Jarrod

Leonard

I stopped at the steps of the plane upon hearing voices coming from inside the plane, Annette sounded fearful and the voice of the other was the man that brought on this nightmare, Jarrod McGee, I got the gun from my pocket rushing up the stairs, I saw Annette frozen in place a pistol in her hands and Jarod a gun aimed at her head, "Enough scum!" the two of them looked at me, "Annette, come to me." She moved only for Jarod to point his gun at me, his finger hugging the trigger.

"Leonard Shepherd, it's been a while. How is your mother?"

I glared at him, "You may scare Nicolae into hiding, but I'm the wrong brother for your trickery. I grew tired of you ten years ago, now let Annette go. She did her duty, leave her be."

"Audra is my child to do as I please with her, her duty to me will be over when I say so. I'm not done with her yet. You share false information. She did her job half-way. I still have a child roaming somewhere and she is going to lead me to that abomination either willingly, or by force." He smirked, "Audra is very well aware of the force I am capable of."

"Murder, we all know your method's in force. But the dead hides secrets, you kill Annette, you have another that will take her place, I guarantee that Annette's fights and sacrifices won't go to waste. I would die and rot in my grave before you harm that child, you're not the only one with power and hungry to use it, Jarrod. I will start a war, expose every secret, I will not rest until you are six-feet underground."

Jarrod smirked, "Talk is cheap, Leonard."

"Exactly." I aimed my gun at his knee, firing a shot. Two screams rang in the air. I walked over to Jarrod who was on the ground in pain, "Through the years, Jarrod, your dictatorship of New York has run amok, all I hear are praises of how great the Jarrod McGee Enterprise is, you have used your time, and your power to hide a scandalous affair, and a love child. You had the resources, the power in your hands to come clean. But I vow to you here and now, your skeletons will come to light, every speck of dirt swept away. You'll die a broken man with a clean slate, but you will die. It won't matter to me how I won't care. The new face of New York stands above you, I will force an apology out of you for Annette and my brother, your power gone." I looked at Annette before looking down at Jarrod kicking his pistol from reach, stomping on his injured knee, his screams rang through my ears. "Apologize to your daughter!" I bent down, grabbing his hair turning him to face Annette, "Say it!"

"Never!"

I fired a shot by his head, feeling the sweat on his face, "The next shot won't miss, I'm growing tired of this conversation, now say it." I held the gun to his head, "Say it buttercup, no one will miss you."

He spit on the ground at Annette's feet, "Little wretch, if I die you're going with me." He spat, getting a remote from his shirt pocket.

A voice rang out, "five minutes until detonation. I repeat five minutes until detonation." I stood to my feet, "Annette, run! Get out of here." I watched as she looked at me, shaking her head.

"Not without you, Leonard." She ran towards me, wrapping her arms around me.

"Four minutes until detonation."

I looked at her, nodding my head, stepping on Jarrod's knee once more, before Annette and I ran from the plane. Jarrod's laughter rang out from the alarms.

Jarrod

I watched as Audra ran with Leonard from the plane, "You haven't seen the last of me, Audra McGee, you've been a naughty girl, you'll die just as your mother died. I'll see to it." I laughed as the sound of the bomb going detonating surrounded me.

Annette

The force of the explosions sent me and Leonard to the rough concrete, I stumbled to my feet as my ears were ringing. I looked at Leonard, who was finding his own footing, "Is it finally over?" I felt tears come to my eyes, "Am I finally free of this nightmare, can Riley rest safe now?"

Leonard looked at me then at his private jet, he clenched his fists, "For my family, a life for a life. You have paid your debt." He looked at me, "You're free of his clutches, his reign has finally ended." I ran to him, wrapping my arms around him. "The nightmare is over for you, my love."

I looked at him with a smile, "I'm sorry for everything, Leonard, for murdering your mother, then cutting her open. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

He looked at me, "How did you know that Riley was ready? How did you know that she would survive?"

I looked at him, "Your mother and I had talked many times, my mom and I suspected something Rosaline had told me about the affair in secret, she had asked me when the time came to save Riley, and flee. I had researched and had practiced the procedure on dead animals when I felt sure in my abilities when Jarrod had told me it was time, I made my own plans."

"Was our mother's death painful? Did she suffer?"

I felt a tear come to my eye, "She didn't suffer alone, I stayed by her side until her body was cold and her crying had stopped, even at her death moments she wanted me to tell you the truth of your father's disappearance."

He looked at me, "Our father, she knew where he went? Is he, well, where is he?"

I looked at him, then at the ground shaking my head, "Your father, killed by his office collapsing. He didn't make it out, but he didn't have the chance. Jarrod was going to end you in the same manner that he ended your father, handicap you then blow your jet up, karma caught up with him, you can't do wrong and get by, his bad habits bound to catch up with him. And they did. He had planned on killing you and ending this war, he would have left Nicolae alone, he didn't see him as much of a threat, he was weary of you and your temper. Weary if not a little frightened of you."

He looked at me, "So my parents didn't die in Shepherd Manor, did they?"

"Neither of them did. Your father died here in New York and I killed your mother in my basement."

"Where did the pools of blood from the Beretta come from there were puddles of it?"

"It was Riley's delivery, I had placed the gun there to make it look like suicide because that's What Jarrod instructed to do. Death didn't happen in that room, birth happened in that room, that's why I reacted to Christian wanting to bulldoze it."

"Any other secrets?"

"It's not over, Christian is my brother."

I looked at Leonard, who looked at me…

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