MY SON BEGGED ME NOT TO MARRY HER—THEN I FOUND MY DEAD WIFE’S HIDDEN TAPE EXPOSING MY BROTHER’S SICK CONSPIRACY

Gunfire shattered the silence of Courtroom 302.

Victor fired three rounds into the high plaster ceiling. The heavy roar inside the enclosed chamber was deafening. Chunks of white plaster and dust rained down over the benches.

Judge Hollister dove beneath his bench with a coward’s screech. The two bailiffs drew their sidearms, but Victor fired twice at their feet, forcing them to scramble behind the heavy wooden witness box.

“Noah! Down!” I roared, tackling my son to the floor beneath our oak table, shielding his body with my entire torso.

Carter didn't hesitate. He didn't care about the judge, the bailiffs, or the law anymore. The veil was completely gone. He lunged across our table, grabbing Noah by the collar of his coat, trying to drag him out from beneath me.

“He’s my ticket out of here, Dan!” Carter screamed, his face red and demonic. “Let go of him!”

I didn't reach for words. I grabbed a heavy brass desk lamp from the counsel table and smashed it across Carter’s face.

The heavy metal base cracked against Carter’s cheekbone. Carter shrieked in pain, falling backward over the chairs, blood pouring from a gash across his temple.

“Victor! Shoot him!” Victoria screamed, backing toward the rear exit, completely hysterical.

Victor leveled his silenced pistol straight at my head.

BANG.

The gunshot didn't come from Victor’s gun.

Victor gasped, his eyes rolling back as a hole opened in the center of his chest. He collapsed face-first onto the red carpet of the aisle, dropping his weapon.

Standing at the back of the courtroom, holding a service revolver with two hands, was Hendricks—the second estate security guard who had disappeared from my house the night before.

Hendricks was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, his uniform torn.

“Hendricks?” I breathed, holding Noah against my chest.

“Mr. Daniel!” Hendricks yelled, clearing the door. “Marcus locked me in the guard shack last night! I broke out and tracked Carter’s car down here! State Police are pulling into the square right now!”

Carter scrambled up from the floor, wiping the blood from his eyes, his tailored suit ruined. He saw his enforcer dead on the carpet, heard the distant wail of state police sirens echoing off the courthouse exterior, and knew it was over.

He bolted out the judge’s private chamber door behind the bench.

Victoria tried to run after him, but Grace moved with lightning speed. Grace grabbed her half-sister by the hair, spun her around, and slammed her hard against the wooden railing.

“Let me go, Grace!” Victoria screamed, scratching at Grace’s wrists. “We’re sisters! We have the same blood!”

“Our mother died with dignity, Victoria,” Grace said through clenched teeth, pinning Victoria’s arms behind her back with brutal efficiency. “You’re nothing like her. You’re a monster.”

The double doors of the courtroom were kicked open by four heavily armed State Police tactical officers with rifles raised.

“State Police! Drop all weapons! Down on the floor!”

Hendricks immediately placed his revolver on the bench and raised his empty hands. “Estate security! The shooter is down! The co-conspirator is running through the judge’s private chambers!”

I stood up slowly, lifting Noah into my arms.

Noah buried his head in my neck, sobbing, but he was breathing. He was safe.

The lead state trooper, Captain Miller, recognized me instantly. He lowered his rifle.

“Dr. Mercer? We received an emergency encrypted upload from a federal server twenty minutes ago. Telemetry logs, offshore accounts, and an audio confession from fleet mechanic Frank Miller. Where is Carter Mercer?”

I pointed toward the judge’s open private exit.

“He’s heading for the underground judicial parking lot,” I said, my voice hardening like iron. “He has a black Mercedes SUV parked on Level B. And he’s not getting out of this county.”

The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.