Sophia reached a second-floor window and carefully opened it.

The hinges creaked.

“There you are.”

A flashlight blinded her. For the first time, she saw the man’s face.

It was David—Richard’s younger brother. The one supposedly traveling in Europe.

The one who would inherit everything if Richard died childless.

“Do you know how much my brother is worth?” David said coldly. “Four hundred million dollars. That’s plenty of motivation.”

Elena stepped beside him, holding another flashlight.

“You should have stayed quiet,” she told Sophia. “Now we’ll have to improvise.”

Sophia backed toward the open window.

“Wait! Richard needs to know the truth!”

“Richard is sedated,” Elena replied casually. “We told him he had a crisis and gave him his ‘medicine.’ He’ll sleep for hours.”

David stepped closer, something metallic glinting in his hand.

“I’m sorry, Sophia. But we can’t let you ruin three years of work.”

That’s when Sophia realized something horrifying.

The “medicine” Elena had been giving Richard weren’t harmless pills.

They were tranquilizers—keeping him weak and confused while the lead poisoning did its work.

But there was one thing Elena and David didn’t know.

Inside that rotting wall, Sophia hadn’t just found lead pipes.

She’d found an old phone.

A phone Richard had hidden there months ago—when he first suspected betrayal.

A phone that had been recording every conversation near that wall.

Including their full confession.

Sophia smiled in the darkness and raised her own phone.

“It’s too late,” she said calmly. “I sent everything.”

Elena and David stared at her in panic.

“Sent what?” David asked.

“The audio. Photos of the pipes. All of it. It’s already on its way to the police and the media.”

What Sophia didn’t know was that Richard Blackwood wasn’t as sedated as they believed.

And he had heard everything.

Just as David lunged forward, the lights snapped on.

A familiar voice echoed through the hall.

“Step away from her, David. Now.”

Justice at Last

Richard Blackwood stood in the hallway—straighter than he’d been in months.

In his hand was his phone, clearly recording.

“Every word you said is documented,” he said firmly. “Including your plan to murder me.”

Elena went pale. “Richard, we can explain—”

“Explain what? Three years of lead poisoning? Drugging me to keep me quiet? Or how my own wife and brother planned my death?”

David dropped the knife in his hand.