Chapter 17 - The Brothers
Nathan did not believe her.
“You’re lying.”
Victoria shrugged.
“Maybe.”
Nathan moved closer.
“Where are the copies?”
“One is with my lawyer.”
“Your lawyer denies receiving anything.”
“One is scheduled for release.”
“You’re bluffing.”
Victoria looked at Daniel.
“Tell him.”
Daniel understood her game.
She wanted Nathan unstable.
She had learned from the best.
Daniel said nothing.
Nathan turned toward him.
“You think you won?”
“I think you spent years trying to prove you were smarter than me.”
“I am.”
“Maybe.”
Nathan laughed.
“Still condescending.”
“I’m not.”
“That’s worse.”
The brothers stared at each other across the ballroom.
Outside, police worked to override the electronic lock.
Nathan continued.
“Do you know what it was like growing up behind you?”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You’re blaming childhood?”
“You got everything.”
“We got the same parents.”
“No. You got Dad.”
Daniel stopped.
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“When the company nearly failed, he took you into meetings. You were twenty-two. I was twenty-one, and he told me to finish school.”
“He needed help.”
“He needed you.”
Nathan pointed toward the ceiling.
“This house. The company. The foundation. Every room has your name in it.”
“Our name.”
“Your name.”
Victoria rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please. Are we really doing wounded-boy mythology now?”
Nathan turned on her.
“You married him for money.”
“You recruited me for access.”
“I gave you access.”
“And planned to discard me.”
Nathan stepped toward her.
Daniel moved between them again.
Nathan laughed.
“You still protect people who betray you.”
Daniel answered quietly.
“No.”
“Then move.”
“I’m protecting the evidence.”
That landed.
Nathan looked at the laptop.
Daniel continued.
“You stole four hundred twenty thousand dollars four years ago.”
Nathan smiled.
“And you covered it.”
“Yes.”
Victoria looked between them.
Daniel said, “That was my crime against the company. Not theft. Cowardice.”
Nathan’s smile faded.
“I admitted it publicly.”
“You think confession makes you noble?”
“No. It makes you unable to blackmail me with it.”
For the first time Nathan seemed uncertain.
Daniel continued.
“You built this entire conspiracy on one assumption.”
“That you would always protect me?”
“That I would always be ashamed enough to hide what I did.”
Nathan’s expression sharpened.
Daniel stepped closer.
“I’m not hiding anymore.”
Outside, metal struck the door.
Police.
Nathan glanced toward it.
Victoria moved toward the laptop.
Nathan grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t.”
“Let go.”
Daniel said, “Nathan.”
“Stay out of this.”
Victoria twisted free.
“You want the ledger? Fine.”
She opened the case.
The laptop screen glowed.
Nathan stared at it.
Victoria entered a password.
A spreadsheet appeared.
Daniel recognized the Harbor distributions.
Victoria said, “Twenty-two shell entities. Nineteen banks. Eighteen-point-six million diverted from Ashford projects.”
Nathan looked at Daniel.
“And you think I kept it?”
Daniel said, “She did.”
Victoria scrolled.
Payments to Nathan-controlled entities.
Payments to Victoria.
Payments to Peter.
Consultants.
A former bank officer.
Campaign donations disguised as advisory fees.
Then a transfer labeled M.E.
Mark Ellison.
Nathan said, “He was paid for consulting.”
Daniel shook his head.
“After buying the burner.”
Nathan’s face tightened.
Victoria clicked another tab.
DOMESTIC EVENT.
There it was.
A timeline.
9:31 — CALL.
9:38 — DRINK.
9:43 — TRIGGER.
9:50 — POLICE ARRIVAL EXPECTED.
9:55 — SEARCH OF STUDY.
Daniel’s stomach turned.
Nathan had reduced Sophie’s terror to a schedule.
Daniel looked at him.
“You planned every minute.”
Nathan said nothing.
Victoria clicked an audio file.
Nathan’s recorded voice filled the ballroom.
“If Sophie won’t drink, Victoria provokes him another way. Daniel’s temper does the rest.”
Nathan lunged for the laptop.
Victoria pulled it away.
Daniel caught Nathan’s shoulder.
Nathan swung.
His fist struck Daniel’s jaw.
Daniel stumbled.
Nathan hit him again.
For a fraction of a second Daniel felt the old instinct.
Strike back.
Destroy.
Win.
Then he remembered Sophie grabbing his arm in the ballroom.
Daddy, stop.
Daniel lowered his hands.
Nathan stared.
“Fight me.”
“No.”
“Fight me!”
“No.”
Nathan hit him again.
Daniel fell against a chair.
Victoria stared.
Nathan looked almost desperate.
“Hit me!”
Daniel wiped blood from his lip.
“No.”
Outside, officers breached the electronic lock.
Nathan heard it.
His face collapsed.
The entire plan had depended on Daniel becoming violent.
Again.
And Daniel refused.
Victoria whispered, “It’s over.”
Nathan turned toward the laptop.
He seized it.
Raised it over his head.
Daniel shouted, “Nathan!”
The doors burst open.
Ruiz entered with officers.
“Drop it!”
Nathan froze.
Victoria stepped away.
Nathan looked at Daniel.
Then at the laptop.
Then at the police.
For the first time in Daniel’s life, his younger brother had fallen.
And Daniel did not catch him.
May you like
Nathan dropped the laptop.
Officers moved in.
