Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO WANTED ME DEAD
I couldn't move.
The video continued.
My father sat behind his old office desk.
“I don't have much time,” he said. “Daniel has convinced everyone that the company belongs to him. But he knows the truth.”
He lifted a folder.
“The controlling trust belongs to Elena.”
My eyes filled with tears.
I had spent eleven years believing my father had left me almost nothing.
Instead, he had protected my inheritance from the very people closest to me.
Dominic reached for my hand.
I barely noticed.
My father continued.
“Your brother will try to find the original trust documents.”
The video suddenly distorted.
Then another recording began.
Daniel appeared.
Younger.
Angry.
Standing in the same office.
“You think she deserves it?”
My father answered, “She is my daughter.”
“She doesn't even care about the company.”
“That doesn't give you the right to steal it.”
Daniel laughed.
“You're going to regret choosing her.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the blank screen.
“My brother threatened him.”
Dominic nodded.
“But that doesn't explain tonight.”
I opened another file.
A spreadsheet appeared.
Hundreds of payments.
Some went to politicians.
Some went to shell companies.
Some went to private security firms.
Then I saw a familiar name.
Preston Hale.
I looked at Dominic.
“Why would Preston be involved?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Because his family helped Daniel move money.”
A cold realization settled over me.
“The restaurant wasn't random.”
“No.”
“They knew I would be there.”
“Yes.”
“They wanted me frightened.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at him.
“Or they wanted me to call you.”
Dominic went silent.
That possibility changed everything.
Someone had wanted Dominic to walk into that restaurant.
They had wanted him angry.
They had wanted him distracted.
They had wanted him to reveal that Elena Hayes mattered to him.
And they had succeeded.
A notification appeared on the laptop.
NEW FILE RECEIVED.
Dominic opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
It showed me entering the Monarch Room eleven months earlier.
Behind me was a man I recognized immediately.
My uncle, Robert Hayes.
He had been dead for six years.
I stood up so quickly the chair fell backward.
“That can't be him.”
Dominic zoomed in.
The man's face was unmistakable.
“Who was your uncle?” he asked.
“My father's younger brother.”
“Was he involved in the company?”
“Before Dad died.”
“And afterward?”
“He disappeared.”
Dominic stared at the image.
“He didn't disappear.”
A second photograph appeared.
Robert Hayes entering a private airport.
The date was three months ago.
Then a third.
Robert meeting Daniel.
And a fourth.
Robert meeting Preston Hale's father.
I felt sick.
My uncle wasn't dead.
My family had lied to me for six years.
Suddenly, another message appeared.
STOP LOOKING.
Then:
YOUR HUSBAND IS NEXT.
Dominic read it.
His expression didn't change.
But his hand tightened around mine.
“Someone is watching this house.”
I looked toward the windows.
“Then what do we do?”
He answered calmly.
“We let them think they frightened us.”
That was when the lights went out.
Every security alarm in the house activated at once.
Red emergency lights flooded the hallway.
A guard shouted from downstairs.
“Movement at the east gate!”
Dominic stood.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I've spent eleven months hiding behind you.”
I picked up the ledger.
“Not anymore.”
For the first time that night, Dominic smiled.
“That's my wife.”
We walked downstairs together.
But the intruder never entered.
Instead, a package had been left on the front steps.
No return address.
Inside was a single envelope.
My name was written across it.
May you like
And beneath my name were four words:
ASK YOUR MOTHER ABOUT MONARCH.
