Chapter 3 - THE SECRET IN THE GARDEN
The revelation sent a wave of icy terror down my spine.
"Mia doesn't know anything!" I insisted frantically, reaching for my daughter's hand. "She's five years old! She just picked up the old lady's fallen things!"
"Mommy," Mia said, looking up with her mouth full of strawberry pastry. "The man with the shiny silver watch gave the lady the dark bottle at the pharmacy."
Julian instantly dropped onto one knee beside Mia’s chair. His expression softened into a quiet, focused gentleness.
"What shiny watch, little one?" Julian asked softly. "Can you tell me what it looked like?"
"It had a picture of a blue dragon on it," Mia said innocently, swinging her legs. "He gave the lady the bottle, and then he walked away real fast. Then the lady dropped her bag."
In the doorway, Julian’s trusted chief adviser, Gabriel, froze.
I caught the subtle shift in Gabriel’s face. Instinctively, he pulled his left sleeve down over his wrist—covering a custom Rolex watch engraved with a navy-blue dragon enamel face.
Mia pointed her little finger directly at Gabriel. "That man right there! He's the one who gave her the bottle!"
The silence in the dining room became absolute.
Gabriel’s hand darted toward his jacket.
CLACK!
Before Gabriel could even reach his firearm, Julian was already on his feet. He drew a suppressed pistol from his shoulder holster with terrifying speed, aiming it straight between Gabriel’s eyes.
"Don't move," Julian whispered, his voice dangerously smooth.
Six security officers tackled Gabriel to the floor, disarming him instantly. From Gabriel’s inner pocket, a small glass vial containing a potent digitalis toxin rolled out across the marble floor—the exact compound used to induce cardiac arrest in heart patients.
"You rat," Sofia said quietly, her voice cold with betrayal as she stared at the man who had been her family's lawyer for over ten years. "My husband trusted your father."
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"You were getting weak, Sofia!" Gabriel spat, pinned face-down on the floor by the guards. "Julian was giving up the port territories to legal enterprise! The syndicate wanted the old ways back!"
"Take him to the harbor basement," Julian ordered coldly, without looking back. "I’ll handle his interrogation personally."
