Chapter 8 - The Poison in His Pocket
Security searched Arthur.
Inside his tuxedo jacket, they found a silver vial.
The label identified a fast-acting sedative prescribed under an alias linked to my forged medical records.
Arthur did not resist.
Audrey stared at him.
“You said it was only for emergencies.”
He looked at her with contempt.
“You brought Clarissa here.”
“I didn’t invite her.”
“But you tore her blouse. You turned every eye toward her.”
“I thought the drive was there.”
Arthur faced me.
“I carried the vial because Eleanor threatened Audrey.”
Audrey laughed through tears.
“Now you care about me?”
He ignored her.
Eleanor had allegedly promised to expose Audrey’s role in the mission failure unless Arthur completed the protocol.
Arthur claimed he intended to destroy the poison after the gala.
Commander Ellis asked why the vial was loaded into a concealed injector disguised as a fountain pen.
He had no answer.
I remembered him approaching me before Audrey tore my blouse.
He had tried to embrace me.
I stepped away because his affection felt false.
The pen had been in his hand.
“You were going to inject me,” I said.
“No.”
“You already removed me from the Navy. You already let me be called unstable. Why should I believe you stopped before murder?”
His voice softened.
“Because you are my daughter.”
“That never protected me before.”
The words landed harder than shouting.
Arthur looked around the ballroom.
The executives who once admired him now avoided his eyes.
Military officers watched with open disgust.
His retirement portrait hung above the stage, twenty feet tall, showing him beside a destroyer built by his company.
His legacy was collapsing beneath it.
Then the ballroom lights flickered.
Every screen went black.
A woman’s voice filled the speakers.
“Clarissa.”
My body froze.
I knew that voice from childhood bedtime stories and old home videos.
Eleanor.
“You always were the difficult one.”
Admiral Thorne ordered technicians to trace the broadcast.
Eleanor continued.
“Arthur lacks the courage to finish anything. Audrey lacks discipline. You, however, inherited both.”
I stepped toward the stage.
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“You’re too late.”
“No. You brought the only decryption key.”
I looked at my Navy medals.
One of them had belonged to my grandfather.
May you like
Eleanor knew it contained something.
📖 The medal Clarissa wore in honor of her grandfather secretly held the key to files powerful enough to destroy governments and defense companies. 👇
