“Yes.”
Dominic turned toward Mercer.
“Who else can reach this system?”
“Security only,” Vincent said.
“Then we’re back where we started.”
“No.”
Vincent pointed at the server log.
“This deletion wasn’t done remotely. It was performed at terminal four.”
“Where’s terminal four?”
The answer came from Clare.
“The staff laundry.”
Everyone looked at her.
She swallowed.
“There’s a small security terminal beside the service entrance.”
Vincent nodded.
“Old emergency station.”
Dominic began walking.
The pressure in his leg had eased enough that he barely used the cane.
They reached the laundry.
Machines sat silent beneath fluorescent emergency lights.
Vincent checked the terminal.
Its casing had been opened.
Behind it was a thumb drive.
Arthur stared.
“You have got to be kidding.”
Vincent removed it.
They returned to security.
The drive contained hundreds of files.
Medical records.
Financial statements.
Security schedules.
Photos of Dominic entering restaurants.
Photos of council members with their families.
Photos of Clare.
Photos of Ellie leaving preschool.
Clare covered her mouth.
Then Dominic saw a folder labeled:
ROWAN, THOMAS.
He opened it.
Inside was a video.
Thomas Rowan sat at a table.
Alive.
Nervous.
The recording was dated three days before his death.
A man sat opposite him, outside the camera angle.
Thomas spoke.
“I know what you’re doing with the accounts.”
A voice answered.
“Then you understand why you should have kept walking.”
Clare gripped the desk.
She knew the voice.
Dominic did too.
Everyone did.
Dr. Samuel Mercer.
Dominic turned.
Mercer was already backing toward the door.
Vincent lunged.
Mercer pulled a syringe from his pocket.
Vincent caught his wrist before the needle landed.
They crashed against the wall.
Arthur kicked the syringe away.
Within seconds Vincent had Mercer facedown on the floor.
Clare stared as though the world had become unrecognizable.
“Why?”
Mercer stopped struggling.
Then he laughed.
It was the first time Dominic had ever heard the physician make that sound.
“You still think this is about money?”
Dominic walked toward him.
“What is it about?”
Mercer rolled onto his side.
Blood touched his lip.
“Your father destroyed families for thirty years.”
“I’m not my father.”
“No.”
Mercer smiled.
“That’s why you were dangerous.”
Dominic frowned.
Mercer looked at Arthur.
“Lorenzo’s system survived because everyone believed Dominic would eventually become Lorenzo.”
His eyes returned to Dominic.
“But you didn’t.”
Vincent went still.
Mercer continued.
“You closed routes. Sold warehouses. Cut politicians loose. Turned old cash businesses legitimate. Suddenly hundreds of people who depended on corruption were going to lose everything.”
Arthur whispered, “The old network.”
Mercer nodded.
“They needed a Vale.”
Dominic understood.
“And I refused to become one.”
“So they needed you removed.”
“The crash.”
“Yes.”
“The poison.”
“Yes.”
“The brace.”
“Yes.”
“Arthur’s council vote.”
Mercer smiled.
“Beautiful, wasn’t it?”
Arthur stepped forward.
“You engineered the deterioration so I would challenge him.”
“You were predictable.”
“And the money?”
Mercer glanced at Vincent.
“That was the surprise. We spent years searching for Lorenzo’s reserves.”
Vincent smiled coldly.
“You never found them.”
“No.”
Mercer’s eyes narrowed.
“Because you had them.”
Dominic suddenly understood the whole design.
Declare him medically incompetent.
Install Arthur temporarily.
Expose Vincent’s secret accounts as theft.
Turn Arthur and Vincent against one another.
Then reveal the scandal publicly.
The Vale empire would fracture overnight.
And the old network could buy what remained.
Mercer laughed.
“But you still haven’t found the interesting part.”
Dominic stared at him.
“What part?”
Mercer looked at Clare.
“Why her husband had to die.”
7
Clare went white.
“Thomas found the accounts,” Mercer said.
“But not Vincent’s hidden transfers.”
Vincent frowned.
“What did he find?”
Mercer smiled.
“A name.”
Dominic felt the room tighten.
“What name?”
Mercer said nothing.
Vincent grabbed him by the collar.
