By the time Grace Ballard, with her carefully made-up face, arrived at the hotel conference room, the helicopter carrying Nick and Audrey had already landed on the rooftop.
Seeing William in the room, Nick and Audrey hurried over and handed him the camcorder. "Mr. Devonshire, we captured the entire scene of Susie's murder on this."
"And the footage can also prove that we didn't kill Sergei," Audrey added as a reminder.
"Exactly! Even if it doesn't show who killed Sergei, it proves we're innocent," Nick chimed in, nodding emphatically.
"OK." Taking the camcorder, William gave an amused glance at Detective Louis Delaware, secretly pleased that Nick and Audrey trusted him more than the lead investigator of the case.
With a projector brought into the room, everyone watched the footage. While the video didn't capture the face of Sergei's killer due to the large man's bulk obscuring the camera angle, it did show their lower body, enough to draw suspicion.
As Nick described hitting the person who murdered Susie with a rock, all eyes naturally turned to Grace Ballard, who was wearing a bathrobe and had a towel wrapped around her head.
"Why are you all looking at me? I was out shopping with Vikram just now. How could I have had time to kill Susie?" Grace protested.
Vikram, feeling the pressure of everyone's gaze, hurriedly nodded. "Yes, we were shopping just now."
Nick, unimpressed, said, "Stop wasting time. If you say you were shopping, then you wouldn't have any injuries. Take off the towel and let us see. Then we'll know if you're lying."
Before Grace could respond, Audrey had already moved behind her and yanked the towel off her head.
"Ah!" Grace cried out in pain, instinctively clutching the top of her head where a fresh wound was visible.
The atmosphere in the room shifted immediately. Grace's expression darkened, but she quickly recovered, putting on the kind of calm composure that could only come from years in Hollywood. "What, do I need to report every little thing to you? I slipped and hit my head while bathing earlier. Is that a crime?"
Before anyone could respond, a loud thud echoed as William slammed an evidence bag containing a bloodied rock onto the conference table. He walked up to Colonel Uranga, who had been quietly observing, and said, "This is the blood evidence found at the scene of Susie's death. A simple blood type comparison will tell us if the so-called 'shopping' Grace was doing included a stop to murder Susie."
Grace's face turned pale, her composure slipping. Her hand reached into the pocket of her bathrobe. William, anticipating this, swiftly pulled the revolver from Uranga's holster and aimed it at Grace.
"I suggest you take your hand out of your pocket slowly and surrender," William said coldly. "Go to prison and enjoy the anger of the Cavendish and Devonshire families from the safety of a cell. At least you'll still be alive."
Before Grace could act, two gunshots rang out in quick succession.
"Bang! Bang!"
The room fell silent as everyone turned to see Juan Carlos, eyes wide with disbelief, collapse to the ground, a bullet wound in his forehead.
The scene became even more surreal as they noticed William holding a distorted bullet in his gloved hand. The bullet meant for him had been caught in mid-air.
"Idiot," William said, sneering at the lifeless Juan Carlos. "You didn't even bother to change your shoes or pants after killing Sergei."
Everyone looked at Juan Carlos's shoes and pants, realizing they matched the figure in the footage. Coupled with his attempt to shoot William, it was clear he was Sergei's murderer.
Smirking, William shook his head and addressed the dead man. "I warned you not to make a move." Turning to the others, he opened his hand to show the bullet he had caught.
The slight burn marks on his gloves reminded everyone that William was the inventor of bulletproof clothing. If his clothing could stop bullets, then gloves with the same technology were entirely plausible.
But whether it was luck or some supernatural reflexes that allowed William to catch the bullet, everyone was left in awe, staring at him as if he were a superhuman.
William's gaze shifted back to Grace, who was visibly panicking. "Surrender, Grace. Although your inheritance rights will be stripped, France abolished the death penalty over 20 years ago. If you're lucky, maybe in your 70s or 80s, when you're old, wrinkled, and frail, you'll be released and get to see how much the world has changed."
"Damn it!" Louis cursed under his breath, sensing what was about to happen. He shouted, "No!"
But it was too late. Grace pulled a gun from her bathrobe pocket. Surprisingly, she didn't aim at William—she pointed it at Vikram.
Before she could fire, William shot her down with a single, precise shot.
"Ahhh!" Audrey, standing near Grace, screamed in terror, frozen for a moment before collapsing into Nick's arms, trembling uncontrollably.
"Oh my God," Nick muttered, equally shaken. He held his wife tightly, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at William, who stood calmly, smiling faintly.
"Disarm him! Disarm him now!" Louis yelled at his officers, frantic. Only when William casually tossed his gun onto the conference table did Louis dare approach him.
"Why did you say those things? Why did you provoke her?" Louis demanded, his voice trembling with anger. "You provoked her into trying to kill someone. This is murder—murder!"
"No," William replied, shrugging. "I was saving someone's life." He gestured toward Vikram. "Ask our dear chieftain here if I was saving him."
Vikram, shaken and pale, nodded stiffly under William's gaze, unable to say a word.
"Damn it," Louis muttered, clenching his fists. He knew that legally, William had done nothing wrong. On the contrary, the French authorities might even award him a medal for saving a foreign dignitary's life.
"You planned this. You planned everything," Louis accused. "Just because they tried to kill Charles Cavendish, you set them up and eliminated them, didn't you? You bastard!"
William shrugged again, feigning ignorance. "I don't know what you're talking about."
But everyone in the room, especially Louis, could see through William's act. This wasn't just about the inheritance—it was a cold, calculated retaliation.
Louis, aware that Charles wasn't actually dead, realized that William had cleared the path for Charles to inherit Marco's fortune without competition.
"Don't get too smug, William," Louis warned. "Even if Charles survives and inherits everything, we'll keep a close eye on his assets. If we find any evidence of a deal between you two, expect a summons from our commercial investigation unit."
William laughed softly, placing a hand on Louis's shoulder. "Louis, you're an idiot. Truly. Even without me, other capital interests would flock to a mere millionaire like Charles, who can't afford the inheritance tax. You can't stop us from taking our share."
Louis's expression darkened as he realized the truth. William leaned in, his voice low and mocking. "Are you really willing to risk offending the entire world of capital for a woman who conspired to kill her father, murdered her half-brother, and tried to kill her cousin?
"Oh, and by the way, she planned to kill Vikram too. This is the kind of person you're sympathizing with?"
"F***," Louis muttered, unable to believe it. "How do you even know Grace was Marco Cannes' daughter?"
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Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
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