Chapter 5 - The Twin Shadow
Dominic’s jaw tightened. "What are you talking about?"
"Clara Vance didn't have a brother named Julian," Vivien said, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a small tablet device. She clicked the screen on, illuminating a series of facial recognition files. "Julian Vance died of an overdose in London ten years ago. The man upstairs is Viktor Vance—Clara’s twin brother."
Dominic stared at the tablet screen. The photograph showed the same lean, sharp-featured man currently bleeding out in his kitchen.
"And Elena?" Dominic asked.
"Elena Marlowe is Clara’s younger sister," Vivien revealed, her voice filled with desperate urgency. "They didn't come here for revenge against me, Dominic. They came for the master key to your shipping network—the encrypted ledger your father buried in Clara’s estate before she died!"
Before Dominic could process the revelation, the heavy iron doors of the conservatory were kicked open with a thunderous bang.
Marcus stepped through the doorway—his face pale, a dark stain of blood spreading across his tactical vest. He staggered forward, clutching his side.
"Boss..." Marcus gasped, collapsing to his knees near a bench of orchids. "It's a setup... the security team... Dante was bribed..."
Behind Marcus, stepping smoothly through the shadows of the rain-drenched doorway, came 'Julian'—Viktor Vance—and Elena Marlowe.
Elena was no longer crying. Her timid, trembling demeanor had completely vanished. She held a sleek, military-grade submachine gun tucked expertly under her arm, her eyes cold and sharp.
Beside her, three of Dominic’s own security guards—men Dante had personally vetted—stood with their weapons trained on Dominic and Vivien.
"Very impressive, Mrs. Vale," Viktor Vance said, stepping over Marcus’s prone body. He applied a fresh pressure bandage to his ribs, wincing slightly. "Or should I call you Genevieve? You figured out our lineage faster than we anticipated."
Dominic immediately stepped in front of Vivien, raising his pistol, but the three compromised security guards instantly raised their rifles, targeting his chest.
"Lower the weapon, Dominic," Elena said, her voice no longer that of a frightened maid, but of a seasoned operative who had spent months playing a role. "We don't particularly care about your marital drama. We only want what's inside that steel trunk."
Dominic glanced down at the pit, then at Elena. "The ledger."
"Your father was a paranoid old crook," Viktor sneered, taking a step toward the pit. "He knew his board was corrupt, so he placed the access codes to the syndicate’s three-billion-dollar offshore accounts inside a bio-metric drive, tied to Clara’s DNA. When Genevieve killed my sister seven years ago, she didn't just murder her—she buried the only key to our family's fortune."
"You used the maid identity to locate the vault," Dominic said, his mind putting the pieces together with cold precision.
"It took me eight months of scrubbing toilets and dusting your pathetic antique collection to find the hidden compartment in her dressing room," Elena said with a cruel laugh. "I forged that letter three days ago using Clara's old journal entries. I knew that if I dropped it into your hands, your ego and suspicion would force Genevieve to reveal the location of the body."
Vivien stepped out from behind Dominic, her head held high, her dark eyes fixing on Elena with terrifying intensity.
"You played a good game, little sister," Vivien said softly. "But you made one fatal mistake."
Elena raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what was that?"
"You assumed I came to this conservatory to dig up the trunk," Vivien replied, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across her lips.
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Vivien reached into her trench coat pocket and pulled out a small black remote control with a single glowing red toggle.
"I built this glass house seven years ago," Vivien whispered. "Did you really think I wouldn't wire my own cover site with thermite charges?"
