I walked out, hands on my head. The truth had no witness, no cameras in the room, only their coordinated testimony. One man dead, another blinded; the evidence pointed to me. I was taken away while Shannon and her clan were led off for questioning and then released, triumphant.
Hours later, I sat in a detention cell as a criminal suspect, while they went free. The next day, Shannon returned. If looks could kill, she would have sliced me where I sat.
“You killed my uncle and blinded my brother,” she said, voice cold as ice. “But I’ll give you one chance to redeem yourself.”
She laid out her terms like a dealer: one billion dollars, transfer your company to mine, a signed apology and her uncle’s family’s sworn statement that they wouldn’t pursue the murder charge. “Do that,” she said, “and you won’t face execution.”
I rose without wasting breath or time. Her jaw tightened. “Jerome, this is your last chance,” she warned. “Refuse and I’ll make sure you die with a scandal that haunts your name forever. I’ll expose what happened back then and the staged assault yesterday. Think of your daughter. If she knew the truth about her father—”