Chapter 16 - The Hit-and-Run
The confession nearly broke Victor’s focus.
Grant used that second to run.
He carried Rosie through the balcony doors and down the stone steps toward the cliffs.
Dana’s team moved around the estate.
Victor stayed with Marcus.
“You killed her?”
Marcus was crying now.
“I was supposed to scare her. Hit her car, make her stop talking.”
“You ran her off the road.”
“She got out. I thought she was fine.”
“You left her.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Victor wanted to hate him cleanly, but sixteen years of friendship made even hatred complicated.
“Why save Eli?”
“Because I saw her children after. I couldn’t keep pretending.”
Victor stood from his chair with Dana’s help.
His legs shook violently.
He took one step.
Then another.
Not because he was healed.
Because rage made pain irrelevant for three seconds at a time.
Outside, Grant stood near the cliff path with Rosie pressed to his chest.
The ocean hammered the rocks below.
“Give me the card!” he shouted.
Victor held it up.
“You don’t want this.”
“I want my life back.”
“You built your life by stealing mine.”
Grant laughed wildly.
“And what did you build yours with? Dock strikes? Broken competitors? Men like Marcus?”
Victor stopped.
Grant’s accusation had truth inside it.
Victor had never poisoned anyone, but he had spent decades rewarding obedience and calling it loyalty.
He looked at Rosie.
Then at Grant.
“You’re right about one thing.”
Grant blinked.
“I built a world where men like you learned that winning mattered more than people.”
Victor dropped the card onto the wet stone.
Grant looked down.
Dana moved from behind the hedge.
Grant saw her.
He stepped back.
The cliff edge crumbled beneath his heel.
Rosie slipped from his arms.
Victor lunged.
His knees gave way.
But Eli came from the side and caught the blanket.
Dana grabbed Eli.
Grant fell backward over the edge.
His hand caught the stone ledge.
He screamed Victor’s name.
Victor crawled toward him.
Grant stared up.
May you like
“Help me.”
Victor reached down.
