Chapter 10 - THE SECRET BEGAN BEFORE DOMINIC TOOK POWER
Dominic’s father, Victor Vale, had been dead nine years.
People still lowered their voices when saying his name.
Victor built most of the organization Dominic inherited.
Ports.
Construction.
Security.
Legitimate companies.
And things Dominic had spent years trying to dismantle quietly.
Arthur had served Victor before he served Dominic.
Celia’s letter claimed North Meridian’s hidden payment system began under Victor.
Not Arthur.
Victor used healthcare logistics to create off-book money that could fund political relationships without touching the Vale organization’s traditional accounts.
Arthur inherited the system.
Dominic inherited the companies without knowing every mechanism inside them.
That was the problem with empires.
You could receive the crown without receiving every secret buried beneath it.
Celia wrote:
Arthur believed he was protecting what Victor built.
Then:
When you started cleaning up the old businesses, Arthur decided you were destroying your father’s legacy.
Dominic remembered the arguments.
He had sold trucking routes tied to corruption.
Closed cash-heavy clubs.
Moved construction bids into audited companies.
Arthur called it weakness.
Dominic called it survival.
Then Celia confessed her role.
She had retrieved Aaron’s notebook through the contractor.
She had delivered the altered medical-equipment orders.
She had put a sedating substance into Dominic’s coffee.
But she denied arranging either car crash.
Arthur wanted Dominic impaired before a council meeting.
“Not dead.”
According to Celia.
The van was supposed to force Mateo to stop.
Create a medical incident.
Delay Dominic.
Instead, the collision became severe.
Celia panicked.
Arthur turned the accident into an opportunity.
Then what about Aaron?
Celia wrote:
Arthur told me Aaron’s death was not authorized.
But after Aaron died, Arthur said, “Victor’s people cleaned up a problem before I could stop them.”
Victor had been alive when Aaron died?
No.
Timeline impossible.
Aaron died eighteen months earlier.
Victor died nine years earlier.
So “Victor’s people” meant old loyalists.
Men still operating according to rules from a dead boss.
Then Celia named one.
Gerald Knox.
Former Vale security chief.
Officially retired.
Unofficially still contacted by Arthur for sensitive problems.
Gerald owned the snow-removal company that serviced the road where Aaron crashed.
That coincidence was too large to ignore.
Authorities located Gerald.
He did not run.
He lawyered up.
Then surrendered records.
One payment caught everyone’s attention.
February 12—night of Aaron’s meeting with Arthur.
Arthur paid Gerald $20,000.
Description:
SECURITY CONSULTING.
Gerald claimed Arthur asked him only to “scare the technician off.”
No killing order.
Then Gerald said:
“I didn’t touch the brakes.”
Clare stared.
“Then who did?”
Gerald looked toward his attorney.
Finally:
“Aaron did.”
Silence.
Clare’s face went white.
Gerald clarified.
Not sabotage.
Aaron had attempted a brake repair himself the week before using the wrong fitting.
The line leaked.
Gerald had inspected the vehicle intending to intimidate him, discovered the damage, and—according to Gerald—left it alone.
“Why?”
Gerald’s answer destroyed any moral distinction.
“Because I figured fear would work better if the car scared him.”
He saw a dangerous condition.
He chose not to warn Aaron.
The next day, Aaron drove into ice and died.
Maybe the leak caused it.
Maybe the weather.
Maybe both.
May you like
But Gerald had known.
And Arthur had sent him there.
