Chapter 15 - The Crash
Valentina’s breath stopped.
Six months earlier, her SUV had lost control on Route 2 during heavy rain. She had blamed the tires.
Elliot had not been in the car.
Nathan had spent the night beside her hospital bed.
Now Gloria stood in the boathouse holding a gun and smiling.
“You cut my brake line?” Valentina asked.
“I paid someone who knew how.”
Nathan staggered backward.
“You tried to kill my wife?”
“Your wife was destroying this family.”
“She is my family.”
Gloria’s face hardened.
“No. She is the woman who made you forget who built you.”
Elliot started crying.
“Dad…”
Nathan moved instinctively toward him.
Gloria swung the gun.
“Stay where you are.”
Valentina saw Marco’s shadow outside the window.
She needed time.
“You forged my name, framed Nathan, stole from charities, kidnapped Elliot, and tried to kill me. For what? A company that was already failing?”
“For the Caldwell name.”
Valentina almost laughed.
“You burned the name yourself.”
Gloria’s eyes flashed.
That tiny break in control was enough.
Elliot kicked backward, catching Gloria in the shin.
She stumbled.
Nathan lunged.
The gun fired.
Glass exploded from the boathouse window.
Valentina dropped beside Elliot as Marco and police rushed in.
Nathan wrestled Gloria’s wrist downward.
A second shot buried itself in the floor.
Then officers dragged her away.
Nathan fell to his knees.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Valentina crawled toward him.
“Nathan?”
He looked down at the wound beneath his ribs.
Then at Elliot.
“Is he okay?”
Valentina pressed both hands over the blood.
“Yes.”
May you like
Nathan exhaled.
“Then don’t let my mother win.”
