Page 74 of Two Steps Ahead

“You know the story of George Kesler and me five years ago. How I bought his business.”

Gwendolyn nodded. “He was your enemy. You dismantled the company.”

Leo shook his head. “You’ve heard how we kicked everyone out of the boardroom and it was just George and me the day of the merger?”

“Shoot him, Gwendolyn!” Beau yelled. “He’s messing with your head.”

Leo continued over Beau. “I didn’t have any plans to dismantle the company. It was worth more as a whole. Georgeaskedme to dismantle it. He found out Beau—and Beau’s clinical research division—was cutting corners. Their experimental medicine program? It was all fake. They weren’t treating people at all. Every patient was receiving a placebo. They were falsifying data.”

“He’s lying!” Beau yelled.

Leo shook his head. “George asked me for help. We were going to dismantle the company together to stop Beau. Then George had a rather unfortunate heart attack, so I dismantled the company myself.”

Gwendolyn turned to look at Beau. “Is this true?”

“Of course not. He’s just trying to save himself.”

“He’s rebuilt another pharmaceutical company and is doing the same thing,” Leo continued calmly. “I am so terribly sorry about your daughter and any role I played in her death. But he’s the one who’s making money at the cost of sick people’slives. If she was in one of his earlier trials, she was not receiving real medicine. She was going to die even if the company had survived.”

Gwendolyn was wavering; Kayleigh could see it. The other woman didn’t know who to believe.

“Don’t listen to him.” Beau slammed his fist down on his Range Rover. “This is our chance to become richer than either of us have ever dreamed.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

“This wasn’t about money,” Gwendolyn replied. “It was never about money. Not for me.”

“I know, I know,” Beau backtracked. “I mean...let’s get Leo’s money and really make him pay. We can still use Kayleigh to stop everything and get his assets signed over to us.”

“I’ve already removed Kayleigh’s power of attorney. She’s of no use to you. And I’m afraid my holdings won’t be nearly as exciting as Beau thinks they will be.”

“Why is that?” Gwendolyn looked back and forth between Leo and Beau.

“I’m buying out Brighton Pharmaceuticals at a substantial loss for me,” Leo said gently. “Most of my fortune will be gone by the end of today.”

Everyone stared at Leo. No one had been expecting this.

“I’ve been trying to gather enough evidence against Beau to stop him from ever hurting anyone again. The proof is inside the company. And I’m pretty sure I can find proof that his father’s heart attack was no accident.”

Weston pulled away from Kayleigh, getting to his feet. She didn’t know how he was even still conscious.

“Weston, sit back down,” she whispered. “I—”

“You’re done, Beau,” Leo said. “I’ve already gotten part of the proof I needed under the guise of preliminary walk-throughs for the merger. All that it will take now is—”

Beau dove for Gwendolyn, knocking the older woman down and snatching her gun from her hand in a split second, turning it toward Leo.

He fired before Leo even had his own weapon raised.

Weston was the only one who’d realized what was about to happen and had already launched himself at Beau. Weston hit him. It wasn’t enough force to knock him over, but it caused the shot to miss Leo. Off balance, Weston fell to the ground.

With a snarl, Beau pointed his gun down at Weston. “Fine. You can die first.”

Kayleigh screamed, already running toward the two men as a shot rang out. “Weston!”

But it was Beau who fell over to the side, bleeding from a wound to his chest. Weston scooted up and kicked Beau’s gun away from him.

Leo kept his gun pointed at Beau as he walked forward. Gwendolyn was crying on the ground, off to the side.

---