Chapter 4 - The Brother Behind the Nightmare
Gabriel took Dominic to the secure office beneath the estate.
Adrian followed.
No shouting.
No threats.
He wanted answers.
Dominic sat across from him.
“You already decided I'm guilty.”
“You are on camera.”
“Of the tea.”
“And the intruder?”
Dominic looked away.
Adrian placed another file down.
“His name was Victor Salerno.”
Dominic's head snapped up.
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“Recognize it?”
“No.”
“Interesting,” Gabriel said, “because your private account transferred him eighty thousand dollars two days before he entered this estate.”
Dominic's face hardened.
Adrian opened the file.
“The payment was disguised through three companies.”
“You can't prove I authorized it.”
“We can.”
Dominic's confidence began disappearing.
Adrian continued.
“Salerno is alive.”
Dominic went completely still.
“That’s impossible.”
Adrian watched him carefully.
“Why?”
Dominic realized the trap too late.
Gabriel folded his arms.
“You thought he was dead.”
Dominic said nothing.
Adrian leaned forward.
“Three years ago, you hired a man to enter my house and terrify me.”
“It wasn't supposed to become this.”
“What was supposed to happen?”
Dominic finally looked at him.
“You were supposed to step aside.”
“For you?”
“For the family!”
“Stop hiding behind that word.”
Dominic slammed his palm against the table.
“You don't know what it was like!”
“What?”
“Being invisible beside you!”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Father introduced you as his successor when you were twenty-three. At thirty, you controlled everything.”
“And you were wealthy, protected, and trusted.”
“I wanted respect.”
“So you poisoned me.”
“I weakened you.”
“You poisoned me.”
Dominic looked away.
Adrian's voice became colder.
“Say it.”
Dominic remained silent.
“Say what you did.”
Finally:
“I put the drops in your tea.”
Gabriel quietly activated the recorder on the table.
Dominic noticed.
It no longer mattered.
“How long?” Adrian asked.
“Almost three years.”
“And Dr. Keene?”
Dominic hesitated.
“Paid.”
“To do what?”
“Keep changing your prescriptions. Keep everyone believing the symptoms were stress.”
Adrian's hands curled into fists.
He forced them open.
“The security changes?”
“Mine.”
“The contracts?”
“Mine.”
“The accounts?”
Dominic looked at him.
“Mine.”
Adrian stood.
Dominic laughed.
“What now?”
“You're finished.”
“You can't remove me.”
“I already did.”
Dominic's smile disappeared.
Adrian slid a document across the table.
“Every authorization you held was revoked at 8:16 this morning.”
Dominic read it.
“No.”
“Every account is frozen.”
“No.”
“Every employee you installed is suspended pending investigation.”
Dominic shot to his feet.
“You'll destroy the organization!”
Adrian stood opposite him.
“No.”
For the first time in three years, his mind felt clear.
“I’m taking it back.”
Dominic stared at him.
Then he smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
Adrian paused.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic said nothing.
Adrian grabbed the chair and pulled it closer.
“Who else?”
Silence.
“Dominic.”
His brother smiled.
“You spent three years wondering why you couldn't sleep.”
He leaned forward.
“Maybe you should start wondering why Lily was awake last night.”
Adrian's blood ran cold.
He immediately turned toward Gabriel.
“Get upstairs.”
May you like
They ran.
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