Chapter 6
Their phones revealed messages exchanged with two people inside the Vale estate: Mason Reed and Vanessa Ward.
Adrian read the names without speaking.
The investigation uncovered two years of betrayal. Vanessa and Mason had been lovers before her engagement to Adrian. Together, they had built a plan to take control of his empire. Vanessa had been adding a mild sedative to Adrian’s nightly whiskey, slowing his reflexes just enough for the ambush to succeed. Mason had leaked the route.
When the bullet failed to kill Adrian, they kidnapped Daniel’s family and forced the doctor to contaminate the surgical tools. They had also prepared a forged will. Vanessa would inherit Adrian’s personal fortune while Mason assumed control of the organization. Grace would be blamed for poisoning him. Lily would be sent away under a false name and quietly killed before she could repeat anything she had smelled or overheard.
Adrian’s hand tightened around the report. “She was going to kill a three-year-old child.”
Noah said nothing.
Adrian opened a drawer and looked at Lily’s latest drawing. Three figures stood beneath an enormous yellow sun. One was Grace in her gray uniform. One was Lily holding her rabbit. The third was a tall man in a black suit with arms so long they reached around both of them. Above him, Lily had written with Grace’s help, Uncle Adrian keeps us safe.
Adrian closed his eyes. For years, he had believed power meant having people willing to die for him. Now he understood that real power was knowing who must be protected from the people willing to kill in his name.
“We don’t confront them yet,” he said.
May you like
Noah nodded. “We let them believe we know nothing.”
Vanessa sensed the change anyway. Adrian stopped drinking the whiskey she poured. He stopped sharing confidential schedules with Mason. He remained polite, but his silences became colder.
