The night everything shattered: a hostage, a fatal shot, and a woman who walks away from them all.

It started with a confession—and ended with a corpse.

In the grand halls of Cain Ashby’s estate, what was meant to be a night of confrontation turned into a massacre of trust, loyalty, and innocence. Amanda Sinclair, sensing that time was slipping away and darkness closing in, led the police through the marble corridors with a clarity of purpose that few in Genoa City had ever seen. And what they uncovered would shatter every illusion the elite had spent years constructing.

Carter was already unraveling. His eyes sunken, his voice trembling, he confessed to the crime that had haunted the estate for weeks: Damian’s murder. The confession, caught on hidden surveillance arranged by Chance and Victor, was more than just words—it was a final nail in a coffin of betrayal that had been building for years. Cain froze as the truth unfurled, unable to reconcile the man he once called his brother-in-arms with the monster now cornered before him.

But Carter didn’t surrender quietly.

When he realized there was no escape, that every lie had finally met its reckoning, something snapped. His last desperate act? Turning the barrel of a gun not on those who hunted him—but on Lily Winters.

Lily, the woman he swore to protect for Cain. Lily, the woman he believed he was rescuing from a poisoned fate. And yet, in that moment, she became his shield, his hostage, and his final chance at control. Cain’s heart fractured as he watched the man he once trusted threaten the woman he loved. Every step, every breath became a countdown to the unimaginable.

Chance and Victor moved cautiously, understanding all too well how fast madness turns to murder. But it wasn’t tactics that broke Carter—it was Lily. Her eyes, full of fear but unyielding, pierced the storm in his mind. She didn’t plead. She didn’t scream. She simply stared, and in that gaze, Carter saw what he had become: a man beyond redemption.

Carter’s hands trembled. His breath hitched. And then, in a moment that felt like mercy and destruction all at once, he shoved Lily away and turned the gun on himself. The shot echoed through the house like a curse breaking. Silence followed, the kind that sinks deep into the bones.

But the tragedy wasn’t over.

As the authorities swarmed the estate, Amanda led them to the hidden freezer room—what they found inside defied comprehension. Damian’s body lay cold and lifeless. Next to him, Carter’s remains, still soaked in fresh guilt. Two men. Two legacies of ruin