Chapter 8
1765words
She swam toward the cargo area where ships were docked, ready to leave port. When she grabbed the hanging rope, her frozen fingers had almost lost all sensation. The moment she climbed onto the deck, a gun pressed against the back of her head.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time," Lucas's voice carried a strange calmness.
Emily Anderson slowly turned around. Lucas Lawrence was soaking wet, his suit clinging to his body, the gun in his hand as steady as a sculpture. But there was no killing intent in his eyes, only bottomless exhaustion.
"Just kill me if that's what you want." She lifted her chin, seawater dripping from the tips of her hair.
Lucas suddenly lowered his gun, pulling her into the shadow of a shipping container. Several armed figures were searching along the dock.
"Simon wants to silence us, me included." He loosened his tie, revealing bruises on his neck, "I found something... about your mother's death."
Emily froze. In the moonlight, Lucas handed her a waterproof bag containing a yellowed medical record.
"Lily Lambert, cause of death: drowning. But the autopsy report shows she was already dead before entering the water." He pointed to the autopsy record, "Skull fracture, consistent with homicide characteristics."
Emily's legs weakened to the point she could barely stand. Her mother hadn't committed suicide; she was murdered.
"Who?"
"Simon Shaw's driver confessed to the crime back then, claiming it was a traffic accident." Lucas Lawrence sneered, "But the driver recanted on his deathbed last week—it was Simon who pushed her with his own hands, because your mother had evidence of his bribery."
Footsteps echoed outside the shipping container, and the two pressed themselves against the wall, holding their breath. The pursuers' voices were just inches away:
"Split up and search! Mr. Shaw instructed that he wants them alive if possible, or their bodies if necessary."
When the footsteps faded away, Lucas pulled her up, "It's not safe here, follow me."
Emily Anderson broke free, "Why should I trust you?"
"Because of this." He showed her his phone with a live security feed—Simon Shaw's bodyguards were searching his apartment. "He's now eliminating everyone who knows. We're both just pawns, discarded when no longer useful."
They moved along the shadows of the cargo ship, arriving at a maintenance hatch. Lucas entered a code, and the iron door slid open, revealing a makeshift safe house inside.
"I've been preparing for three months." He turned on the emergency light, illuminating walls covered with relationship charts, with Simon Shaw's photo at the center. "I originally intended to use this for negotiating my survival, but now..."
Emily Anderson noticed Jin Yan's name on the relationship chart, connected to Simon Shaw with a red line.
"Jason Johnson is Simon Shaw's illegitimate son," Lucas Lawrence dropped the bombshell. "He was sent to an orphanage twenty years ago and only reconnected with his father three years ago."
Everything suddenly became clear. Jason's betrayal, his obsession with the Anderson case, those ambiguous offers of help—all were carefully scripted acts.
Emily opened the waterproof bag containing the evidence. Besides medical records, there was a scanned copy of instructions signed by Simon Shaw himself, detailing how to orchestrate Anderson Enterprise's bankruptcy and how to drive her father to death. Most chilling was the note at the bottom: "Lily Lambert remains stubborn, proceed with the plan."
The word "plan" was specially highlighted.
"This is enough to send him to the execution ground," she said with a trembling voice.
Lucas nodded, "But we need a living witness. Shaw has bribed people at every level; only testimony can nail him."
The safe house suddenly shook as cutting sounds came from outside the hatch. The pursuers had found them.
"Take the emergency exit!" Lucas pushed open the hidden door and handed her a USB drive. "This contains the encryption key for the money trail. Give it to Captain Wilson of the Economic Crime Investigation Team. He's my man."
Emily grabbed his arm. "Let's go together!"
"Someone needs to hold them off." He smiled with rare tenderness. "Jade, I'm sorry. If we could start over..."
The cutting sounds were getting closer. Lucas pushed her into the passageway and slammed the gate shut.
In the dark tunnel, Emily crawled forward desperately. Behind her came gunshots and sounds of fighting, along with Lucas's roars. When she finally emerged from the exit, she found herself on a road outside the dock.
Looking back, thick smoke was rising from the direction of the safe house.
She flagged down a passing truck and used the driver's phone to contact Jason. Since he was acting, she would play along till the end.
"I'm on the West District Highway. Simon's men are still after me," she said, her voice carrying just the right amount of panic.
Jason arrived quickly as expected, his performance flawless: "It's okay now. I've found new evidence that can turn the case around."
In the car, he handed her a bottle of mineral water. Emily Anderson pretended to drink it, but secretly poured it away. In the rearview mirror, Jason Johnson's eyes flashed with disappointment.
He took her to a safe house in the suburbs, which was the same villa where she had previously met Claire Lee. But this time, Claire Lee wasn't there; instead, the house was filled with surveillance equipment.
"Rest first, we'll hold a press conference tomorrow," Jason said. He thoughtfully made the bed, but placed a listening device under the pillow.
Emily pretended to be asleep and heard him talking on the phone outside the door: "...have her under control, all evidence is with her...understood, waiting for you to handle it personally..."
At three in the morning, she quietly got up. Breaking into Jason's computer password was easier than she thought—he used his mother's birthday, information she had shared with him.
The files on the computer were shocking. They contained not only Simon Shaw's criminal records but also multiple false reports written by Jason Johnson, including those articles smearing Emily Anderson's mental state. In an encrypted folder, she found what she wanted most—the DNA paternity test between Simon Shaw and Jason Johnson.
She sent all the materials to multiple preset email addresses, including those of Mark Porter, Victoria Lambert, and the Economic Crime Investigation Unit. Finally, she set a timed release to publish everything online at nine o'clock tomorrow morning.
After finishing all this, she returned to bed and pretended to sleep.
In the early morning, Simon Shaw drove over personally. The old man wore a traditional Chinese jacket and leaned on a walking stick, looking like an elder visiting his younger relatives.
"Miss Anderson, this farce should end now." He sat at the edge of the bed, tapping his cane lightly on the floor. "Hand over the evidence, and I'll ensure you leave safely."
Emily sat up. "Safe like my mother was?"
Simon's expression stiffened slightly. "Your mother's death was an accident."
"Then why have you been funding Jason Johnson's investigation into this matter for twenty years?" She looked directly into his eyes. "Because of guilt? Or fear that he might discover the truth?"
Jason Johnson stood at the doorway, his expression changing dramatically.
Simon Shaw gripped his cane tightly. "Little Jason, please step outside."
"No, let him hear this." Emily Anderson got out of bed and turned on the projector. "Everyone, welcome to The Truth Revealed."
She pressed play. The screen displayed in sequence: forged Anderson bankruptcy documents, her mother's autopsy report, photos of Simon Shaw with officials, recordings collected by Lucas Lawrence... finally freezing on the DNA test results.
Jason Johnson staggered backward. "This is impossible..."
"Your mother was Zhou Yuqing, Simon Shaw's secretary. She was sent away when she became pregnant and died from postpartum hemorrhage," Emily released the final photo—a young woman with facial features strikingly similar to Jason's. "And the person who drove her to death was Claire Lee, Simon Shaw's wife."
Simon Shaw suddenly stood up, his cane falling to the ground: "Shut up!"
"Why should I?" Emily sneered. "Because you kill without remorse? Because you're so powerful?" She pointed at Jason. "You even used your own son to silence others!"
Jason Johnson suddenly pulled out his gun and pointed it at Simon Shaw. "Is what she said true?"
The sound of police sirens grew closer. Simon threw his head back and laughed, "What if it is true? You think you can bring me down?"
He pressed a button on his watch, and instantly the entire villa was shielded by an electromagnetic field. At the same time, more than a dozen armed bodyguards burst through the door.
"Clean this up," Simon ordered.
Surrounded by guns, Emily Anderson raised her phone. "It's too late. All the evidence has been synchronized to the cloud, including this live footage." She looked toward the drone rising outside the window. "We're streaming live to the entire internet."
Simon's expression finally changed.
Police cars surrounded the villa. When Captain Wilson led his team rushing in, Simon was sitting dejectedly in his chair, as if he had aged twenty years in an instant.
Jason's gun was still trembling. Between his father and justice, he had ultimately chosen the latter.
"I confess," Simon said to Emily as he was being handcuffed. "But you'll never know the whole truth."
Emily Anderson walked up to him, "I know enough. Like how you caused my parents' death, how you used your own son, and..." she lowered her voice, "Claire Lee has already submitted the keys to your offshore accounts to Interpol."
Simon Shaw's pupils contracted sharply. This was his final vulnerability.
As the police car transporting Simon drove away, Jason Johnson came to Emily's side.
"I'm sorry."
Emily gazed at the rising morning sun, "Someone who manipulates feelings doesn't deserve to say sorry."
She got into the police car, taking one last look at the city that had imprisoned her life for seven years. The moment when the truth came to light didn't bring the satisfaction she had imagined, only boundless exhaustion.
Faced with the evidence, Simon Shaw confessed to multiple charges. But Emily knew this was far from the end—the vast network behind Simon had only just begun to reveal itself.
And her war had only just begun.
