Chapter 5
We immediately contacted the state prosecutor, and within two hours, a massive tactical operation was organized to surround the south shore docks. Armed with hidden body microphones, I stepped into the dimly lit industrial warehouse where Penelope was tied to a wooden pillar.
“Thank God you came!” Penelope wept as soon as she saw me.
I stopped thirty feet away. “Where is the financial evidence you promised me?”
Her weeping stopped instantly, and a cold smile spread across her face as she easily slipped her hands out of the loose ropes. “You were always far too trusting, Rosalind.”
Floods of overhead lights slammed on, revealing Garrett standing on an upper steel catwalk alongside his father, Montgomery.
“I told you to finish the job completely the first time,” Montgomery scolded his son coldly.
“Did you order the crash that killed my parents fifteen years ago?” I called out, ensuring the microphone picked up every word.
Montgomery laughed arrogantly. “Your foolish father refused to let our cargo ships use his port routes for smuggling. He paid the ultimate price for his stubbornness.”
“Dad, shut your mouth!” Garrett yelled in panic.
“And what about my grandfather?” I demanded.
“Your grandfather was an idiot who refused every buyout offer we made,” Montgomery sneered. “He brought his own ruin upon his family.”
Before anyone could say another word, the side door burst open, and Tobias walked casually into the room.
Penelope let out a terrified shriek, while Garrett stared in total disbelief. “You… you can walk?”
Tobias stepped up beside me with a cold grin. “That is what your evil family was supposed to believe for fifteen long years.”
Montgomery’s face turned pale as he realized my brother had been playing them all along. “What have you been doing all this time?”
“Watching you,” Tobias replied cleanly.
Loud police sirens began wailing outside, echoing through the thin metal walls of the warehouse.
“They set us up!” Montgomery roared, reaching for a concealed handgun.
“No,” I shouted back over the noise. “You set yourselves up. We just brought the law with us.”
Tactical officers flooded the building from every entrance, disarming Montgomery and Garrett before they could even draw their weapons. A comprehensive search of the facility took hours, eventually revealing a hidden safe concealed behind a false wall.
Inside that safe lay the master key to their empire: financial records of illegal smuggling operations, wire transfers to the mechanic who sabotaged my parents’ vehicle fifteen years ago, and records of the toxic chemicals purchased to poison me.
Montgomery was arrested for murder and racketeering, Garrett was locked away without bail for attempted murder, and Penelope was charged as an accessory to conspiracy.
May you like
As the officers dragged Penelope away, she looked at me tears streaming down her face. “I am pregnant, Rosalind! This child is your nephew!”
“The baby is innocent,” I said softly, looking at her without an ounce of hatred left. “Which is why I hope he grows up as far away from you and Garrett as humanly possible.”
