Chapter 10 - THE BULLET AND THE CONFESSION
Olivia backed away until her spine hit the glass desk.
“You wouldn't shoot me!” she shrieked, panic breaking through her facade.
“Alexander loves me! He’s always loved me!”
“Alexander hasn't loved you since we were twenty years old, Olivia,” Marcus said coldly, cocking the pistol hammer.
“You were just a convenient distraction from his own guilt.”
Before Marcus could pull the trigger, Madison threw herself in front of Olivia.
“No, Marcus! Don't!” Madison screamed, tears streaming down her face.
“If you kill her, Morena will slaughter us all!”
“Get out of the way, Madison,” Marcus ordered.
“Or you can join her.”
At that exact moment, the private elevator bell chimed behind them.
Ding.
The doors slid open.
A man stepped out into the office.
Not an assassin.
It was Alexander.
He had flown back from Toronto on a private red-eye flight after receiving an encrypted text from Marcus.
He looked around the room—at the briefcase of bearer bonds, at Olivia’s terrified face, at Madison sobbing on the floor, and at Marcus holding a gun.
The pieces clicked together in his mind with terrifying clarity.
“Olivia,” Alexander said quietly, his voice dangerously soft.
He walked slowly toward her, ignoring the gun in Marcus’s hand.
“You orchestrated the birthday party delay on the day Grace died, didn't you?”
Olivia swallowed hard, her voice trembling.
“Alex... no... Madison planned it—”
“Madison is a fool who follows your lead,” Alexander interrupted, his gray eyes turning into bottomless black ice.
“You knew I was supposed to pick Grace up from preschool.”
“You called me an hour early, demanded I come over to review those fake catering invoices, and made sure my phone was silenced.”
“You wanted me distracted.”
“You wanted my family destroyed so I would have no one left except you.”
Tears spilled from Olivia’s eyes—real tears of absolute terror.
“I did it because I love you!” she screamed.
Alexander didn't yell.
He didn't strike her.
He simply reached out, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her off the floor with one hand.
“You didn't love me,” Alexander whispered, his grip tightening until her face turned purple.
May you like
“You loved the throne.”
“And now, you’re going to help me burn it to the ground.”
