Page 162 of Collateral Damage
Jonathan’s eyes gleam as he continues. “I never looked up to my uncle, you know. He’s a corporate bootlicker. I look up to people like your father, who built King Media from nothing and became a billionaire. That’s what I’m gonna do.”
There it is. The delusion. The goddamn podcast-fueled fantasy so many young men these days easily adopt, thinking that becoming a billionaire is simply something they can work hard for. Extreme wealth doesn’t work that way. A billion dollars takes more than work—it’s like winning the lottery, only harder and rarer.
Jonathan thinks that because a handful of powerful and well-connected men have struck gold and built empires, he’s destined to be next. I’d love to burst his bubble, but I know better than to taunt the man holding two guns.
“How exactly do Sybil and I factor into your plans?”
“One of you is going to take the fall for my dear uncle’s death, here.”
Okay, so he really is crazy. We’ll tell the cops the truth later, after the threat is gone.
Jonathan tilts his chin. “Who’s gonna take the blame?”
Cooper’s hand shoots up. “That would be me.”
I shake my head. “Cooper, don’t?—”
“Do you have a fucking death wish?” Jonathan sneers at me. “Let your man be a man and protect you for once. God, I’m so tired of all this feminist-woke-bullshit. You’re infected, do you know that? You’re fucking infected. You don’t even have to work, you’re already filthy rich, and yet you want to work rather than accepting the role you were bred for? You think it’s okay to take jobs from deserving men like me who actually have real skills?”
He shakes his head, heat rising in his cheeks. “Be grateful for Cooper. He’s doing the right thing. I don’t want to hear another word out of your pretty mouth. Let the men take care of business, and shut the fuck up.”
He’s completely unhinged. Cooper’s face is turning blotchy, and I know he’s feeling everything I’m feeling, punctuated with rage.
I nod at Jonathan, secure in the fact that we’ll handle this with the police later. Once we explain everything, they’ll believe us over this lunatic, won’t they?
“I’m gonna hand you the gun now,” Jonathan continues, looking at Cooper. “You know, the one you used to kill my uncle who was threatening your girlfriend.”
Cooper’s eyes brighten in anticipation, and Jonathan snorts.
“Don’t worry, the gun only had one bullet in the chamber, so it’s useless now. When the police get here, you’ll both confirm Cooper tackled me, took my gun, and killed my uncle. He was going to kill me, too, but, lucky me, with only one bullet in the chamber, I was able to get away and retrieve my uncle’s weapon to defend myself.”
My mouth falls open.
Jonathan is smarter than I thought.
His lies might actually be believable.
“I have proof you two are a couple and very much inlove,” he says, drawing the word “love” out like it’s a joke. “So, of course, you’ll say whatever you had to say to protect each other. The truth is—according to the police—you came here to talk to us, you got mad, you took it too far, and you’re ultimately responsible for my uncle’s death.”
Jonathan dangles the gun in front of Cooper’s face like a carrot. When Cooper takes it, my heart drops. He’s really going along with this. He could spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
“Prison is better than watching him kill you,” Cooper says, looking at me like the sun rises and sets in my face. “I love you, Sybil. I’ll do anything for you.”
I’d do anything for him, too, and I shake my head with tears running down my face. “Please don’t.”
A commotion sounds outside the door, and the security guard knocks, then speaks through the panel. “The police are here. What should I do?”
Jonathan’s grin is barely contained, but his voice shakes with distress. “Send them in! Hurry, my uncle’s been shot!”
The guard shuffles off.
“I can’t wait to get my hands on the Vale fortune. I’m the sole heir, you know. Auntie and Uncle never had any children. I stand to end up with millions in seed money for my company.”
He takes his eyes off us for a second to smile fondly at his uncle’s body—that’s when Cooper lunges, tackling Jonathan to the floor.
Boom!
The other gun fires.
