Chapter 5 - The Account in His Brother’s Name
Julian spent the next hour insisting the bank records were false.
Vincent wanted him removed.
Dominic refused.
Not because he trusted Julian.
Because Dominic had learned something from Ellie.
When something looked wrong, don’t assume.
Look closer.
The reversed brace had appeared legitimate until a four-year-old examined the mechanism.
Maybe the bank records deserved the same attention.
“Where is the money?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know.”
“The account has your name.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Signature?”
“Looks like mine.”
Vincent scoffed.
“Convenient.”
Julian turned on him.
“I said I helped Arthur politically. If I wanted to lie, I would have denied everything.”
Dominic considered that.
Julian had admitted enough to destroy their relationship.
Why admit those things and deny the largest betrayal?
“Get a forensic accountant.”
Vincent frowned.
“Dominic—”
“Do it.”
By evening, they had an answer.
The account had been opened using Julian’s identity.
But the authorization signature was digital.
The originating device belonged to Arthur’s office.
Julian hadn’t received the money.
Arthur had created evidence designed to implicate him.
Dominic sat silently when Vincent delivered the result.
Julian looked at his brother.
“You believed I tried to kill you.”
“I considered the evidence.”
“You believed it.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked away.
Dominic didn’t apologize.
Not yet.
Because Julian was innocent of attempted murder.
He wasn’t innocent of betrayal.
“You still helped Arthur.”
Julian nodded.
“I did.”
“You helped create the opening he needed.”
“I know.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Peter was compromised.”
“Yes.”
Julian’s voice cracked.
“And I’ll spend the rest of my life wishing I’d told you.”
Dominic studied him.
Their father had taught them that apologies were weakness.
Dominic was beginning to suspect their father had been wrong about many things.
“You don’t get your old position back.”
Julian nodded.
“I understand.”
“You cooperate completely.”
“I will.”
“And when this is over, we decide what kind of relationship is left.”
Julian looked at him.
“That’s more than I deserve.”
Dominic didn’t answer.
Across the mansion, Ellie was building towers from wooden blocks.
The strange thing was that Dominic kept finding reasons to pass the room.
At first he told himself it was security.
Then curiosity.
Eventually he stopped lying to himself.
The child made the mansion feel less like a fortress.
Clare noticed.
“You can sit down, you know.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I was walking.”
“You’ve walked past this doorway four times.”
Ellie giggled.
Dominic almost smiled.
“Doctor says I need exercise.”
“Doctor also said not to overdo it.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve been talking to Mercer?”
“He cornered me in the kitchen and said somebody needs to stop you from pretending you’re indestructible.”
Dominic actually laughed.
It surprised all three of them.
Then Vincent entered.
The warmth disappeared.
“We found the driver.”
Dominic stood.
“Where?”
“Indiana.”
The man was named Raymond Pike.
Former private security contractor.
Arthur had paid him through three shell companies.
Police took him into custody.
Under questioning, Pike admitted being hired to frighten Dominic into crashing.
Arthur had told him Dominic needed to be hospitalized.
Not killed.
But at highway speed, the distinction meant little.
The conspiracy was becoming clear.
Arthur wanted control.
Dominic’s growing business empire had moved farther from the criminal networks that had enriched the previous generation.
Arthur hated the transition.
He believed Dominic was abandoning the traditions that made the Vale organization powerful.
A weakened Dominic could be replaced.
A dead Dominic would be even easier.
But Arthur had miscalculated twice.
Dominic survived the crash.
Then he recovered too quickly.
So Peter began manipulating the brace.
Small changes.
Increased pressure.
More pain.
Slower rehabilitation.
Arthur would present Dominic’s physical decline to the council and demand temporary authority.
Once installed, temporary would become permanent.
There was only one remaining problem.
Arthur still refused to admit anything.
And his attorney was already attacking Angela’s credibility.
Dominic needed evidence Arthur couldn’t explain away.
It came from Ellie.
Again.
She was playing with her latch toy when Dominic entered the breakfast room that evening.
“Mr. Dominic?”
“Yes?”
“The mean man had my toy.”
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
Clare looked up.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Dominic crouched.
“Arthur touched your toy?”
Ellie shook her head.
“The other man.”
“Peter?”
She nodded.
“What did he do with it?”
“He took it.”
“Then?”
“He gave it back.”
Dominic looked at Clare.
“Did you see this?”
“No.”
Ellie turned the toy over.
“He put something here.”
On the back was a small black square.
Dominic stared.
Clare leaned closer.
“That wasn’t there before.”
Vincent was summoned.
He examined it.
“A tracker.”
Clare’s face went white.
Peter had placed a tracking device on a four-year-old’s toy.
Why?
Peter was questioned again.
This time his resistance lasted less than five minutes.
“Arthur ordered it.”
“Why track Ellie?”
“He became nervous after she saw us near the brace.”
“So you knew she saw you.”
“Yes.”
“You were tracking a child.”
“I was supposed to know where she was in the house.”
Dominic leaned across the table.
“Why?”
“So Arthur could avoid her.”
That didn’t make sense.
“Try again.”
Peter looked terrified.
Dominic waited.
Finally Peter whispered, “Because she heard something.”
“What?”
“Arthur was talking to someone on the phone.”
“About?”
Peter shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic’s patience disappeared.
“Peter.”
“He said there was another copy.”
“Copy of what?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic sat back.
Another copy.
That night Vincent’s team searched Arthur’s office again.
Nothing.
They searched Peter’s devices.
Nothing.
Then Clare approached Dominic.
“Ellie said something.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“She said the man on the phone talked about a book.”
“What book?”
“She doesn’t know.”
Ellie was brought in.
Dominic asked gently.
“What did Arthur say?”
Ellie thought.
“He said burn the book.”
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“What else?”
“He said…”
She frowned with concentration.
“The old man should have done it.”
Dominic felt a chill.
“What old man?”
Ellie shrugged.
Vincent suddenly looked toward Dominic.
“Your father.”
Dominic’s father had died three years earlier.
They searched his private study.
It had remained almost untouched since his death.
Hours passed.
Nothing.
Then Dominic remembered something.
His father hated computers.
He wrote everything by hand.
Ledgers.
Notes.
Names.
Dominic walked toward the shelves.
Hundreds of books.
Which one?
Ellie wandered in behind Clare.
She looked at the shelves.
Then pointed.
“That one is backwards.”
Everyone turned.
One book had been returned with its spine facing inward.
Dominic pulled it out.
Inside, the pages had been hollowed.
A small notebook sat within.
His father’s handwriting filled every page.
Payments.
Names.
Dates.
Arthur Voss appeared again and again.
But the final pages revealed something Dominic never expected.
His father had discovered Arthur stealing money years earlier.
He had planned to remove him.
Then he died.
Officially, from a heart attack.
Dominic turned the page.
A handwritten note had been added later in different handwriting.
HE FOUND OUT. WE HANDLED IT.
Dominic stared at Vincent.
The conspiracy was older than his crash.
Older than his injury.
Maybe Arthur hadn’t merely tried to steal Dominic’s empire.
Maybe he had already killed the man who built it.
May you like
And suddenly Dominic’s fight was no longer about saving his position.
It was about discovering how many members of his family Arthur had already destroyed.
