Chapter 4 - FIRE IN THE ARCHIVES
Flames danced along the oak paneling of the mansion's lower east wing.
Thick, acrid smoke filled the air.
Coughing filled the hallway as security guards rushed with extinguishers.
Dominic strode through the haze, his coat billowing behind him.
His face was carved from stone.
Vanessa stood near the courtyard entrance, wrapped in a silk robe.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
“Who did this?” she cried out, her voice dripping with fake panic. “Who would do such a thing?”
Dominic ignored her.
He walked straight to the smoking remains of the archive room.
Cabinets were overturned.
Paper ash drifted like dark snow across the floor.
Viktor stepped out from the ruins, soot smudging his sharp jawline.
“Most of the physical tax records from four years ago are gone, Boss.”
Dominic clenched his fists.
“Did they get the digital backups?”
“No,” Viktor shook his head. “Servers are encrypted in the subterranean vault. They couldn't bypass the biometric scanner.”
Dominic exhaled slowly.
He turned his gaze back to Vanessa.
She was watching him with wide, terrified eyes.
“You panicked, Vanessa,” Dominic said, stepping close to her.
“Me? Dominic, how can you say that? My home was attacked!”
“You knew the physical files were in that room.”
“I didn’t know anything!” she screamed, her voice cracking. “Your father’s legacy is in ashes, and you’re blaming me?”
“My father’s legacy was stolen by your father,” Dominic whispered.
The color drained entirely from Vanessa’s face.
She stumbled back.
“You’re insane.”
“Am I?”
Dominic pulled the handwritten letter from his pocket.
He held it up under the flickering light.
“Elena knew about the foundation fraud. She had the hard copies. And someone pushed her down the stairs to stop her from filing them.”
Vanessa’s lower lip quivered.
She looked past Dominic.
Adrian was standing at the edge of the hallway, wiping blood from his mouth.
Adrian gave Vanessa a subtle, razor-sharp look.
A silent signal.
Dominic caught the exchange in the reflection of a charred window pane.
“You were both in on it,” Dominic said coldly.
Adrian laughed softly.
A dark, chilling sound.
“You always thought you were the smart one, Dominic. Father’s favorite. The heir to the syndicate.”
“Adrian,” Dominic warned.
“Elena was going to ruin us all,” Adrian continued, stepping forward. “She threatened to expose the family accounts to federal prosecutors. We had to protect the syndicate.”
Vanessa tried to silence him.
“Shut up, Adrian! Shut up!”
“Too late, darling,” Adrian smirked. “He already found the mirror.”
Dominic raised his weapon.
The click of the safety disengaging echoed sharply.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Before Dominic could pull the trigger, a deafening explosion rocked the courtyard.
The front gates blew inward in a ball of orange fire.
Armed men in tactical gear swarmed the property.
Automatic gunfire shattered the remaining windows.
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“Ambush!” Viktor roared, tackling Dominic to the marble floor as bullets zipped overhead.
In the chaos, Vanessa and Adrian vanished into the smoke.
