Chapter 10: The Patriarch at the Door
At nine o'clock in the morning, a single, unescorted black sedan parked outside 4th Street. Arthur Vance stepped out. He was not wearing his tailored tuxedo or his arrogant sneer. His hair was disheveled, his eyes dark with exhaustion, and his shoulders bowed as if carrying the weight of a decade's deceit.
He walked slowly into the garage, looking at the tools, the grease, and the modest workspace. Julian stood up, stepping in front of Elena instinctively. But Arthur did not shout or demand. He stopped five feet away and bowed his head.
"I know what's in that ledger," Arthur said, his voice cracked with age and sorrow. "I haven't slept a full night in ten years, Julian. Every time I looked at Elena, all I could see was the smoke in St. Jude’s Valley. And all I could remember was that a boy I treated like dirt had more courage in his pinky finger than I had in my entire board of directors."
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Elena stepped forward, her arms crossed. "Why did you come here, Father?"
"Because Gregory and his father went to the federal prosecutors this morning," Arthur said, holding out a briefcase. "Richard Thorne is trying to pin the entire arson on me before we can expose him. He thinks he can sacrifice me and keep his empire. I’m done running. I brought the certified banking records that prove Thorne was the mastermind. Use them, Elena. Save yourself, and do what I was too cowardly to do."
