Chapter 2 - Emily Finally Told Me Why She Had Been Silent for Eighteen Months—And the Truth Made Me Want to Burn His Entire Empire DownEmily spent the first three days in a private medical facility under federal protection.
She barely spoke.
Every time someone entered the room, her body tensed.
Every unexpected sound made her flinch.
That hurt more than any bruise.
Emily had never been fragile.
She had been stubborn.
Loud.
Funny.
When we were children, she once broke a neighbor's window with a baseball and blamed the wind.
Now she apologized whenever a nurse brought her water.
I sat beside her bed.
“You don't have to talk.”
She stared at the ceiling.
“I should have told you.”
“You survived.”
“That doesn't make it okay.”
“No.”
I reached for her hand.
“But it means you're alive.”
She finally looked at me.
“Victor wasn't always like this.”
“I know.”
“He became different after his father died.”
I stayed silent.
“He inherited debt.”
“How much?”
“Almost forty million dollars.”
I already knew.
My investigators had traced the debt.
Emily continued.
“Then people started coming to the house.”
“What people?”
“Investors. Criminals. Politicians. Men I had never seen before.”
She swallowed.
“They told him I was the reason his father left him with nothing.”
I frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It didn't have to.”
Emily looked down.
“They wanted him angry.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
She squeezed my fingers.
“But one man came more than the others.”
“Name?”
“Richard Kane.”
My blood went cold.
Richard Kane had disappeared from the East Coast criminal network twelve years earlier.
Most people believed he was dead.
I knew better.
Kane was one of the few men who had ever escaped one of my operations.
He wasn't the strongest.
He wasn't the richest.
He was simply patient.
And patient men were dangerous.
Emily whispered:
“Victor said Kane could save him.”
“Save him from what?”
“Debt.”
I closed my eyes.
“And what did Kane want?”
Emily's expression broke.
“Control.”
She told me everything.
Kane had slowly convinced Victor that the only way to survive was to surrender control of his companies.
Victor refused.
So Kane used Emily.
He threatened to expose Victor's financial crimes.
Then he threatened Emily.
Then he made Victor believe that if Emily ever left him, everyone would die.
The abuse began gradually.
A slap.
A locked door.
A destroyed phone.
Then worse.
I felt my hands tighten into fists.
Emily noticed.
“Daniel.”
I looked at her.
“Don't.”
“Don't what?”
“Become the man you're thinking about becoming.”
I stared at my sister.
“You think I'm angry because of Victor?”
She said nothing.
“I'm angry because you thought you had to suffer alone.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was ashamed.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I married him.”
“You trusted him.”
“I loved him.”
“You were wrong.”
She looked away.
I softened my voice.
“Being wrong about someone doesn't make you guilty for what they did to you.”
For the first time, Emily cried.
I held her until she fell asleep.
Then I walked outside.
My security chief, Marcus, waited in the hallway.
“Boss.”
I nodded.
“Find Richard Kane.”
“We're already looking.”
“Not good enough.”
Marcus understood.
“Alive?”
I stared through the window.
May you like
“Yes.”
“For now.”
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