Chapter 5 - The Shipyard Queen
"This is impossible," Garrett choked out, taking a panicked step back from the podium as if I were a ghost. "You were trapped. You couldn't move!"
"You should have used a thicker wire on my seatbelt, darling," I smiled coldly, pulling the exact piece of cut metal wire from my pocket and tossing it onto the stage at his feet. "And you really should have checked if Tobias actually needed that wheelchair."
The crowd erupted into absolute chaos. Board members shouted, reporters scrambled to hit record on their cameras, and the governor’s security detail immediately surrounded him.
"They're imposters!" Penelope shrieked hysterically from the floor, clutching her pregnant belly. "Garrett, do something! They're dead!"
Tobias stepped forward, raising a hand. The massive digital screens flanking the stage—screens that had been showing a slideshow of my life—suddenly flickered. Tobias had hijacked the feed.
Instead of wedding photos, the screens began playing the security footage from the fertility clinic parking lot, showing Garrett and Penelope passionately kissing. It then shifted to a high-definition scan of the toxicological report Tobias had pulled from my bloodwork at the safe house, detailing the neurotoxins and paralytics. Finally, it displayed the wiretap audio of Garrett’s father, Richard, confessing to the tampering of our parents' car fifteen years ago.
"You didn't just try to drown my sister," Tobias’s voice boomed over the speakers, authoritative and lethal. "Your family murdered our parents. You embezzled from this company, and you attempted to finish the slaughter for a payout."
"Lies! It’s deep-faked!" Garrett screamed, sweat pouring down his face. He lunged toward the side stairs of the stage, desperately trying to escape.
He didn't make it three steps. Marcus and half a dozen armed shipyard security officers tackled him to the ground, pinning him against the concrete. Federal agents, whom Tobias had quietly contacted and briefed earlier that morning, poured into the venue from the side entrances.
An FBI agent walked up to Penelope, securing her hands behind her back in zip-ties despite her sobbing and thrashing. "Penelope Sterling, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and corporate fraud."
I walked up the steps of the stage, looking down at the man who had promised to love me until death did us part. Garrett was pressed against the floor, hyperventilating, his expensive suit ruined by the dust of the dry-dock.
"The offshore accounts are empty, Garrett," I whispered, crouching down so only he could hear me. "I drained them last night. You are going to federal prison, and you are going there completely broke."
He looked at me, genuine, primal fear in his eyes—the exact same fear he had forced me to feel as the river water rose to my chest.
I stood up, stepping over him, and took my rightful place at the podium. I looked out over the stunned crowd, the press, and the empire my parents had built. Tobias walked up and stood beside me, a silent, powerful guardian.
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"The Sterling Shipyard will not be liquidated," I announced, my voice steady, powerful, and alive. "The infection has been cut out. We are open for business."
The nightmare was finally over. The poison was gone from my veins, the traitors were in handcuffs, and for the first time in fifteen years, my brother and I walked out of the darkness and into the sun, together.
