Chapter 6 - The Friend Who Watched
Dominic woke to Harper calling his name.
“Mr. Dominic.”
Her voice trembled.
But she was alive.
Federal agents entered through the shattered doorway.
Lucas pulled Harper away from the broken floor.
Paramedics examined Dominic’s back and shoulders.
He had several deep cuts but no major injury.
Claire’s hand appeared between two pieces of floating wood.
Dominic saw it.
For one second, he remembered her beside Elena’s car.
He remembered Mia locked in the basement.
He remembered the knife near Harper.
Then he moved toward the water.
An agent caught Claire’s wrist.
Dominic helped pull her onto the remaining floor.
She coughed river water and blood.
“Nathan tried to kill me.”
“He tried to kill all of us,” Dominic said.
Claire gripped his sleeve.
“The original ledger.”
“Where is it?”
She struggled to remain conscious.
“Elena’s greenhouse.”
“Not the one at the estate.”
“The research greenhouse near Albany.”
Her eyes closed.
Claire survived.
Police arrested her at the hospital.
Harper returned to Mia before dawn.
The little girl climbed onto the bed and placed her face against her mother’s chest.
“I left the beads.”
Mia held her tightly.
“You remembered.”
Dominic waited in the hallway.
His shirt was torn.
Bandages covered his shoulders.
Mia looked at him through the open door.
“Thank you for bringing her back.”
“You do not owe me thanks.”
“You went back for Claire.”
“She knows where Nathan hides things.”
“That is not why you did it.”
Dominic lowered his eyes.
“No.”
“I could not leave someone to die because I hated what she had done.”
Mia nodded.
“Elena would have understood that.”
The name hurt differently now.
Federal agents searched the Albany greenhouse.
It had once supported agricultural projects funded by Elena’s charity.
After her death, Nathan arranged its sale to Cross Meridian Holdings.
Beneath a stone planter, investigators found a safe.
Elena’s wedding date opened it.
Inside was the original black ledger.
There were also photographs, recordings, and letters.
The ledger documented seventeen years of theft.
Nathan had created shell companies using Vale contracts.
He bribed public officials.
He paid security employees to alter records.
He blackmailed company directors.
He redirected money from Elena’s foundation into offshore accounts.
One section contained information about Dominic.
Nathan had recorded private conversations between them.
He documented Dominic’s fears, weaknesses, and business decisions.
He had spent seventeen years becoming indispensable.
Whenever Dominic faced a crisis, Nathan appeared with an answer.
Most of those crises had been created by Nathan.
A delayed shipment allowed Cross Meridian to receive an emergency contract.
A threatened lawsuit forced Dominic to appoint Nathan to a new committee.
A security breach convinced Dominic to expand Nathan’s access.
The friend who always rescued him had secretly started the fires.
Elena’s final statement rested inside the safe.
Nathan does not need Dominic’s company.
He needs Dominic to believe he cannot run it without him.
Once that belief is complete, Nathan will take everything and make Dominic thank him for saving what remains.
Dominic sat inside the greenhouse reading those words.
Mia stood nearby after doctors allowed her to leave the hospital under supervision.
She had insisted on seeing the place where Elena preserved the truth.
“Why did Elena not come directly to you?” Mia asked.
“She tried.”
“And?”
Dominic folded the letter.
“I chose Nathan’s version.”
“Every time.”
Mia did not comfort him.
He respected her for that.
Lucas brought another file.
Inside was Nathan’s plan for Dominic’s death.
The merger Dominic had negotiated would increase the value of his voting shares.
After the wedding, Claire would become his legal spouse.
Nathan had forged amendments placing himself in temporary control if Dominic died.
The accident was scheduled for the following Friday.
Dominic was expected to travel to a Vale factory near the mountains.
A company vehicle had already been prepared.
The brake-system inspection carried Lucas’s forged approval.
“They were going to repeat Elena’s death,” Dominic said.
“Yes,” Lucas answered.
“And everyone would believe the family suffered another tragedy on the same road.”
Nathan had built a story before committing the crime.
But the ledger contained one unexplained name.
Arthur Bell.
Former head of estate security.
Nathan paid him every month after Elena’s death.
Arthur had vanished.
Then Harper entered the greenhouse holding Mia’s hand.
She looked at the black ledger.
“The wolf man has another one.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“Another ledger?”
Harper nodded.
“A red book.”
May you like
“He said black was for money.”
“Red was for people.”
