Chapter 15 - THE TRAP AT THE SHIPPING TERMINAL
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At eleven forty-five that night, Dorian and I arrived at the old shipping terminal.
Rain swept across the empty docks. Rusted containers rose like black walls beneath the floodlights, and the harbor smelled of salt, diesel, and wet metal.
The detective waited in a nearby warehouse with a small team. Every page of the ledger had been copied and secured. The original remained in my possession.
Dorian checked his watch.
"If anything happens, you go with the detective."
"No."
"Audra—"
"You don't get to decide that anymore."
He exhaled slowly.
"Then stay where I can see you."
We entered the terminal together.
A single light burned above a loading platform.
Blythe sat tied to a chair, her face bruised but her eyes alert.
Beside her stood a man I recognized from Dorian's office.
His chief financial officer, Marcus Vale.
Dorian stopped.
"Marcus?"
The man smiled faintly.
"Good evening, Don."
"You've worked for me for twelve years."
"Thirteen, actually."
"Why?"
Marcus looked at me.
"Because some people build empires, and other people spend their lives cleaning up after them."
Dorian's expression hardened.
"You've been moving the money."
"Someone had to. Your father left a mess, your mother preserved it, and you were too sentimental to understand what the family needed."
I stepped forward.
"You used Dorian's signature."
Marcus shrugged.
"He was busy with his wife. Someone had to manage the accounts."
Blythe struggled against her restraints.
"He also forged documents to keep Audra from inheriting her father's company."
Marcus smiled.
"That was a particularly elegant arrangement. The rightful owner was living in the family mansion, and nobody realized she was the one person who could legally challenge the entire structure."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"You knew who I was."
"Of course."
"And you let me believe my father had died."
"That was the story everyone agreed upon."
Dorian moved toward him.
"You used my name to steal from my wife."
Marcus drew a weapon.
"Don't come any closer."
Dorian stopped.
Marcus pointed toward the ledger in my hands.
"Put it on the floor."
I obeyed.
"Now kick it toward me."
I did.
He bent to retrieve it, and Dorian moved.
Everything happened at once.
Marcus swung the weapon toward him. Blythe threw herself sideways, tipping the chair. The gun fired, and the sound echoed across the terminal.
Dorian fell against a container.
I screamed his name.
The detective's team rushed in from the warehouse.
Marcus tried to run, but two officers tackled him before he reached the loading bay.
I dropped beside Dorian.
Blood spread across his shirt near his shoulder.
"Look at me," I whispered. "Dorian, look at me."
His eyes opened.
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"I've had worse."
"That isn't comforting."
He managed a faint smile.
The detective secured Marcus and recovered the ledger.
Blythe was freed and immediately began crying.
"I thought I was going to die."
I embraced her despite everything that had happened between us.
For one moment, the terminal seemed almost peaceful.
Then Marcus, handcuffed beside a police cruiser, began laughing.
"You think you've won?"
The detective turned.
Marcus looked directly at me.
"The ledger is only one part of the evidence. The original recording is the part that will destroy you."
I went still.
"What recording?"
May you like
Marcus smiled.
"The one proving that your mother wasn't the only woman Evelyn Kincaid tried to silence."
