CHAPTER 9 — She Took the Bullet Meant for Him
The massive steel doors slammed shut behind Victoria.
The echo rolled through the abandoned warehouse like thunder.
Twenty armed men surrounded her.
At the center of the room stood Adrian Blackwood, calmly sipping a glass of whiskey.
He smiled.
"You've always been smarter than your father..."
"But not smart enough."
Victoria clenched her fists.
"What do you want?"
Adrian slowly walked toward her.
"I want Lucas Carter to suffer exactly the way William Carter made me suffer."
"You think this is about business?"
"It never was."
His eyes darkened.
"Twenty-five years ago, William chose profit over friendship."
"My wife died because of that decision."
"My son blamed me."
"My family was destroyed."
"I lost everything."
He leaned closer.
"So now..."
"I'm taking everything from his grandson."
At that moment...
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
BOOM!
Flash grenades rolled across the concrete floor.
Smoke filled the building.
"Federal agents!"
"Drop your weapons!"
Lucas stormed inside wearing a bulletproof vest, followed by dozens of tactical officers.
His eyes searched desperately.
"Victoria!"
She turned.
"Lucas!"
For one brief second...
Their eyes met.
Relief washed over both of them.
Then everything happened at once.
One of Adrian's hidden gunmen emerged from the second floor catwalk.
He ignored the officers.
Ignored everyone else.
His rifle pointed directly at Lucas.
Victoria saw it first.
"Lucas!"
Without thinking...
She ran.
BANG!
The gunshot echoed through the warehouse.
Time seemed to stop.
Lucas felt someone slam into him.
He stumbled backward.
Victoria collapsed into his arms.
A dark red stain spread across her white blouse.
The bullet had struck her shoulder, narrowly missing her heart.
"No..."
Lucas caught her before she hit the floor.
"No... stay with me!"
Victoria smiled weakly through the pain.
"I told you..."
"I'm not that woman anymore."
Lucas pressed his hand against the wound.
Blood soaked through his fingers.
Paramedics rushed inside.
Adrian tried to escape through a hidden tunnel.
But Eleanor Carter was already waiting at the exit.
She stood calmly beside two federal marshals.
"You've been running for twenty-five years, Adrian."
"It's over."
Adrian slowly raised his hands.
For the first time in decades...
The man who had terrified billionaires around the world had nowhere left to hide.
As officers placed him in handcuffs...
He looked at Lucas one final time.
"You won today..."
"But the truth died with William Carter."
Eleanor's expression suddenly changed.
"What truth?"
Adrian only smiled.
"You'll find it..."
"In the red journal."
Then he disappeared into the waiting police vehicle.
Lucas looked toward Eleanor.
"The red journal?"
She whispered,
"I hoped it had been destroyed."
Three days later...
Victoria finally opened her eyes in the hospital.
Lucas hadn't left her bedside once.
He looked exhausted.
His beard had begun to grow.
The moment she smiled...
He quietly took out the same silver ring she had once thrown onto the marble floor.
"I should have stopped loving you."
"But I couldn't."
He opened the box once more.
"No cameras."
"No audience."
"No pressure."
"Just one question."
"Will you let me love you... for the rest of our lives?"
Tears streamed down Victoria's face.
This time...
She didn't laugh.
She nodded.
"Yes."
Lucas slipped the simple silver ring onto her finger.
The room erupted in applause from nurses, doctors, Clara, Eleanor, and dozens of Carter employees waiting outside.
For a moment...
It seemed every wound had finally begun to heal.
Until Samuel Brooks quietly entered the room holding an old leather journal stained dark red.
His face was pale.
"I found it."
May you like
"The journal Adrian mentioned."
Everyone fell silent.
