Chapter 48 Vendetta
Eric let Lilac's words sit and marinate in his head for a few minutes before he took out his phone and called his assistant, Jim.
"Find a way to get your hands on some DNA for me. Have them tested to see if they are related," Eric said.
"From whom, Sir?" Jim asked.
"Teresa Harold and Micheal Leslie," Eric said and Jim paused before accepting the order.
"Sir, the holding companies you said to keep an eye on, seem to be operational," Jim said. His words made Eric smile darkly. It seems it really was Old Madam Hart, Lilac's grandmother who took over after death.
"They are small and have a sparse portfolio. But oddly they seem to be dumping everything. Doing it this way would attract government attention," Jim said and Eric frowned.
"Her grandmother wants to bury her in debt quickly to forced her hand," Eric said.
"It does not matter, Sir, everything will go on as planned. As long as she does not get her hands on the madam before we are done," Jim said an Eric paused and suddenly shot up from his chair and looked around the house.
"Where is Lilac?" He asked.
"The madam, just stepped out," the butler answered.
"Alone?" Eric asked taking his keys.
"The driver and a bodyguard went with her," the older man answered.
"Shit!" Eric cursed.
Lilac on the other hand, was seated at the back of the car when her phone rang. It was her secretary.
"Miss Hart, some government agents were here a few minutes ago to see you," she said.
"Did they say why?" Lilac asked.
"No."
Lilac went silent. She was distracted till she heard a loud shout.
"Mrs Black get down!" The body guards in front shouted just before Something slammed into the side of the car.
Lilac felt herself go light for a second, before her head slammed into the window. Pain struck her like a drum. Disoriented, she made to get up. But before she could, she felt a hand reach out from the front seat and pushed her head back into the seat.
"Stay down Mrs Black," she heard the body guards shout as the car skid to a halt.
Suddenly, the sounds of gunshots tore through the Lilac's eardrums, as though daring to deafen her.
"Go! Go! Go!" The body guards shouted and the driver stopped on the gas. The car sped far, but the sound of gunshots followed.
"We are on route, but we have been attacked. They are on our tail. We can't shake them," Lilac heard these disoriented words.
"Change plans, back to the mansion," someone said, but his words had not landed when the driver took a bullet to the head.
The car swayed wildly.
"Shit!" The body guards said, stretching to grab the wheel. But with the dead driver's feet still on the gas, the car sped father without stop. The body guard drove wildly till he spot a hospital in the distance. Without a thought, he spun the car in the same direction, dashing into the parking space and rushing straight for the emergency door before sharply pulling in the hand brakes.
Lilac felt it hard to breath for some reason. Black spots covered her vision. she did not even realize when she had been dragged out of the car and into the hospital.
The hospital stilled at the sight of the body guard with a gun in hand. He was taking a wild bet that they would not invade the hospital. He was not sure how safe it was, but he was not going to put down his weapon.
"A private room and doctor. Now!" He shouted and pulled Lilac onto a bed.
A doctor stepped up to look at her. Lilac barely registered what was said.
"It seems her lungs took a hit, I need to check if she is bleeding internally," the doctor said after a while.
Lilac felt herself suddenly surrounded before her vision went dark.
When she opened her eyes, all she could see was a white ceiling as the sound of the hospital monitor beeping insistently filled her ear.
"You are awake, that is good," a Doctor said, flashing a small touch to her eyes to check her responsiveness.
"Where am I?" Lilac asked.
"East side Hospital. You were in an accident of some sort. The impact gave you a concussion and rattled some of your organs. You will recover fine," the doctor said.
"How long have I been here?" Lilac asked.
"A little over thirty minutes. I will have the nurse contact your family that you have woken up," the doctor said and left. Lilac's thought were slower than usual, because it was only after the doctor left that she realized what he had said. What family? She wondered, the she recalled that the body must still be around.
Lilac felt tired, so she did not bother getting up. she knew the doctor words were just routine, but she was sure Eric would be told soon.
But she had only closed her eyes for fifteen minutes when her rest was interrupted by talking at the door.
"Step aside. This is official police business. Since she has woken up, she needs to make a statement," Lilac heard someone say. she opened her eyes just as another responded.
"Mrs Black will not be seeing anyone at the moment."
At that response, Lilac guessed she had the body guard at the door. She frowned slightly. It was routine to question her since she was involved in a shoot out. But since the ship incident, she felt uncomfortable around law enforcement.
Taking a deep breath, she told herself, it was best to not avoid them.
"Let them in," she said loudly and those outside stopped talking. The door opened a second later and two men dressed in cheap dark suits walked in. At the sight of them, Lilac frowned.
Lilac was no idiot. FbI agents were every easy to recognize. The walked a certain way that always gave them away. It did not help that these were the two agents that had probably stopped by her office..
"How may I help you?" Lilac asked.
"Mrs Black, sorry to disturb, but since you were in a violent shooting, you need to answer some questions," Agent Rudder said.
"Is it routine for FBi to question victims instead of the police?" Lilac asked.
"Well, it was quite the shooting," Agent Miller said with a slight shrug.
"I don't recall much. We left home for some air and the car was hit off the road. Next thing I know, bullets flying everywhere. I wake up here," Lilac gave a shortened version.
"So, you never saw the assailants, then," Agent Rudder asked.
"The body guard had me pressed down to the seat for safety," Lilac answered tiredly.
"According to you, Mrs Black, you left home for air. Since when does a some air need a security detail?" Agent Miller asked.
Lilac only raised a brow. "I am Lilac Black," Lilac said, looking at them as though they had two heads. How can Eric Blackcs wife not have security? Well, she barely had any, but they don't need to know that.
"Ah, so you suspect that the assailants may be family enemies or personal ones, then," agent Miller said but Lilac remained silent.
"Madam, word is you just came to an inheritance, could this be the reason why you were attacked?" He pushed.
"Or a personal grudge instead," Rudder added.
"How is this relevant to my accident?" Lilac asked. Her inheritance? She did not believe this was information the government could just come to have. Unless they were fishing.
"Not really. We have wanted to meet you, Mrs Black. But it seems a wealthy wife like your self needs at least ten days appointment booking for a meeting. We had quite a hard time in your company this morning," Agent Rudder said, sarcastically.
"And an even harder time when we checked up at your home. It seemed you are quite the busy woman," Agent Miller said.
"You can ask, then since you happen to be here in place of police officers to question a victim of a shoot out," Lilac said Sarcastically, "But keep it short. You are almost out of visiting hours."
"Alright then, we just want to know, ha you come to some inheritance lately," Agent Rudder asked and Lilac frowned. So, it was just fishing.