Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Disappeared
Lily stared at Rosa.
"What did you say?"
Rosa stepped closer.
"I heard him in the pantry yesterday afternoon. Paul was speaking to someone on the phone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Victor's voice became very quiet.
"What exactly did he say?"
Rosa hesitated.
"He said, 'The Carter girl will be in the room. When they find him, she'll be the explanation.'"
Lily felt cold.
Liam moved beside her.
"He was going to frame her."
Victor already understood more.
Not simply frame her for murder.
Use her.
A desperate sister trapped by her brother's debt.
An exhausted employee who had access to the estate.
A young woman who could be painted as resentful.
If Victor were found dead with Lily beside him and a weapon nearby, the story would write itself.
Especially if Paul controlled security footage.
Especially if Ethan controlled financial records.
Especially if every document showed Lily believing Victor was exploiting her.
They had manufactured motive for months.
Victor looked toward her damaged hands.
The inflated debt was not only leverage.
It was evidence.
Fake evidence.
"Paul planned this for a long time."
Liam's voice shook with anger.
Victor nodded.
"Yes."
Lily looked at Victor.
"But you weren't drugged."
"I may have been."
"You were shot."
"The ambush might not have been intended to kill me."
Mason frowned.
"What?"
Victor thought aloud.
"They hit my shoulder."
"Three shooters fired."
"And none aimed for my head."
"Maybe they missed."
"Maybe."
Victor looked at the memory card.
"Or they wanted me injured enough to return home."
Mason understood.
"Where Paul could control the scene."
Victor nodded.
The drugged glass.
The locked room.
Lily.
A perfect second stage.
Except Lily had not poured Victor a drink.
She had tried to keep him from falling.
Then fallen asleep herself.
The entire plan had been disrupted by one small act of compassion.
Victor almost laughed at the absurdity.
Paul had accounted for greed.
Fear.
Debt.
Violence.
He had failed to account for Lily helping someone without being asked.
"We copy the card," Victor said.
Mason nodded.
"Upstairs?"
"No. Security room isn't safe."
Rosa spoke.
"Library."
Victor looked at her.
"There is an old computer behind the west shelves."
Victor was surprised.
"How do you know that?"
Rosa shrugged.
"I have cleaned your house for nineteen years."
Liam muttered, "Apparently housekeepers know everything."
Rosa smiled faintly.
"Only because powerful men rarely notice us."
Victor looked at Lily.
The statement landed harder than Rosa intended.
He had not noticed Lily either.
Not really.
He knew her name.
Her brother.
Her employment agreement.
But he had not known she was working eighteen-hour days beneath his roof.
He had not known her hands were splitting open.
He had not known people were threatening her in his name.
Victor had thought signing documents made him responsible.
Tonight was teaching him otherwise.
They moved through the hidden corridors to the library.
Rosa was right.
An old desktop computer sat inside a concealed cabinet, disconnected from the estate network.
They inserted the card.
Hundreds of photographs appeared.
Accounts.
Ledgers.
Bank statements.
Lists.
Liam stood behind Victor.
"I photographed everything I could."
Victor opened the first folder.
Thirty-two names.
Every one connected to him.
Several were employees.
Others were contractors.
Two were police officers.
One was a judge.
Mason leaned closer.
"This is bigger than Paul."
Victor opened another image.
Payments from shell corporations.
Millions.
Moved gradually over eighteen months.
"Twenty-eight million," Victor whispered.
Lily stared.
"Paul stole twenty-eight million dollars?"
"No."
Victor scrolled.
"More."
The next page showed another set of transfers.
Forty-one million.
Then another.
By the time Victor finished, the amount exceeded ninety million.
Liam whistled.
Victor did not react.
Money could be recovered.
Names were worse.
The ledger revealed something far more dangerous.
Paul had built a parallel organization inside Victor's own empire.
Paying employees.
Recruiting people.
Creating fake obligations.
Collecting illegal debts.
Buying loyalty.
And all of it wore Victor Hayes's name.
Lily stared at the screen.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
"How can someone steal that much without you knowing?"
The question was not cruel.
That made it worse.
Victor answered honestly.
"Because I trusted people."
Liam snorted.
"You're a crime boss talking about trust?"
Victor looked at him.
"Successful criminals require more trust than bankers."
"That's depressing."
"Yes."
Mason pointed.
"Wait."
One photograph showed a handwritten list.
Initials.
Dates.
Amounts.
Next to several entries was the word Transition.
Mason's face paled.
"That's the takeover."
Victor scrolled lower.
A date appeared.
Tonight.
Lily whispered, "They planned everything."
Below it:
V.H. removed.
L.C. responsible.
Her initials.
Lily Carter.
She stopped breathing for a second.
Victor's hand tightened around the mouse.
Then another line.
L.C. deceased before police transfer.
Liam slammed both hands onto the desk.
"I'm going to kill him."
Victor stood.
"No."
"You're telling me not to?"
"I'm telling you that rage makes people stupid."
"He planned to murder my sister."
"And if you charge into Warehouse Seventeen, you'll help him."
Liam paced away.
Lily stared at the line.
Deceased before police transfer.
Paul had not intended her to live long enough to tell anyone the truth.
For months she had feared Victor.
She had believed the monster lived at the top of the house.
Instead the man everyone feared had been the only one who never threatened her.
Victor noticed her expression.
"Lily."
She looked at him.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For not seeing this."
Lily gave him a tired smile without humor.
"You had ninety million other things to notice."
"No."
Victor looked at her hands.
"This was my house."
Something in his voice made her look at him differently.
Not softer.
Not yet.
But differently.
Mason opened another file.
"Victor."
A map appeared.
South freight district.
Warehouse Seventeen circled.
Several red routes led away from it.
One terminated at a private airfield.
"They're leaving tonight," Mason said.
"After transferring the money."
"Probably."
Liam moved back.
"So we go now."
Victor shook his head.
"First we send copies of this somewhere Paul cannot erase."
"Police?" Lily asked.
Everyone looked at her.
She realized how ridiculous that sounded in this room.
Victor surprised her.
"Some police."
Mason pointed to the ledger.
"Two captains are on Paul's payroll."
"Then not them."
Victor removed the card.
"Daniel has federal contacts."
Liam stared.
"You cooperate with federal agents?"
"When interests overlap."
"That's very patriotic."
Victor ignored him.
They copied the files onto three drives.
One for Daniel.
One for Victor.
One for Lily.
She looked at the drive in her hand.
"Why me?"
"Because everyone keeps assuming you are powerless."
Victor met her eyes.
"That makes you the person they're least prepared for."
For the first time that night, Lily felt something unfamiliar.
Not safety exactly.
Agency.
Victor was not telling her to hide.
He was giving her evidence.
Trust.
Responsibility.
Then the old computer made a sound.
Incoming file.
Impossible.
It wasn't connected to the network.
Mason leaned in.
"What the hell?"
The file appeared through a hidden modem.
One photograph.
Victor opened it.
Daniel Reese.
Victor's attorney.
Tied to a chair.
A pistol pressed against his temple.
Lily's heart dropped.
Text beneath the image read:
Trade the Carter evidence for Reese.
Then another line appeared.
Warehouse Seventeen. 4:00 A.M.
Victor checked the time.
3:12.
Forty-eight minutes.
Mason looked at him.
"It's a trap."
Victor removed the drive.
"Of course."
"Then what?"
Victor checked his pistol.
"We change the terms."
Lily stepped forward.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"You just said they underestimate me."
"They do."
"Then use that."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"Lily."
"My brother is involved because of me."
Liam protested.
"Actually—"
"Not now."
She looked back at Victor.
"They want me blamed. They expect me to be frightened."
"You are frightened."
"Yes."
Her voice steadied.
"But I'm still coming."
Victor stared at her.
He had known powerful men who became useless when afraid.
Lily stood there exhausted, hands cracked, cardigan stained with dust, and refused to hide.
Victor realized something.
Paul had made the same mistake Victor had.
He had confused gentleness with weakness.
"Stay beside me," Victor said.
Lily nodded.
Liam grabbed another weapon.
Victor pointed.
"You stay behind Mason."
"No."
"That wasn't a suggestion."
Liam looked at Lily.
She nodded.
"Please."
He reluctantly agreed.
Rosa stopped them as they reached the door.
"Victor."
He turned.
She walked toward him and straightened his torn black shirt as if he were still twenty years old.
"You look terrible."
Victor blinked.
Liam laughed.
Even Lily smiled.
Rosa stepped back.
"Bring everyone home."
Victor's expression softened.
"I will."
They left the library.
Outside, dawn was still hours away.
Somewhere across the city Paul was waiting.
He believed Victor was wounded.
Isolated.
Desperate.
He believed Lily Carter was frightened enough to obey.
He believed he controlled the board.
He was wrong about all three.
But when Victor reached the garage, he discovered one thing Paul had understood perfectly.
Every vehicle was gone.
Every driver had disappeared.
And on the windshield of the only remaining car, someone had left a handwritten note.
May you like
You have thirty-seven minutes.
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