Chapter 4 - Bianca’s Empty Chair
Damian called Bianca.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Charles’s hands shook.
“She left the gala twenty minutes after you.”
“Where was she going?”
“To find you.”
Damian stared.
“You told her where?”
“No.”
Samuel whispered:
“Adrian could have tracked her car.”
Victor looked at Charles.
“Your daughter knew too much.”
Charles turned on him.
“She knew because you came back.”
Victor did not answer.
Damian read the message again.
LAURENT ARCHIVE.
He looked at Charles.
“What is that?”
Charles swallowed.
“A private records building.”
“Where?”
“Beacon Hill.”
“What records?”
Charles hesitated.
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Tell him.”
Charles looked at Damian.
“Diplomatic charity archives.”
“The ones you used?”
“Yes.”
Theodore frowned.
“You told me those were destroyed.”
Charles looked ashamed.
“I lied.”
Damian nodded slowly.
“Of course.”
Charles continued.
“I kept originals.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
Victor stared.
“Against me?”
“Against everyone.”
Damian grabbed his coat.
Victor stopped him.
“Adrian wants me.”
“Yes.”
“I go.”
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
Damian continued.
“He has Bianca.”
“And he will trade.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if all he wanted was you, he would not choose an archive.”
Victor stopped.
Theodore understood.
“He wants the records too.”
Damian nodded.
Charles whispered:
“There are originals there that can prove the full network.”
Samuel went pale.
“Including mine?”
Charles looked at him.
“Yes.”
Samuel sat down.
Victor looked at Charles.
“What else?”
Charles said nothing.
Damian stared.
“What else is in the archive?”
Charles’s voice lowered.
“Your mother’s medical file.”
Victor stopped breathing.
Damian looked at him.
“The original?”
Charles nodded.
Victor stepped closer.
“You had it?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Fourteen years.”
Victor’s face changed.
“You let me spend a year proving she was poisoned.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“I was trying to determine who ordered it.”
“You had the file.”
“It did not name Adrian.”
Victor’s voice rose.
“It named the doctor.”
“Yes.”
“You hid it.”
“Yes.”
Damian looked at Charles.
“Why?”
Charles finally answered.
“Because it also showed something else.”
“What?”
Charles looked at Victor.
“Your wife had been working with investigators before she died.”
Victor froze.
Damian stared.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Theodore looked shocked.
Charles continued.
“She was not just a victim.”
Victor sat down slowly.
“She never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she did not trust you yet.”
That hurt.
Victor looked away.
Damian asked:
“What was she investigating?”
“Adrian.”
“And my father?”
Charles looked at Victor.
“Also Victor.”
Silence.
Damian stared at his father.
Victor did not deny it.
Charles continued.
“She believed both brothers were moving money illegally.”
Victor nodded.
“She was right.”
Damian looked at the floor.
Another clean memory became complicated.
Charles said:
“She planned to turn over the records.”
“And Adrian killed her.”
“We believed so.”
“Believed?”
Charles nodded.
“The toxicology report proves poisoning.”
“Not who ordered it.”
“No.”
Damian looked at Victor.
“Did you ever suspect someone else?”
Victor’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Victor looked at Samuel.
The lawyer went still.
Damian followed his eyes.
Samuel whispered:
“No.”
Victor stood.
“My wife met Samuel the day before she died.”
Samuel shook his head.
“She asked me for documents.”
“What documents?”
“Trust records.”
Victor looked at Damian.
“She wanted to protect your inheritance.”
Samuel continued.
“I gave them to her.”
Victor stared.
“And then?”
“She left.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Damian said:
“Can you prove it?”
Samuel looked toward Charles.
Charles nodded reluctantly.
“The archive has the security log.”
Damian took a breath.
“So Adrian wants the archive because it contains everything.”
“Yes.”
“Bianca is leverage.”
“Yes.”
Damian looked at Victor.
“Then we give him what he thinks he wants.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
Damian picked up the fake passport.
“Michael Grant.”
He looked at his father.
“For fourteen years, this man kept Victor Vale alive.”
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