Chapter 7 - The Confrontation on the Ridge
The cold rain stung my face as I ascended the stone stairs leading to the elevated helipad. The wind was howling, whipping the surrounding pine trees into wild violent shadows.
A sleek black executive helicopter was idling on the pad, its rotors spinning at maximum speed, creating a deafening roar. Standing near the open cabin door was Veronica, wrapped in a long dark trench coat, holding a leather briefcase filled with stolen bearer bonds and international passports.
“VERONICA!” I roared, stepping onto the tarmac with my pistol trained directly on her chest.
Veronica froze. She slowly turned around, her elegant face twisting into a cold, contemptuous sneer that removed every trace of her sophisticated facade.
“Julian,” she called out over the roar of the rotors, her voice dripping with venom. “I should have known your paranoid security protocols would slow me down.”
“Why, Veronica?!” I yelled through the storm. “Ethan is an eight-year-old child! He never did anything to you!”
Veronica let out a sharp, bitter laugh that was swallowed by the wind. “He is your heir, Julian! As long as that boy lives, everything your father built belongs to you and your precious son! My daughter and I were left with scraps—a paltry trust fund while you inherited a global empire!”
“You poisoned my father, didn't you?” I realized with sudden, sickening clarity. “Five years ago... his sudden cardiac arrest... it wasn't natural.”
Veronica’s eyes gleamed with wicked arrogance. “Your father was old and soft. He was going to rewrite his will to leave forty percent of the company to charity! I gave him what he deserved. And tonight, I was going to wipe out your legacy once and for all. If Ethan died, you would have broken, Julian. You would have surrendered the company, and Alba Holdings would have swallowed Sterling Global whole!”
“You used Gabriel’s suit sleeve to frame him,” I said, stepping closer, my finger tightening on the trigger. “You looped the cameras using my administration codes.”
“It was a brilliant plan,” she hissed, pulling a small remote detonator from her pocket. “And even now, you can’t stop me. This remote is synced to the estate’s main power grid. One click, and I blow the electrical transformers, plunging your safehouse into total darkness!”
Before she could press the button, a small dark shadow darted out from behind the fuel storage tanks near the helipad edge!
It was Arthur! He had circled around the ridge line through the woods, flanking her position!
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Arthur fired a single, non-lethal shot that struck Veronica’s wrist!
She screamed in pain, dropping the detonator onto the wet tarmac! I lunged forward, kicking the detonator off the edge of the cliff into the dark ravine below, while Arthur tackled Veronica to the ground, binding her wrists with heavy steel handcuffs!
