Chapter 40: The Godfather Bleeds

Victor Hale did not escape quietly.

Gunfire erupted inside the hangar seconds after Evelyn was arrested. Scarlett heard Luca shout. Alexander pushed her behind the armored car and turned toward the sound.

'Do not move,' he ordered.

Then he ran into the hangar.

Scarlett sat frozen in the rain, her heart beating so hard it hurt. Police surrounded Evelyn. Grace shouted into a phone. Moretti guards moved toward the hangar doors.

Another shot rang out.

Then silence.

Scarlett could not breathe.

She pushed herself forward, ignoring Grace's warning. The hangar smelled of fuel, rainwater, and smoke. Inside, crates were overturned. A guard lay wounded near the wall. Luca stood with blood on his sleeve, aiming his gun at Victor Hale.

Victor stood near the jet stairs, one hand raised, the other pressed against his side.

Alexander was on the floor.

Scarlett's world narrowed to the dark stain spreading across his white shirt.

'No,' she whispered.

She moved toward him faster than she thought possible. Her wheelchair hit debris, jolting her body, but she barely felt it.

Alexander opened his eyes when she reached him.

'You were supposed to stay outside,' he said, voice rough.

Scarlett laughed and cried at once. 'You were supposed not to bleed.'

His hand found hers. 'Hale?'

Luca answered, 'Alive. Unfortunately.'

Victor laughed weakly from where guards forced him down. 'You should have taken my offer, Alexander.'

Scarlett turned her head slowly.

Something in her face made Victor stop smiling.

'You tried to kill me,' she said. 'You helped murder my mother. You used my father, my stepmother, my body, my grief.'

Victor's eyes narrowed. 'You are nothing without him.'

Scarlett looked at Alexander bleeding on the floor, then back at Victor.

'Then watch what nothing does.'

She lifted her phone and called Grace.

'Release everything,' Scarlett said. 'The ledger, the recordings, the files. All of it. Tonight.'

Victor's face changed.

Alexander squeezed her hand weakly, pride flickering through pain.

Paramedics rushed in.

As they lifted Alexander onto a stretcher, Scarlett refused to let go until a medic gently separated their hands.

Outside, cameras captured Victor Hale in handcuffs, Evelyn screaming in the rain, and Scarlett Whitmore beside the ambulance, soaked, bruised, and unbowed.

That night, the world learned the truth.

But Scarlett only cared whether Alexander would survive it.