Chapter 8 - THE BROTHER WHO CAME HOME IN SECRET
Daniel Dre was thirty-four.
Younger than Matthias by five years.
Family disappointment.
That was how everyone described him.
Dropped out of business school.
Started two companies.
Both failed.
Moved to London.
Except he had never really left Dre Holdings.
Richard Vale had been funding him privately.
Why?
Resentment.
Daniel believed Matthias inherited everything because he was older and obedient.
Daniel got allowances.
Board observer rights.
Nothing meaningful.
Richard offered more.
If Charles and Matthias were removed, Daniel could become interim CEO.
Then eventually permanent.
A classic succession coup.
But Daniel insisted he never knew anyone planned physical harm.
I was beginning to hate that sentence.
He thought Northglass was gathering leverage.
Affair evidence.
Charles's hidden losses.
Sabrina's instability.
My pregnancy records.
Enough to force resignations.
“Did you know about the fake paternity report?”
Daniel looked sick.
“Yes.”
“Then you knew they were using my unborn child.”
“I thought it was temporary pressure.”
I stared.
“There is no temporary lie about a baby's father.”
He looked away.
Then Daniel gave us the access code to Northglass servers.
Inside was everything.
Photos.
Medical requests.
Hotel footage.
Board strategy.
Draft press releases.
One file:
PROJECT WINTER.
Christmas party.
Objective:
Obtain original trust amendment and Hensley clean-room key.
Method:
Network breach during social event.
Collateral losses within acceptable parameters.
I read the phrase again.
“Losses” meant reputational and financial losses.
Not deaths.
At least in the original plan.
Then someone altered Project Winter.
Added a second operational layer.
Physical access.
Security suppression.
Emergency distraction.
Author:
P.V.
Paul Vale?
No.
Fiona's cousin Peter Vale.
Forty-two.
Former military contractor.
Richard's nephew.
He ran private security for Vale Capital.
Peter had turned corporate sabotage into something more dangerous.
Then another file.
PROJECT BIRTHRIGHT.
Scheduled around my delivery.
Objective:
Secure biological records.
Trigger temporary incapacity of Matthias.
Activate outside trustee authority.
Method details restricted.
Incapacity.
Not death.
But how?
Medication?
Staged scandal?
Accident?
Then Adrian found a medical invoice.
Neurological sedative.
Enough to impair speech, judgment, and coordination for hours.
Purchased by Northglass.
Delivery location:
Matthias's office.
Someone planned to drug him around my childbirth, declare him temporarily incapacitated, and use fake paternity evidence to remove me from proxy authority.
Then Richard and Daniel could control the trust.
Except Daniel was staring at the file too.
“I never knew this.”
Maybe.
Then Matthias asked:
“Who has physical access to my office?”
Daniel answered.
“Fiona.”
May you like
Silence.
All eyes turned toward her.
