Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 548

She stormed into the living room.

"Dad, why on earth did you go to the Mercer estate and stir up a mess like this right now? All for a little bit of petty cash?

Do you have any idea what state the company is in? You've practically handed them the rope to hang us!"

Shane didn't bother hiding his vindictiveness. "I wanted Adrian to suffer! I wanted him to die a miserable, agonizing death. I've waited half my life for this moment.

Besides, it's not 'petty cash.' If we go bankrupt, that money is going to be our lifeline."

Wearing a pale gray loungewear set, Shane sat comfortably on the sofa, casually sipping his tea. His tone remained perfectly unbothered.

"Relax. We scrubbed the scene completely clean. There's no evidence tying us to anything."

Roxanne gritted her teeth and slammed the investigative report onto the coffee table. "Read this."

"How does Ethan know?" Shane gasped, his composure shattering.

Roxanne dropped onto the sofa, her chest heaving with fury. "That's what I want to ask you!

Didn't you say you handled the aftermath flawlessly?"

Shane's eyes widened in panic. "Could it be that Adrian didn't die immediately? Did he call Ethan the second we walked out the door?"

"You left before he was dead?! Why didn't you at least make sure he couldn't speak or write?"

Roxanne was beyond exasperated. Her stepfather was usually a cunning strategist, but whenever his emotions took over, he became sloppy and reckless.

"It's fine, Roxanne. It's just Adrian's word against mine. They don't have hard proof.

And given the severity of the beating I gave him, he probably won't even live to see the inside of a courtroom."

Roxanne let out a heavy sigh. "Dad, you're underestimating them again.

If my intel is right, Adrian is currently receiving top-tier medical care.

Don't forget, his second son, Lucas, is one of the best trauma surgeons in the country.

And Mira... she's a master-class hacker. The security footage you thought you deleted? She probably recovered it without breaking a sweat."

But it's impossible. Ethan has the unedited footage of you physically assaulting Adrian.

There is no legal maneuver that can pin that on me.

So, Dad, if you don't take sole responsibility, we both go to prison. And if that happens, Porter Entertainment is dead and buried."

Shane fell into a heavy, agonizing silence. Beside him, Victoria frowned deeply, unable to speak.

After letting the reality sink in, Roxanne pressed her advantage. "Dad, if I stay out of prison, I promise I will do everything in my power to salvage the company.

I will make sure you are taken care of inside. I'll bribe the right people so you won't suffer.

And the moment the heat dies down, I will use every resource we have to get you out."

Victoria finally saw the logic. "Shane, Roxanne is right. As long as one of us is free, we still have a fighting chance.

Our son is still so young, still in school. And you know I've never been involved in the corporate side of things—I wouldn't know where to start.

If both of you go down, the Porter family is finished."