Chapter 6 - The Murder Plot Unveiled
The pier was abandoned, cloaked in thick fog and the scent of saltwater.
I stood by the railing, the wind whipping my coat around my legs. Alexander waited in the shadows of an old boathouse, a silent predator watching over me.
Tires screeched on the wet pavement.
Lena practically fell out of her car, her hair a mess, her designer clothes wrinkled. The arrogant, composed secretary was completely gone, replaced by a terrified, desperate woman.
"You don't have footage," Lena stammered, pointing a shaking finger at me. "The car burned! There was nothing left!"
My heart stopped.
I had suspected it. I had felt it in my bones. But hearing the confirmation out loud felt like a physical blow to the chest.
The car burned.
"You killed him," I whispered, the horror creeping up my throat. "He didn't just crash. You murdered my father."
Realizing she had just confessed to a ghost, Lena covered her mouth, her eyes wide with terror.
"No! No, it wasn't me!" she cried, dropping to her knees on the wet wooden planks. "It was Gavin! He paid the mechanic! He knew your father was onto him. He knew he was going to be fired and sent to prison!"
"And you helped him cover it up," I said, my voice eerily calm despite the hurricane raging inside my mind.
"I just sent the texts! I just delayed calling the ambulance so he would bleed out!" Lena sobbed, clutching at my coat. "Please, Naomi. I'll testify against him. I have the receipts. I have the bank transfers to the mechanic. Just don't let me go down for murder!"
From the shadows, Alexander stepped forward.
He didn't say a word, but the look in his eyes made Lena scramble backward in pure terror. He held up his phone. A tiny red light was blinking.
He had recorded the entire confession.
"You just handed us the rope, Lena," Alexander said coldly. "Now, we're going to hang him with it."
I looked down at the pathetic woman groveling at my feet. I felt no pity. Only justice.
"Bring the documents to my lawyer's office in one hour," I commanded. "If you try to run, Alexander's people will find you before you reach the city limits."
Lena nodded frantically, scrambling back into her car and speeding away into the fog.
I stood frozen, the reality of my father's brutal death finally sinking in. The adrenaline that had kept me going for three months suddenly vanished, leaving me hollow.
My knees buckled.
Before I could hit the ground, Alexander caught me. His strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me against his chest.
May you like
"I've got you," he whispered fiercely into my hair. "I've got you, Naomi. It's almost over."
I buried my face in his coat and finally let the tears fall, not out of weakness, but out of the profound relief that the monsters who killed my father were about to face their reckoning.
