Chapter 5: The Enemy Inside the Family
The sound of the gunshot shattered everything.
The window exploded.
Glass rained across the room like ice.
For one terrifying second, nobody moved.
Not my father.
Not Olivia.
Not me.
Then instinct took over.
My father grabbed my arm.
“Down!”
He pulled me behind the old wooden table as another shot hit the wall above us.
The smell of dust and gunpowder filled the air.
Olivia screamed.
“Mara!”
“I’m okay!”
I pressed one hand against my stomach.
Waiting.
Praying.
A small movement.
A kick.
My baby was still moving.
Still fighting.
My father looked at me.
And something in his expression changed.
Not the powerful businessman.
Not the man who controlled everything.
A father.
Terrified.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
But my eyes were on him.
“You said you could control it.”
He closed his eyes.
“I was wrong.”
Another shot.
This one closer.
He looked toward the back door.
“We leave. Now.”
I almost laughed.
Because for the first time in my life…
Alexander Vale was afraid.
We moved through the kitchen.
My father knew every corner of the house.
Of course he did.
He had built it.
He had built everything.
Including the lies.
As we reached the back entrance, Olivia stopped.
“Mara.”
I turned.
She was staring at something on the counter.
A phone.
Burner phone.
The screen was glowing.
One message.
DON'T LET HER REACH THE TRUTH.
My father saw it.
His face changed.
“Who?”
I asked.
He didn't answer.
“Who sent that?”
Silence.
“Dad.”
The word came out colder than I expected.
Finally he whispered:
“Your brother.”
My world stopped.
Again.
Daniel.
Not Sylvia.
Not some stranger.
Not some enemy outside the family.
Daniel.
“No.”
My voice cracked.
My father looked at me.
“I wanted to protect you.”
I stared at him.
“You keep saying that.”
My hands shook.
“But everyone who destroyed me says the same thing.”
He had no answer.
The back door opened.
Cold night air rushed inside.
My father's security team appeared.
Men in dark suits.
Weapons.
Headsets.
For the first time, I realized something.
My father hadn't been hiding.
He had been preparing.
“Where is Daniel?” I asked.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at my father.
“Where is my brother?”
He looked away.
And that hurt more than anything.
Because I knew.
“You knew.”
A pause.
“You knew he was involved.”
My father finally looked at me.
“Yes.”
The betrayal was worse than Sylvia's.
Because Sylvia wanted power.
Daniel wanted something else.
He wanted me to lose.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
My father swallowed.
“Because I needed you to believe everyone was against you.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Because if you knew Daniel was watching, you would have protected him.”
The words cut deep.
Because they were true.
I would have.
That was the worst part.
My father continued:
“You always believed family came before everything.”
I looked at him.
“And you used that.”
He didn't deny it.
The drive back to the city was silent.
Too silent.
By morning, every major news outlet had the same story.
ROSEMERE GRAND UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
CEO SYLVIA CRANE ACCUSED OF FRAUD AND ABUSE
VALE FAMILY SCANDAL DEEPENS
But the headline that mattered was still missing.
Daniel.
He disappeared.
Rebecca met us at my penthouse.
The place I hadn't lived in for three years.
The place I abandoned after Sylvia took everything.
She placed a folder on the table.
“Mara, we found him.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
She looked uncomfortable.
“Not where.”
A pause.
“What then?”
She opened the folder.
Photos.
Security images.
Bank transfers.
Private conversations.
Daniel wasn't hiding.
He was negotiating.
With Sylvia.
With investors.
With the people who wanted Vale International destroyed.
And then I saw the final document.
A contract.
The buyer's name.
My hands went cold.
Because the person financing the entire attack wasn't Sylvia.
Wasn't Daniel.
It was the one person I never suspected.
The one person who had stood beside me after my mother died.
My father's closest friend.
Richard Crane.
Sylvia's father.
The man who had hugged me at my father's funeral.
The man who told me:
“Your father would be proud.”
The man who secretly built the entire plan to destroy my family.
I looked up.
“Why?”
My father answered quietly.
“Because Richard believes Vale International should have belonged to him.”
Rebecca added:
“He couldn't take it from your father.”
“So he took it from me.”
She nodded.
The pieces finally connected.
Sylvia wasn't the mastermind.
She was a weapon.
Daniel wasn't the mastermind.
He was recruited.
And Richard Crane?
He had been waiting decades.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
I answered.
A man's voice came through.
Older.
Calm.
Confident.
“Mara.”
I knew immediately.
Richard.
“You have your father's stubbornness.”
A pause.
“And your mother's weakness.”
My grip tightened.
“You don't know anything about my mother.”
He laughed softly.
“Oh, I knew her very well.”
The room went silent.
“What does that mean?”
His voice lowered.
“Your mother didn't die in an accident.”
My heart stopped.
“She was killed.”
The world disappeared.
“By who?”
I whispered.
Richard answered.
“Ask your father.”
I turned slowly.
Toward Alexander Vale.
May you like
And the look on his face told me…
He already knew.
