Chapter 12 - The man brought into the room looked nothing like the photographs.Older than the boy.
Scarred.
Tired.
But his eyes were unmistakably those of Dominic's father.
Julian Vale.
Dominic stared at him.
“You've been dead for years.”
Julian gave a bitter smile.
“So have you.”
“What?”
“According to the paperwork.”
Dominic said nothing.
Julian looked at the people around him.
Arthur.
Adrian.
Clare.
Ellie.
Then he whispered:
“Everyone is lying.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“You don't belong here.”
Julian laughed.
“This estate was built over my mother's grave.”
Dominic frowned.
“Our mother?"
“Yes.”
“You said nothing about her.”
“Because father wanted her erased.”
Adrian lowered his head.
Dominic looked between them.
There were too many secrets.
Too many dead people.
Too many supposed deaths that weren't deaths.
Julian approached the table.
“Your crash wasn't ordered by Arthur.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Who ordered it?”
Julian's eyes moved toward Mercer.
Mercer went pale.
“Samuel.”
Mercer shook his head.
“No.”
Julian threw a file onto the table.
Inside was the original crash reconstruction.
The steering system had been tampered with.
The vehicle's emergency braking software had been disabled.
And one of the maintenance approvals carried Mercer's digital authorization.
Mercer stumbled backward.
“I never touched the vehicle.”
Julian looked at him.
“You didn't.”
“Then who?”
Julian answered:
“Someone using your credentials.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Who had access?”
Mercer opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Dominic understood.
The medical administrator.
Elliot Crane.
But Crane had disappeared.
Vincent checked the security system.
“Crane just entered the estate.”
Everyone turned.
“How?”
“He had a master medical credential.”
Dominic's voice hardened.
“Find him.”
Security teams moved.
Then every light in the house went dark.
Again.
The building fell into darkness.
A voice came over the intercom.
Elliot Crane.
“Dominic.”
Dominic looked toward the speaker.
“You wanted me.”
“No.”
Crane laughed.
“You wanted me to be the obvious villain.”
Dominic frowned.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“You'll never get it.”
“I already have the real one.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
Crane's laughter echoed.
“The one in your crypt is fake.”
Adrian's face changed.
Julian looked at him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
The intercom crackled.
“Your father created three ledgers.”
Dominic felt a cold wave move through him.
“One for the council.”
“One for Arthur.”
“And one for the heir.”
Dominic asked:
“Who is the heir?”
Crane said nothing.
Then Ellie spoke.
“The little girl.”
Everyone froze.
Clare whispered:
“What?”
Crane laughed.
“Exactly.”
Dominic looked at Ellie.
“Why her?”
“Because your father planned for a world without Dominic or Adrian.”
Dominic's mind raced.
The trust.
The medical sabotage.
The crash.
The council vote.
Ellie's file.
It all connected.
Crane continued:
“Daniel discovered the succession clause.”
Clare closed her eyes.
“Daniel was trying to protect Ellie.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he disappear?”
“He didn't.”
Crane paused.
“He went underground.”
Dominic looked at Julian.
“Where is he?”
Julian answered:
“In the old hospital.”
Dominic stared.
“The same hospital where I was treated?”
“Yes.”
Everything went silent.
The place where Dominic had been recovering was the same place the conspirators had controlled.
His doctors.
His scans.
His brace.
His medical records.
His entire recovery.
It had been a controlled environment.
A cage disguised as treatment.
Vincent's phone rang.
He answered.
Then looked at Dominic.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found Crane.”
“Where?”
Vincent swallowed.
“In your father's old office.”
Dominic asked:
“Alive?”
“No.”
A pause.
“He's dead.”
Dominic walked to the office.
Crane was slumped behind the desk.
A gun lay beside him.
A single word was written on the wall in blood.
ELLIOT.
Not Crane's first name.
Their father's.
Dominic stared.
Then a second line appeared beneath it.
HE ISN'T DEAD.
Julian stepped closer.
“Our father?”
Dominic looked at him.
“Impossible.”
Then the lights returned.
Every television in the room turned on.
A man's face appeared.
Old.
Familiar.
Smiling.
Their father's face.
Alive.
Dominic froze.
May you like
The screen displayed one sentence.
WELCOME HOME, SONS.
