Chapter 9 - Dominic stared at Clare.“You?”
Clare's face was wet with tears.
“I didn't create the trust.”
“Then what did you mean?”
She looked at Adrian.
“I helped Daniel finish it.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Dominic felt as though the floor had shifted beneath him.
“How?”
Clare pulled a small key from her pocket.
“This opens Daniel's second room.”
“Where?”
She looked at Ellie.
“She knows.”
Ellie nodded.
“Daddy's little room.”
Dominic understood.
The secret room had never been under the stairs.
That was only the first one.
The second was inside the old garden house.
They returned there.
A hidden door opened behind a bookcase.
Inside were computers.
Hard drives.
Documents.
Photographs.
And a wall covered in strings connecting names.
Dominic stepped closer.
Arthur.
Gideon.
Crane.
Reed.
Council.
Adrian.
Daniel.
Clare.
And Dominic.
At the center was a single name.
ELLIOT VALE.
Dominic went still.
His father.
Adrian walked beside him.
“He planned all of this.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed one of us would betray the family.”
Dominic stared at the wall.
“Which one?”
Adrian pointed at himself.
“He suspected me.”
Dominic turned.
“You?”
“Because I found the ledger.”
“And?”
“Our father didn't trust me enough to explain.”
Clare opened another file.
Inside was a recording.
Daniel appeared on the screen.
He looked thinner than Dominic remembered.
His face had bruises.
He was speaking directly to the camera.
“If you're watching this, Dominic, then the plan has already started.”
Dominic stood motionless.
Daniel continued.
“Arthur is not the architect. He is the front.”
A pause.
“The person behind him knows your habits, your doctors, your security schedules, and the exact wording of your father's trust.”
Dominic looked at Clare.
Daniel continued:
“There's only one person who knows all four.”
The video stopped.
Clare gasped.
“Who?”
Dominic stared at the frozen image.
“One person.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You know who it is.”
“I don't.”
“Then why are you scared?”
Adrian said nothing.
Vincent opened a drawer.
Inside was a notebook.
The handwriting belonged to Dominic.
He picked it up.
It contained private details.
His preferences.
His routines.
His medical history.
His childhood memories.
Everything.
Dominic flipped through the pages.
Then stopped.
One entry was dated ten years earlier.
If Dominic ever becomes vulnerable, isolate him from Clare.
He stared.
He had never written that.
But the handwriting was perfect.
Vincent looked at him.
“This was forged.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“I know this notebook.”
He remembered it.
It had disappeared from his study eight years ago.
He had assumed a cleaner had thrown it away.
Someone had kept it.
Someone had been collecting pieces of his life for years.
Then a hidden phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Vincent answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Dominic.”
He listened.
“Who is this?”
“You're looking in the wrong room.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Where is Daniel?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Who are you?”
The caller laughed.
“You've already met me.”
The line died.
Vincent traced the call.
Then stared at the result.
“The call came from inside the estate.”
Dominic turned.
Every person in the room looked at each other.
The traitor was already inside.
Then Ellie quietly pointed at the ceiling.
“Mr. Dominic?”
“Yes?”
“There's a man upstairs.”
Vincent immediately drew his weapon.
“Stay here.”
A gunshot echoed from the floor above.
Then another.
Dominic ran despite the pain.
They reached the upper hallway.
One council member lay unconscious.
A door stood open.
Inside was a hidden surveillance room.
Screens covered every wall.
Cameras showed the entire estate.
Kitchen.
Bedrooms.
Medical wing.
Garden.
And one screen showed Dominic's office.
Live.
Someone had been watching them.
Then every screen changed at once.
A single image appeared.
Daniel Rowan.
Alive.
And sitting in a hospital bed.
Under the image were six words:
COME FIND ME BEFORE HE WAKES.
Dominic stared.
“Who wakes?”
The screen flickered.
Then changed.
To a second image.
Adrian.
Bleeding.
Chained to a wall.
Dominic turned.
His brother was standing beside him.
Unharmed.
But when Dominic looked back at the screen, the camera was empty.
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The person on it was not Adrian.
It was someone wearing Adrian's face.
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