Chapter 4
Julian didn't wait for Marcus to finish tracing the vehicle's departure route. He stormed out of the security hub, his heavy boots echoing sharply against the polished concrete floors of the underground corridors. The betrayal tasted like ash in his mouth. David. His own blood, the brother he had bailed out of financial ruin three separate times, had smuggled Ethan onto the property. But why? What leverage could a broken, institutionalized madman possibly hold over a corporate titan like David Vance?
He burst back into the grand hall, where the ruined pink cake still lay like a pathetic casualty of war on the marble floor. Elena looked up immediately, her eyes wide with apprehension as Julian marched toward her. She handed a sleeping Maya off to a trusted nanny who had just slipped into the room, then stood up to face her husband.
"Julian, what did the logs show?" Elena asked, her voice steady, though her fingers nervously smoothed the fabric of her light blue dress. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Not a ghost," Julian spat, stopping just inches from her, towering over her with an intense, burning gaze. "Family."
Elena’s eyes flashed with genuine confusion, completely devoid of the guilt Julian had momentarily suspected her of harboring. "What are you talking about? Who was it?"
"David," Julian said the name like a curse. "My brother was here last night. He used his master clearance to let Ethan into the western wing. My own brother walked a violent criminal right into our home while our daughter was blowing out her birthday candles."
Elena stepped back, her hands trembling as she tried to process the impossible claim. "David? That doesn't make any sense. David and Ethan hated each other more than anyone. Remember the trial? Ethan threatened to expose David's offshore accounts if he didn't testify in his favor."
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"People change when they're desperate, or when they're being blackmailed," Julian said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. He pulled out his encrypted satellite phone, dialing a direct extension that bypassed the corporate switchboard entirely. "Marcus, lock down the entire compound. Nobody enters, nobody leaves. Deploy the tactical team to David's private study in the east wing. Search every inch of that room."
As Julian waited for Marcus's report on the other end of the line, the heavy oak doors at the far end of the grand hall slowly creaked open, revealing a figure standing in the shadows with a quiet, mocking smirk.
