Chapter 8 - The Price of Treason
Julian stepped back, his back slamming against the cold glass of the balcony door. "Dominic... how... how did you get in here?"
"You've been my attorney for twenty years, Julian," Dominic said, standing up with agonizing slowness. "You taught me how to set up Zurich shell companies when we acquired the Rotterdam docks back in 2018."
Dominic walked across the room, his heavy leather shoes clicking rhythmically against the floorboards.
"You always did prefer the Bellevueplatz penthouse," Dominic continued smoothly. "You used the same account manager at Credit Suisse that you recommended to my father thirty years ago."
"Dominic, listen to me," Julian stammered, his hands shaking violently as he tried to regain his composure. "Whatever you think you heard—"
"I didn't listen to a recording, Julian," Dominic cut him off, stopping three feet away. "I didn't need to. Vincent found the secondary override log on the kitchen vault server yesterday morning."
Vincent stepped out of the darkness, throwing a printed sheet of server diagnostics onto the bed.
"The vault code was changed at 0800 hours," Vincent said coldly. "Only four people had it. Marco, me, Dominic... and you. But the secondary bypass key—the master key issued only to the family trustee—was used at six fifteen PM on the night of the party."
Julian’s eyes darted frantically toward the door, but two armed guards blocked the exit.
"Why, Julian?" Dominic asked. His voice wasn't angry. It was hollow, filled with a deep, tragic disappointment that hurt far more than rage. "My father treated you like a brother. I treated you like an uncle. My son called you Uncle Julian."
Julian’s posture shifted. The terror in his face slowly withered away, replaced by a bitter, ugly contempt that had been festering beneath his sophisticated exterior for decades.
"Your father was a visionary!" Julian spat, his voice rising in pitch. "He built an empire with blood and iron! And what did you do? You married a soft woman, had a sick child, and turned a multi-billion-dollar dynasty into a legitimate shipping firm that donates millions to children’s hospitals!"
Julian took a step toward Dominic, his eyes wide with madness.
"You refused the Asian expansion! You turned down forty percent returns in Eastern Europe because of 'ethical concerns'! You were ruining everything we built! I needed you gone, Dominic! I needed Ethan gone so the bloodline would end and the board would turn control over to me!"
Dominic looked at the man who had watched him grow up, the man who had attended his wedding, the man who had held Ethan as a baby.
"You used Hastings," Dominic said quietly.
"Hastings was an idiot," Julian sneered. "A broke, desperate gambler who jumped at the chance to clear his debts. I gave him the silver box. I gave him the entry path. All he had to do was put it in the frosting. But that damned little girl—that worthless housekeeper’s bastard—ruined everything!"
Dominic’s eyes flickered.
In a fraction of a second, Dominic reached out, grabbed Julian by the throat, and slammed him against the glass balcony door with enough force to crack the reinforced pane.
Julian gasped for air, his hands tearing uselessly at Dominic’s iron grip.
"Her name is Lily," Dominic growled, his voice vibrating with pure, lethal power. "And she has more honor in her tiny finger than you have in your entire pathetic, treacherous body."
Dominic lowered his face until he was staring directly into Julian’s terrified, bloodshot eyes.
"You thought you were going to take my family, Julian," Dominic whispered. "Now you are going to lose everything you ever touched."
Dominic released his grip. Julian collapsed to the floor, coughing and gasping wildly for breath.
"Vincent," Dominic commanded, turning his back on his former mentor.
"Boss?"
"Hand him over to the Swiss authorities along with the complete digital paper trail. Make sure he is extradited to a federal maximum-security facility in New Jersey."
Dominic stopped near the doorway, looking back one last time at the ruined old man sobbing on the floor.
"And Julian?"
May you like
Julian looked up through his tears.
"You will spend the rest of your life in a six-by-eight concrete cell," Dominic said softly. "And every single day, you will remember that you were destroyed by a three-year-old girl."
