Chapter 8 - The Man in the Dark Suit
The man in the immaculate dark suit stepped forward into the pool of light beneath the flickering overhead bulb. As his face came into sharp focus, the grandfather dropped his wooden cane with a loud clatter against the cobblestones. The old man staggered backward, grabbing onto Thomas’s grey overcoat for balance, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly like a fish out of water.
“Arthur?” the grandfather whispered in sheer disbelief, his eyes bulging as he stared at the man he believed had died in a private plane crash thirty years ago. “That’s impossible. You went down over the Atlantic.”
Arthur offered a thin, calculated smile, slipping his silver pocket watch back into his vest pocket. He did not look like a ghost; he looked like a man who owned the very ground they were standing on.
“Planes can be traded, Victor,” Arthur replied smoothly, using the grandfather’s real first name for the first time in decades. “Just like assets, companies, and families. You always were terrible at checking the passenger manifests.”
Elena stepped in front of Lily, shielding her daughter with her body as she glared at Arthur. “We’re here. We brought the cake, and we brought the people you wanted. Now tell us why you dragged my daughter into this sick game.”
Arthur’s eyes drifted past Elena to the little girl peering out from behind her mother’s trench coat. A strange, softened expression crossed Arthur’s sharp features for a fleeting second before hardening back into business.
“Because that little girl is the sole legal heir to the entire downtown trust,” Arthur said calmly, gesturing toward the sleek black town car. “And her grandfather tried to sign her rights away to a shell company in the Cayman Islands three days ago.”
Thomas spun around to face the grandfather, his eyes blazing with fury. “You tried to sell her trust? After everything you put us through, you were still trying to cash out?”
“I had to!” the grandfather cried out, his voice cracking with desperation as he clutched his chest. “They were threatening her life! I didn’t have a choice!”
“There’s always a choice, Victor,” Arthur said coldly. He walked over to the back of the town car, popped the trunk, and pulled out a thick manila folder tied with a red ribbon. He tossed it onto the hood of the car, right in front of Thomas. “Open it. It contains every transaction your grandfather made since the day he faked his daughter’s death.”
Thomas hesitated for a second before untying the red ribbon and opening the folder. The first page was a bank statement dated yesterday, showing a transfer of five million dollars from Lily’s trust into an overseas account bearing the grandfather’s signature.
Elena stared at the papers, her hands trembling so violently that she almost dropped the birthday cake box. She looked down at Lily, who was looking up at her with innocent, uncomprehending eyes.
“Grandpa... why are you crying?” Lily asked softly, reaching out to touch the old man’s sleeve.
May you like
Before the grandfather could answer, the red security camera above the iron gate suddenly went black, plunging the courtyard into total darkness.
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