Chapter 6 - Adrian Vale had disappeared fifteen years ago.At the time, Dominic had believed his brother had fled after stealing company money.
Their father had believed the same.
Arthur had helped search for him.
No body was ever found.
No ransom.
No message.
Nothing.
Dominic had eventually stopped looking.
Now he wished he hadn't.
The photograph changed everything.
Vincent spent the night searching old company records.
By dawn, he found a sealed personnel file.
Adrian's final employment record.
He had been transferred to a subsidiary.
The subsidiary had been sold six months later.
To Arthur Voss.
Dominic stared at the document.
“Arthur didn't steal from us.”
Vincent nodded.
“He bought the company legally.”
“And Adrian?”
“Listed as terminated.”
“Reason?”
Vincent looked at him.
“Voluntary resignation.”
Dominic laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“My brother never resigned from anything.”
Then Ellie walked into the room.
She was carrying a small photograph.
Clare followed.
“Where did she get that?”
Ellie placed the photograph on Dominic's desk.
It showed a young man.
Adrian.
Standing beside Daniel Rowan.
Dominic's heart stopped.
“Where did this come from?”
Ellie shrugged.
“Daddy's box.”
Dominic looked at Clare.
“You knew Daniel knew Adrian?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel ever mention the name Adrian?”
She shook her head.
“Then why was this in his house?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic studied the photograph.
On the back was a date.
The date was six months after Adrian supposedly disappeared.
Dominic whispered:
“He was alive.”
Vincent nodded.
“And so was Daniel.”
A second thought struck him.
“Where was this photograph taken?”
Vincent zoomed in.
A street sign.
Then a business name.
A restaurant.
Closed twelve years ago.
Dominic recognized the neighborhood.
“Take me there.”
The building was abandoned.
Dust covered the windows.
Inside, Vincent discovered a false wall.
Behind it was a tiny room.
Three chairs.
A dead light bulb.
A table.
And dozens of photographs.
Dominic walked slowly from one to another.
Arthur.
Adrian.
Daniel.
Mercer.
Elliot Crane.
Council members.
Security staff.
Even Clare.
Then he saw something that made him stop.
A photograph of Ellie.
Taken when she was only two years old.
The little girl was standing outside Dominic's estate.
Dominic's stomach tightened.
“She was being watched.”
Vincent inspected the photograph.
“By whom?”
Dominic turned it over.
Nothing.
Then another photograph fell.
This one showed the rehabilitation wing.
A month before Dominic's crash.
Someone had taken pictures of his room.
The camera angle was from inside the building.
Vincent looked at Dominic.
“Someone had access before the crash.”
Dominic suddenly understood.
The car crash was not the beginning.
It was the middle.
The operation had started months earlier.
He ordered a complete audit of estate security.
Within an hour, they found a gap.
One camera had been offline for exactly seventeen minutes on the night before Dominic's crash.
The technician who repaired it was listed as:
Daniel Rowan.
Clare collapsed into a chair.
“He was supposed to be dead.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Apparently death was useful.”
Then the lights went out.
Total darkness.
Vincent drew his weapon.
“Stay here.”
A scream came from the hallway.
Not Clare.
Ellie.
Dominic's blood turned cold.
He moved toward the sound.
“ELLIE!”
No answer.
The emergency lights flickered on.
Clare was on the floor.
Vincent was down.
And Ellie was gone.
Dominic rushed to her room.
The window was open.
A rope hung outside.
On the bed lay Ellie's wooden latch toy.
Dominic picked it up.
There was a note beneath it.
Four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED.
He stared at the handwriting.
It was familiar.
May you like
Very familiar.
His brother's.
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