Chapter 583
Chapter 582:
He tightened his grip on Carmen, shielding her from the doorway. His political instincts, razor-sharp and ruthless, snapped back online.
“Lock down the building,” he said, his voice returning to the icy, authoritative register of a man who ruled Washington. “No one leaves. Confiscate the security footage and wipe the local servers. Pay the manager triple the cost of the damages in untraceable cash and have him sign an ironclad NDA. If anyone asks, a drunk patron tripped and fell into the booth. I was never here p>
Lee nodded sharply. “Consider it done, Senator p>
Justin looked down at Carmen. He gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his touch a stark and quiet contrast to the violence he had just unleashed.
“I am going to tear his empire apart piece by piece,” he said, his gaze fixed on the ruined table ahead of him. “I am going to make him beg for death p>
The armored Cadillac SUV glided smoothly away from the private club, leaving the chaos and shattered glass behind. Inside the cabin, the air was thick with expensive leather and the lingering, metallic trace of violence.
Justin sat in the back seat — not rigidly, but with the heavy stillness of a man who had just weathered a catastrophic storm. He had pulled off his suit jacket and tossed it onto the empty seat beside him. His white dress shirt was rumpled beneath. On his left forearm, a raw red scrape oozed slightly where he had driven Davis against the sharp edge of the mahogany table.
Carmen sat across from him, her hands held tightly within his. The silence between them was not heavy — it was a profound, exhausted quiet, the kind that follows a confession that has shattered the world and left only the truth standing.
“Your arm,” Carmen said, her voice raspy from crying. She leaned forward, her eyes fixed on the scrape, and gently released one of his hands. Her cool fingertips hovered just above the raw skin. “It’s bleeding p>
Justin didn’t look at his arm. He turned his head toward the dark window, watching the city’s neon lights blur past.
“I hurt someone you trusted,” he said, his voice a low, hollow rumble. The guilt was absolute. “I let my paranoia blind me. I attacked an innocent man p>
𝘞𝖾 𝗎𝗉𝖽𝗮𝘵е е𝘷𝗲𝘳у 𝘸е𝘦𝘬 𝘰𝗻
Carmen shook her head gently. “He isn’t someone I trust, Justin. Not like that. Davis is a tool. I hired him to dig up the truth. There is no personal emotion there p>
She paused, drawing a shaky breath. The memories were still raw.
“When Conrad came to me that night,” she continued, her voice trembling slightly, “he didn’t just threaten my life. He had documents — forged financial records, fabricated to show that my parents had embezzled millions from a shell company. He told me that if I didn’t break it off with you, he would hand those records to the feds. He said my parents would die in prison p>