Chapter 13 - THE LAST FLIGHT
“Drop the weapon.”
Federal agents surrounded the airfield.
The executive laughed.
“You really think this ends with handcuffs?”
Brooke stood frozen.
Ryan moved toward her.
“Brooke.”
“Don't.”
“I'm not leaving you.”
She shook her head.
“You already did.”
He stopped.
She looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
I said nothing.
The executive raised his weapon.
Everything happened at once.
An agent shouted.
Brooke dropped.
Ryan tackled the man.
A gunshot cracked across the runway.
I grabbed Caleb.
We ran behind a vehicle.
Then silence.
When I looked again, the executive was on the ground.
Ryan was kneeling beside Brooke.
She was bleeding.
I expected jealousy.
Hatred.
Something.
Instead, I felt only exhaustion.
She had been part of destroying my marriage.
But she was also the person who had exposed the truth.
Paramedics rushed in.
Ryan looked at me.
“I am so sorry.”
I shook my head.
“Not here.”
He nodded.
The investigation continued for months.
The recordings became evidence.
The flight records became evidence.
The company executive was arrested.
Daniel cooperated.
Brooke survived.
Ryan was charged for his role in the original cover-up.
He didn't fight the charges.
That surprised me.
Then he told me why.
“I can't undo what I did.”
“No.”
“But I can stop pretending I didn't do it.”
For the first time, I believed him.
May you like
Not because I trusted him.
Because he finally stopped asking me to.
