought you were dead!”
“Then why keep me drugged?”
“Because you survived!”
Everett slammed him against the wall.
Willa stepped in.
“Everett.”
He released Sterling.
Sterling slid into the chair.
Willa asked, “What does my old case have to do with this?”
Sterling looked at her.
“Harold Fisk.”
Her heart stopped.
“What about him?”
“He found out.”
“Found out what?”
“The hospital was receiving controlled drugs through fake Kane shipments. Fisk worked in accounting.”
Willa’s face went white.
“He was going to report them.”
Sterling nodded.
“Whitfield silenced him.”
“And blamed me.”
“Yes.”
Three years.
Three years of shame.
Willa gripped the table until her knuckles turned white.
Everett watched her.
Sterling added, “Allison chose you because you were convenient. No rich family. No political connections.”
Willa’s eyes filled with rage.
“You destroyed my life because I was easy.”
Sterling said quietly, “I didn’t know you then.”
She slapped him.
Hard.
“You know me now.”
Everett almost smiled.
Marcus arrived with news.
Federal investigators were willing to meet.
They had enough to move.
But there was one problem.
Whitfield had disappeared.
And Grant Allison had boarded a private jet forty minutes earlier.
Destination unknown.
Then Willa’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
A familiar voice breathed into the receiver.
Dr. Whitfield.
“Willa.”
Her body went cold.
“You always were difficult.”
“Where are you?”
“I have something you want.”
A woman cried faintly in the background.
Willa stopped breathing.
“Mom?”
“Willa?” Ruth’s confused voice trembled.
Whitfield came back.
May you like
“If Everett Kane wants his wife’s mother alive, he’ll meet me alone.”
Cliffhanger: Whitfield had taken Ruth before Everett’s men could reach her—and now he wanted the newly awakened mafia boss delivered to him.
