Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Took the BulletI caught Vivien before she hit the floor.
“Vivien!”
Blood spread across her shoulder.
Mara rushed in.
“Down!”
Security flooded the hallway.
The shooter was gone.
I looked at Vivien.
“Stay with me.”
She opened her eyes.
“Don't…”
“What?”
“Trust Victor.”
Then she fainted.
The bullet had passed through her shoulder.
Nonfatal.
But the message was clear.
Someone wanted her silent.
I moved her to a secure medical room.
For the first time, I began questioning everything I thought I knew.
Vivien had lied.
She had stolen from my safe.
She had used a false name.
But she had also just taken a bullet meant for me.
That didn't make her innocent.
It made her complicated.
The doctor treated her.
Mara entered.
“We found the shooter.”
“Who?”
“Dead.”
“How?”
“Someone killed him before he could talk.”
I knew immediately.
Victor.
I called him.
No answer.
Then my phone received a video.
Victor sat in a dark room.
Beside him was a man I recognized.
My wedding planner.
Victor smiled.
“Your father left you an empire.”
He paused.
“You never understood what it cost.”
I stared at the screen.
“Where are you?”
“Where your mother died.”
The video ended.
Mara looked at me.
“We need to find that place.”
I nodded.
Then Vivien spoke from the bed.
“I know where.”
We looked at her.
She struggled to sit.
“It's beneath the old chapel.”
“The chapel?”
She nodded.
“Your father built a room beneath it.”
“For what?”
“To hide the people he was protecting.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“Your father wasn't protecting money.”
He was protecting witnesses.
People who knew the truth about The Circle.
My mother had discovered them.
My father had tried to expose them.
And Victor had spent years rebuilding the organization.
The wedding would bring every powerful member together.
One room.
One night.
One target.
Me.
Vivien looked at me.
“They don't want to kill you before the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Because they need your signature.”
“For what?”
May you like
She whispered:
“The transfer of the entire Duca empire.”
Related Stories
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(1048x378:1050x380)/Jenna-Bush-Hager-100223-c94955eb572d47ea815a340c18c6e771.jpg)
