Chapter 4
Augustus stepped through the smoke holding a wet cloth over his mouth.
He looked older than Elena remembered.
A scar crossed his temple, and one leg dragged behind him.
But there was no mistaking his eyes.
“Grandfather?”
Elena ran to him.
He embraced her once, then pushed her toward the exit.
“Questions later.”
Federal agents cleared the lodge seconds before part of the roof collapsed.
Outside, Augustus accepted oxygen from a paramedic but refused transport.
Morgan stared at him.
“I watched your body arrive at the morgue.”
“You watched a sealed bag.”
“Whose body was inside?”
Augustus looked toward the burning lodge.
“My brother’s.”
Elena knew Augustus had a younger brother named Stefan.
The family claimed he died overseas forty years earlier.
That had been another lie.
Stefan had returned in secret and worked as Augustus’s private investigator. They resembled each other closely, especially after age and illness changed their faces.
On the night of the balcony fall, Stefan met Detective Reed while pretending to be Augustus.
The meeting was supposed to expose corruption inside the resort.
Instead, someone pushed him.
Augustus discovered the death moments later.
He let the world believe the victim was him.
“Why?” Elena demanded.
“Because whoever killed Stefan believed they had won. I needed them careless.”
“You let us bury him under your name.”
“I could not trust anyone.”
“Not even me?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Especially not you. Daniel watched you constantly.”
Elena stepped away.
For months, she had mourned the man standing before her.
Then she had nearly died because of the war he continued from the shadows.
“Did you know Daniel planned my crash?”
“I learned too late.”
“You left the note in the badge case.”
“Yes.”
“Who helped Reed?”
“I don’t know.”
Augustus gave Morgan a list of secret accounts.
Money had been stolen from the trust for seven years.
Daniel signed many transfers.
Adrian approved several others.
But the earliest transactions carried Augustus’s own authorization.
“They forged my approval,” he said.
Elena was no longer willing to accept simple answers.
“Or you began the theft.”
He met her gaze.
“That is what you must determine.”
Morgan received news from the courthouse.
Judge Hale had granted Daniel temporary control of the trust.
Elena’s authority was suspended pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Within minutes, Daniel ordered security teams to remove Elena from every Somor property.
He also initiated the demolition of the mountain lodge.
“Evidence is still inside,” Sofia said.
“That is why he wants it destroyed.”
Augustus knew of a hidden records room beneath the ballroom.
Firefighters entered through a lower service tunnel and recovered metal cabinets.
Inside were employment records from the resort’s earliest years.
One file belonged to Vanessa.
Her legal name was not Vanessa Price, as everyone believed.
She had been born Vanessa Stefan Somor.
She was Stefan’s daughter.
Daniel had married his own cousin.
More importantly, Vanessa inherited a direct claim to the trust after her father’s death.
If Stefan’s identity became public, she could challenge Elena’s shares.
Augustus closed his eyes.
“I never knew Stefan had a child.”
Elena did not believe that.
A second cabinet held letters proving Augustus paid Vanessa’s mother every month for thirty years.
He had known.
Before Elena could confront him, Morgan’s agents shouted.
A black SUV broke through the perimeter.
Adrian was driving.
He struck Augustus, throwing him across the pavement.
Then he pulled Elena into the vehicle and locked the doors.
May you like
“You should have stayed dead,” Adrian said.
He accelerated toward the burning forest.
