Page 38 of Gator

“She wasn’t my ward,” he frowned. “She was simply the daughter of an ex-business partner.” Ruiz shook his head.

“No. No, that’s not all there is to it. Why would you let your bodyguard impregnate her, then you rape her? Why?”

“Just tell him!” yelled Matilda.

“Yes, tell us,” said Messina, standing next to Ruiz. “You two seem to have a great many secrets and leave us out of it.”

“That wasn’t our intent,” said Metzger. “You know that I killed her parents so that I could inherit the business and all its assets. What I didn’t know was that her father made sure everything was in her name, not mine. It couldn’t be touched until she was twenty-five or had a child. In which case, the child would inherit it all.”

“Those assets must be worth a fortune,” frowned Messina.

“Yes, they are, and they’re mine. Those assets will change everything for us,” said Metzger.

“They’re mine as well,” smiled Matilda. “I mean, after all, we were married at the time.” Metzger said nothing, just staring straight ahead at the other two men.

“I figured she would come for the child, and I would kill her, raising another child not my own. When that happened, I would petition the courts for access to the holdings. I’d already found a judge that would push it through. I just never expected that she would actually hook up with those fucking RP men.”

“RP doesn’t exist any longer,” said Ruiz. “I’ve tried telling you this. They disbanded, and some have formed a different agency, but RP is no longer viable.”

“You believe that?” frowned Metzger. “I guarantee you that they are still around in some way. Those men don’t know how to give up. They don’t know what the word quit means. They have Dylan. They have her fucking kid, and both of them have the assets to the business I built with her father, and they are the key to gaining control of this country.”

“What you really mean to say is that they have the assets you stole and placed in the name of her father, just in case the feds came looking? Isn’t that right?” smirked Messina. Metzger just stared at the other man. “I’m not just a stupid Italian, Hanz. I am head of two banks. I know how these things work. You have millions in assets that you stole, laundered, and placed in business accounts under your partner’s name. Did you think we would just stand by and let you have access and not include us?”

“It doesn’t belong to you,” said Hanz.

“We need the money for my campaign,” said Matilda. Hanz rolled his eyes, turning to the woman.

“You won’t get the money for any campaign. The vote is tomorrow, Matilda. You’re at less than one percent. You will not win this election. Even Frost and Benitez-Cortez are playing nice with one another for the sole purpose of defeating you.”

“I will win!” she yelled. Her eyes went wide as she stood, pacing the room. Reaching into her bag, she grabbed a small pistol and pointed it at Hanz. “You tricked me!”

“I didn’t trick you,” he said calmly. “I wanted what you did. I wanted RP gone, and I wanted control of the White House.”

“I was going to have control of the White House,” she said, emphasizing ‘I.’

“Yes, that’s right,” he nodded, holding up his hands.

She just stared at him, then started to slowly move in his direction. She never saw him. She never felt him. She never suspected him. But when her own father held his pistol to a pillow at the back of her head and fired, her own blood splatter caught her eye for the briefest of moments as she was falling to the carpet below.

“You killed your own daughter,” said Messina.

“I killed a version of my daughter. My real daughter died a long time ago,” said Ruiz. “I’m done. I’m done with this insane chase of yours, Hanz. We cannot win against RP, or whatever they’re called now. I have moved my operations further south in Mexico. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. Just leave me alone.”

Ruiz stared down at the back of his daughter’s head. The small bullet hole, surprisingly, didn’t have much blood around it. It was all in the front. Thankfully, he didn’t have to look at that. Stepping over her body, he opened the door and left.

Hanz stared at his ex-wife’s body, then looked up at Messina.

“Then there were two.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Ian, what just happened in here?” asked Dylan.

“I’m not sure,” he frowned. “I mean, I think my great-grandmother just revealed herself as a, as a, I’m not sure as what, and to be honest, I don’t even want to say it.”

“I hope Sadie will be okay,” she said quietly. Gator stared at her, then nodded.

“You don’t seem too bothered by all of that,” he said.

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