Chapter 15 - THE FINAL TOAST
Michael sat twenty feet away with his wrists bound.
A former Sterling security officer stood behind him holding a gun.
Lucas poured champagne into two glasses.
Willow remained near the entrance.
“Let my father go.”
“After you sign.”
He placed documents on a metal table.
They transferred Michael’s technology rights, Willow’s gallery company, and her trust interest to Lucas.
Another page stated that the anniversary slap had been accidental.
“You escaped custody for signatures that will never survive court.”
Lucas smiled.
“They will if you testify that your father forced you to accuse me.”
“No one will believe that.”
“They believed I built the company.”
“They believed you were happy.”
“People believe the story repeated by the person with enough money.”
Willow looked at Michael.
His eyes moved toward the left side of the room.
A broken window stood above an old loading platform.
Detective Brooks’s team was approaching through that side.
Willow needed more time.
“Did you ever love me?”
Lucas’s expression softened.
“I chose you.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me instructions.”
“You made me a Sterling.”
“You used marriage to silence my father.”
Lucas’s face hardened.
“Your father should have accepted the money.”
“He built what you claimed.”
“He repaired one defect.”
“He saved the company.”
“I was the vision.”
“You were the man reading his notes.”
Lucas threw the champagne glass.
It shattered near Willow’s feet.
The sound echoed through the factory.
For a moment, she returned to the ballroom.
The glass.
The laughter.
His raised hand.
This time, no one laughed.
Michael spoke from the chair.
“Lucas.”
“Your problem was never that Willow embarrassed you.”
“Your problem was that she could see what you were without the Sterling name.”
Lucas turned toward him.
He picked up a metal bar.
The former security officer raised his gun.
Willow stepped between Lucas and Michael.
“You hit me once because six hundred people made you feel powerful.”
“Try it now.”
Lucas lifted the bar.
Police lights flashed through the broken windows.
The security officer panicked and fired toward the loading platform.
Detective Brooks’s team returned fire.
The officer dropped his weapon and surrendered.
Lucas grabbed Willow.
He pressed the metal bar against her throat and pulled her backward toward the fuel containers.
“You brought them.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“You always blame someone else for the room you created.”
Lucas reached for a lighter.
Michael forced his chair sideways.
It struck Lucas’s knee.
Willow drove her heel into his foot and twisted free.
Detective Brooks crossed the floor and tackled him before he reached the fuel.
Lucas fought until three officers restrained him.
The contract pages scattered across the concrete.
Willow ran to Michael.
He looked at her carefully.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
She cut the ties from his wrists.
Lucas shouted behind them.
“You are still my wife.”
Willow turned.
May you like
“No.”
“I was your witness.”
