Chapter 4 - Uncle Adrian
Victor did not call security.
He left Ethan with the bedroom guard and went downstairs himself.
The family archive occupied a windowless room behind the mansion library. Simone had designed it years earlier to store foundation records, family correspondence, photographs, legal papers, and the sprawling documentary history of a family that had become wealthy faster than it had learned to trust wealth.
Victor unlocked the library door.
Adrian emerged from the hidden archive entrance holding a leather folder.
He stopped.
The brothers stared at each other.
Adrian was forty-one, four years younger than Victor, with the same dark skin and sharp Hale cheekbones, though Adrian wore charm more easily.
Usually.
Tonight, he looked cornered.
“Vic.”
Victor’s gaze lowered to the folder.
“What are you doing?”
“Could ask you the same.”
“I own the house.”
“And I have access.”
“Not at midnight.”
Adrian sighed.
“Don’t turn this into theater.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Give me the folder.”
“No.”
The refusal stunned him.
Victor’s voice became quiet.
“Adrian.”
“You called cyber for historical logs tonight.”
Victor’s suspicion hardened.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m COO.”
“You’re not head of cybersecurity.”
“People talk.”
“Not about requests marked executive confidential.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“So this is about Daniel Carter.”
Victor said nothing.
That was enough.
Adrian cursed softly.
“Who contacted you?”
“Why would Daniel Carter matter to you?”
“He doesn’t.”
“Then why did you say his name?”
Silence.
Victor extended his hand.
“Folder.”
Adrian held it tighter.
“You don’t understand what Simone was doing.”
“Then explain it.”
“She was investigating the company.”
“My wife could investigate anything she wanted.”
“She was building a case against us.”
Victor stared.
“Against who?”
“Both of us.”
“No.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“You still turn her into a saint.”
“Be careful.”
“I loved Simone.”
“Be more careful.”
Adrian looked toward the dark windows.
“She thought Hale Meridian was paying inflated contracts to transport vendors. Millions disappearing through subcontractors.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Was she right?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“See? This is why nobody tells you anything. You decide the verdict while people are still speaking.”
Victor thought of Ethan saying almost the same thing.
It angered him because it was true twice in one night.
“What’s inside the folder?”
“Copies of communications between Simone and Daniel Carter.”
Victor went still.
“You knew they worked together.”
“I found out after the crash.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were barely functioning.”
Victor stepped closer.
“My wife was dead.”
“I know.”
“My son was in a spinal rehabilitation hospital learning how to navigate a life none of us had prepared him for.”
“I know.”
“And you decided what I could handle.”
Adrian’s expression tightened.
Victor almost laughed at the irony.
“Give me the folder.”
Adrian finally did.
Inside were printed emails.
Victor recognized Simone’s writing style instantly.
Daniel, the Route 17 maintenance invoices don’t match municipal records. Someone billed Hale Meridian for work that was never performed.
Another:
The shell companies connect back to Meridian Strategic Holdings. I need to confirm who authorized the transfers before I involve Victor.
Victor stopped.
Meridian Strategic Holdings.
He knew the name.
It was an internal acquisition vehicle.
Adrian had managed it.
Victor looked up.
His brother’s face had gone pale.
“You controlled this company.”
“Administrative control.”
“You signed transfers.”
“Not all of them.”
“Twenty-six million dollars?”
Adrian’s eyes widened.
Victor had guessed.
That reaction told him enough.
“How much?”
Adrian looked away.
“About thirty-eight.”
Victor felt physically struck.
“Thirty-eight million dollars?”
“Over four years.”
“You stole from me?”
“From the company.”
“You say that like the company fell from the sky.”
“I didn’t take it.”
“Then where did it go?”
Adrian dragged a hand over his face.
“Victor, you need to understand. Dad left debts you never knew about.”
“Our father died eighteen years ago.”
“And some of his arrangements survived him.”
“What arrangements?”
Adrian did not answer.
Victor grabbed the folder.
“I’m calling federal counsel in the morning.”
“You do that and you may destroy Hale Meridian.”
“Then maybe Hale Meridian deserves to be destroyed.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You’d burn down forty thousand jobs?”
“Don’t hide behind employees.”
“I’m trying to protect them.”
“You’re protecting yourself.”
A sound came from behind them.
Both men turned.
Ethan was in the library doorway.
Victor’s heart dropped.
“What are you doing down here?”
Ethan looked between them.
“You told the guard I could go to the kitchen.”
“That isn’t the kitchen.”
“Obviously.”
His eyes moved to Adrian.
“Why were you yelling about Mom?”
Adrian’s entire demeanor changed.
He smiled too quickly.
“Adult business.”
Ethan’s face went cold.
“Everyone says that when they want me to stop listening.”
Victor said, “Ethan, go upstairs.”
His son looked at him.
Victor heard his own mistake before the sentence finished echoing.
Ethan’s expression shut down.
“Right.”
He turned the wheelchair.
Victor moved.
“Wait.”
Ethan stopped.
Victor crouched beside him.
“I’m sorry.”
Adrian watched in surprise.
Victor continued.
“We discovered your mother was investigating financial irregularities at the company before the accident.”
Ethan absorbed this.
“Was that why somebody followed us?”
Adrian went very still.
Victor noticed.
“What did you say?” Adrian asked.
Ethan looked at him.
“The night we crashed.”
Adrian’s face changed for perhaps half a second.
Fear.
Victor saw it.
Ethan saw it too.
“You know something,” Ethan said.
“No.”
“You just made a face.”
“I did not.”
“You did.”
Victor rose slowly.
“What do you know about someone following Simone?”
Adrian backed away.
“Nothing.”
“Adrian.”
“Nothing.”
Victor stepped toward him.
“Then why are you afraid?”
Adrian’s mouth opened.
A security alarm suddenly screamed through the mansion.
Red lights flashed.
Victor spun toward the wall panel.
SERVER ROOM FIRE DETECTED.
His phone erupted with alerts.
The estate’s internal server room contained twelve years of archived security footage.
Including the records Victor had ordered preserved hours earlier.
Adrian stared toward the hall.
Victor looked at him.
“Did you do this?”
“No.”
For once, Victor believed him.
Because Adrian looked terrified too.
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Someone else knew they were searching.
And whoever it was had just started destroying evidence.
