The Brother Everyone Thought Was Guilty
Chapter 03 - The Brother Everyone Thought Was Guilty
Daniel walked into the ballroom holding a sealed evidence case. Two detectives followed him.
Eleven months earlier, twelve million dollars vanished from Cole Biotech. The transfers carried Daniel’s credentials, and Victor convinced the board that he had fled. In reality, Daniel had discovered Victor’s contractors draining the company.
When Daniel tried to expose him, Victor threatened Adrian and their mother. Daniel went into hiding and began working with federal investigators.
“Elena’s video gave us the final connection,” one detective explained. “It proves the attempted medical emergency was part of the same financial scheme.”
Daniel opened the evidence case. Inside were original bank ledgers, forged merger papers, and messages between Isabella and Victor.
Isabella would marry Adrian, gain temporary authority, and approve a merger transferring Cole Biotech’s patents to a Vale shell company. His collapse would be blamed on stress. By the time he recovered, the company would be gone.
Adrian turned to Isabella. “Did you ever love me?”
For the first time that night, she looked frightened rather than angry.
“At first,” she whispered. “But my father said our family would lose everything if I failed.”
Victor grabbed her arm. “Stop talking.”
Isabella pulled away. “You said no one would be hurt.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Elena said.
Isabella looked at the marks on Elena’s face and began to cry. “I didn’t tell them to attack you.”
“You watched them take me downstairs.”
The detectives moved toward Victor, but he knocked over the gift table and ran into the service corridor. One officer followed. The other stayed with Isabella.
A moment later, the screens went black, the fire alarm sounded, and smoke poured from the kitchen hallway.
Victor was trying to destroy the hotel server room.
Elena remembered a maintenance passage behind the ballroom pantry. It led directly to the server floor.
“I know where he’s going,” she said.
Daniel tried to stop her, but Elena was already running.
Adrian and Daniel followed through the narrow corridor. At the end, they found Victor pouring fuel across the server room entrance while security recordings copied onto a portable drive.
He held a lighter in one hand.
“If this evidence disappears,” Victor said, “all you have is the word of a maid.”
May you like
Elena raised her phone.
“No,” she replied. “The entire ballroom is watching live.”
