Conrad’s Final Offer
Chapter 10 - Conrad’s Final Offer
Conrad placed the sewing box on the table as calmly as if he were returning a borrowed tool.
“You have Clara’s stubbornness,” he told Nora. “It ruined her life too.”
Julian stepped between them. “Where is the suit?”
“Safe. Unlike you.” Conrad’s gaze moved to their joined hands. “I see our seamstress has become more than an employee.”
He offered Julian a choice. Conrad spoke with the confidence of a man who had spent years turning crimes into family obligations. He reminded Julian of every school he had paid for, every crisis he had managed, and every door the Hartwell name had opened—as if raising a frightened child had purchased the right to own the adult. Complete the wedding, sign the trust papers, and Evelyn would be allowed to live quietly under supervision. Refuse, and Conrad would release forged records portraying Evelyn as delusional, Nora as an extortionist, and Julian as mentally unfit to lead the company.
“You can’t control the truth forever,” Julian said.
“I only need to control it until noon.”
Conrad opened the sewing box. The mechanism was gone. “You found one needle. Did you really think I prepared only one?”
A chill passed through Nora. The duplicate suit might also be trapped, or the threat could be a bluff. Either way, Conrad wanted them doubting every seam.
Marcus entered with two guards. For a terrifying moment, it appeared he had betrayed them again. Then he locked the guards outside and handed Julian Conrad’s phone.
“I copied everything,” Marcus said. “Messages, payments, clinic orders. My sister is already with police in London.”
Conrad’s composure finally cracked. He lunged for the phone, but Julian held him back. Nora pressed the emergency alert Lena had given her.
Sirens sounded beyond the gates.
Conrad laughed. “You think police will arrest me at my own house on the morning of my nephew’s wedding? Half the guests owe me favors.”
He was right about one thing: the evidence needed to become public before anyone could bury it. Nora proposed using the wedding broadcast. Every camera in the ballroom was scheduled to stream the ceremony live to millions of viewers.
They would let the wedding begin.
Vanessa would pretend to follow the plan. Julian would wear a third suit Nora made from pieces of the safe duplicate. Marcus would place cameras in Conrad’s preparation room. Evelyn and the prosecutor would wait nearby.
Conrad looked at them with open contempt. “You won’t make it to the vows.”
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Before police reached the sewing room, the lights went out.
In the darkness, someone struck Julian from behind—and Conrad disappeared.
