Chapter 4 - The Brother Who Came to Mourn
Victor Wolf’s smile was warm enough to fool anyone who had never met a predator.
He wore a charcoal suit beneath a rain-darkened coat. His dark hair was neatly combed, and not a single sign of haste marked his appearance. Behind him stood three armed men dressed as estate security.
Norah stepped backward.
“You’re supposed to be in Chicago.”
“I was.”
“The gates are locked.”
Victor glanced toward the shattered window.
“Locks are only effective when the person holding the key is loyal.”
The guards who had chased Norah entered from the balcony. One touched the blood beneath his nose where she had struck him with her shoe.
Victor examined him.
“A maid did that?”
“She surprised me.”
“I imagine she has surprised many people tonight.”
He extended one hand toward Norah.
“The ledger.”
She pressed it beneath her apron.
“I don’t have anything.”
Victor laughed softly.
“My brother trusted the only person in the house nobody notices. Clever. Sentimental, but clever.”
“Did you poison him?”
“Is that what they believe?”
“You hired the chef and threatened Claudia’s son.”
“I did neither.”
“Chef Renner used a tunnel only you and Gideon knew about.”
“Arthur knew about it as well.”
Norah remembered Arthur’s secret phone call.
“The note found on the chef accused Claudia.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“Then someone wants you to follow a very specific trail.”
“You expect me to believe you came here to help Gideon?”
“No. I came because the city believes my brother is dead.”
“He isn’t.”
Victor’s gaze sharpened.
“So the rumor was bait.”
Norah said nothing.
“You see?” he continued. “Already you’ve told me something valuable.”
She hated herself for the mistake.
Victor moved closer.
“Gideon and I have disagreed for years. He thinks fear is a tool. I believe it is a foundation. He wants to turn the family companies legitimate, repay old debts, and release officials we have spent decades controlling.”
“That gives you a motive.”
“It does. But motive is not proof.”
“Where is Daniel Weiss?”
Victor’s expression showed genuine confusion.
“Who?”
“Claudia’s son.”
“I have no idea.”
“Your security company took him.”
“North River Security has more than two hundred vehicles. Arthur manages its daily operations.”
Norah stared at him.
“Arthur said you controlled it.”
“Arthur says many useful things.”
One of the guards reached for the ledger.
Norah stepped away.
Victor raised a hand.
“Do not hurt her.”
“She broke Collins’s nose.”
“Then Collins should reconsider his career.”
Victor looked at Norah again.
“The ledger does not belong to me. It contains records of payments, operations, and agreements that could imprison both my brother and me. I want it destroyed. Gideon wants to use it as insurance.”
“Against you?”
“Against everyone.”
Norah thought of the flash drive hidden inside her sleeve.
“What does the drive contain?”
Victor’s eyes flickered.
“So you have that too.”
She had made another mistake.
He sighed.
“You are intelligent, but you have not learned when silence is protection.”
“Answer me.”
“The drive contains recordings made by our father. Conversations with judges, police commanders, politicians, and several men who still believe they are untouchable.”
“Why did Gideon keep it?”
“Because he intended to dismantle the empire without being killed in the process.”
Norah felt the pieces shift.
Gideon wanted to leave the criminal world.
Victor wanted control.
Arthur managed the security company used to abduct Claudia’s son.
Chef Renner had been killed after fleeing through a tunnel Arthur knew.
Elias Ward had entered the bedroom during a blackout requiring access to the estate’s generators.
Arthur had secretly searched the safe and reported the missing ledger.
“Who was Arthur speaking to?” she asked.
Victor studied her.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“That complicates things.”
“Who was on the phone?”
Victor glanced toward his men.
“Take her to the old dining room.”
Norah tried to run, but two guards seized her arms.
Victor removed the ledger from beneath her apron. He searched her sleeves and found the silver flash drive.
“Thank you,” he said.
“You promised not to hurt me.”
“I promised nothing. However, I prefer conversation to violence.”
They escorted Norah downstairs.
The old dining room had been unused since Gideon’s father died. Dust sheets covered the furniture, and portraits of Wolf ancestors stared down from the walls.
Victor locked the ledger and drive in a cabinet.
Then he dismissed two guards, keeping only one near the door.
“Why did you come back tonight?” Norah asked.
“To see whether Gideon was truly dead.”
“And now?”
“Now I must decide whether saving him saves me.”
She laughed without humor.
“You expect me to believe that.”
Victor poured water from a sealed bottle.
“Eight months ago, Gideon told me he planned to confess.”
Norah stared at him.
“To the police?”
“To a federal prosecutor. He offered records, testimony, and financial access in exchange for reduced sentences for selected employees.”
“Including you?”
“No.”
The bitterness in Victor’s voice felt real.
“He intended to sacrifice you.”
“He believed I would never change.”
“Would you?”
Victor drank slowly.
“That depends on the price.”
A sudden burst of gunfire sounded from the lower courtyard.
The guard near the door reached for his radio.
A voice crackled through it.
“West gate breach. Multiple vehicles.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“Those are not my men.”
The guard looked alarmed.
“Then whose?”
The lights went out again.
This time, the emergency system did not activate.
Norah heard the door open, a struggle, and a body strike the wall.
A hand closed around her wrist.
She tried to scream.
“It’s me,” Arthur whispered.
He led her through the darkness into a service corridor.
“Where is the ledger?”
“Victor took it.”
“And the drive?”
“He has that too.”
Arthur cursed.
Norah pulled her wrist free.
“Who were you calling in Gideon’s study?”
He stopped.
“You were behind the curtain.”
“Yes.”
“I called a federal agent.”
She stared at him through the darkness.
“Gideon planned to cooperate with prosecutors?”
Arthur was silent for a moment.
“He planned to destroy everything his father built.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“Yes. He made an agreement.”
“And you supported him?”
“I helped arrange it.”
“Then why did you report the ledger missing without telling Gideon?”
“Because the agent receiving the evidence may be compromised. I did not know whether you were working for Victor or for someone else.”
Norah folded her arms.
“You thought the maid organized an assassination?”
“I have survived this long by respecting unlikely threats.”
Gunfire echoed closer.
“Who breached the gate?” she asked.
“Men from our own harbor crews. They were told Victor murdered Gideon and planned to seize the estate.”
“Who told them?”
“A message sent from my phone.”
“But you didn’t send it.”
“No.”
Someone had cloned Arthur’s number or used access to his communications.
The objective became clear.
Turn Gideon’s organization against itself.
Draw Victor to the estate.
Create a battle between the brothers’ loyalists.
Ensure neither survived.
“Who benefits if both Gideon and Victor die?” Norah asked.
Arthur looked at her.
“Someone outside the family.”
“Or someone close enough to inherit everything.”
Before he could answer, Victor emerged from the dining-room doorway with a gun.
“Move away from her.”
Arthur raised his weapon.
The brothers’ most trusted men faced each other in the darkness.
“You poisoned Gideon,” Arthur said.
Victor shook his head.
“You framed me.”
“Daniel Weiss was taken in your company’s vehicle.”
“A company you manage.”
Norah stepped between them.
“Neither of you fired at the gate.”
Both men looked at her.
“Someone wants you to kill each other,” she continued. “The chef’s note blamed Claudia. The security records blame Victor. The missing evidence makes Arthur look guilty. Every clue pushes suspicion toward another person inside this house.”
Arthur lowered his weapon a fraction.
Victor did the same.
“Who has access to medical files, security systems, company vehicles, and Gideon’s schedule?” Norah asked.
Arthur answered first.
“Several department heads.”
“Who knew Gideon planned to cooperate with the government?”
“Only Gideon, me, Victor, and the federal intermediary.”
Victor frowned.
“I did not know about the arrangement until Gideon confronted me.”
“Who was the intermediary?” Norah asked.
Arthur hesitated.
“Dr. Adrian Mercer.”
Norah felt a chill.
“The lead doctor?”
“He treated a federal prosecutor after a heart attack. Gideon used him to make contact discreetly.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Mercer had access to Gideon’s complete medical file.”
“And control over the doctors entering the estate,” Norah said.
Arthur began moving toward the stairs.
They returned to the bedroom level through a hidden passage.
The hallway outside Gideon’s room was empty.
Too empty.
Arthur opened the door.
The bed was vacant.
The monitors had been disconnected.
Eleven doctors and the medical staff lay unconscious across the floor.
Dr. Mercer was gone.
So was Gideon.
On the pillow rested a pink grapefruit cut perfectly in half.
A phone beside it began to ring.
Arthur answered.
Mercer’s voice came through the speaker.
“Bring the ledger and the drive to Pier Nine before dawn.”
Arthur’s grip tightened.
“If Gideon dies—”
“He will not die if you follow instructions.”
Norah stepped closer to hear.
Mercer continued.
“And bring the maid. She has become far more important than anyone expected.”
The call ended.
Victor looked toward the windows.
May you like
The black sky had begun to soften at the horizon.
Sunrise was less than two hours away.
