Chapter 3 - The Broken Engagement
The silence in the hospital room was suffocating.
Julian Blackwood stepped forward, pushing his younger brother behind him. Unlike Grant, who was panicking, Julian was cold, calculating, and ruthless.
"Agent Vance," Julian said, his voice flat. "My mother is an elderly woman with heart conditions. Whatever happened at the venue was a tragic misunderstanding. Our family is prepared to offer Ms. Elena Miller a very generous financial settlement—five million dollars—to settle this matter out of court and decline to cooperate with your investigation."
I looked at Julian, then at Grant, the man I had spent two years of my life loving.
Grant wouldn't even meet my eyes. He stood behind his brother, looking at the floor, worried about his money, his reputation, and his mother's social standing. Not once had he asked me how I was feeling. Not once had he asked if my blood sugar was safe. Not once had he apologized for the blood that had dripped down my hip when his mother tore my lifeline away.
"Five million dollars?" I asked, my voice steadying.
"Ten million," Julian corrected instantly, taking out a leather checkbook. "We can wire the funds into your personal account within the hour. All you have to do is sign the waiver declaring that Agent Vance coerced your statement while you were under the influence of medication."
I looked down at the gold pen lying on the floor beside my bed.
Then I reached up, grabbed the heavy plastic water pitcher from my nightstand, and poured the entire contents directly over the stack of legal papers Grant had shoved onto my lap.
The paper soaked through, the black ink running into useless grey smears.
Grant gasped. "Elena! Are you insane?!"
"Get out," I said, looking Grant straight in his coward's eyes. "Get out of my room, get out of my life, and take your blood money with you."
"Elena, think about what you're doing!" Grant yelled, taking a step toward me. "Without my family, you're nothing! You're just a broken, sick girl with a dead father! You think this fed cares about you? He's using you to get a promotion!"
Before Grant could finish his sentence, Lucas moved with terrifying speed.
He grabbed Grant by the lapels of his designer jacket, slammed him against the hospital room wall, and clicked a pair of steel handcuffs around his wrists with two sharp clicks.
"Grant Blackwood," Lucas said directly into his ear, "you are under arrest for attempted bribery of a federal witness, obstruction of justice, and accessory to healthcare fraud."
"Julian! Help me!" Grant screamed as Lucas pulled him toward the door.
Julian looked at his brother, then at Lucas, his eyes filled with cold fury. "You're making a massive mistake, Agent Vance. Our legal team will have him out on bail in two hours."
"Tell your legal team to bring their toothbrushes," Lucas replied, pulling Grant out into the hallway where two uniformed federal marshals were waiting. "Because the IRS just seized your family's accounts ten minutes ago."
Julian froze. He pulled out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen. A second later, his phone slipped from his hand, shattering against the hard floor.
I sat up in my bed, holding my IV line, watching as the powerful, untouchable Blackwood family collapsed into pieces right before my eyes.
Lucas returned to the room, closing the door behind him. He looked at me, his dark eyes filled with a quiet, fierce respect. "That was very impressive with the water pitcher, Ms. Miller."
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A small, genuine smile touched my lips for the first time in days. "My father always told me never to sell my integrity, Agent Vance."
"Call me Lucas," he said, pulling his chair closer to my bed and sitting down. "And now that the trash has been taken out, we have a lot of work to do. We're going to get your father's legacy back."
