Chapter 5 - I Chose My Brother’s Daughters Over the Empire—Then Vincent Burned Half My Business and Forced Me Into a War I Couldn't EscapeI dismantled the organization within a week.
Warehouses sold.
Accounts frozen.
Weapons destroyed.
Illegal operations abandoned.
My captains were shocked.
Some walked away.
Some betrayed me.
Some stayed.
I didn't care.
For the first time, money didn't matter.
The girls did.
I moved Grace and Sofia to a secure school.
Hannah stayed with them.
Julian disappeared again.
Not because he was afraid.
Because he was hunting Vincent.
I hated it.
But I understood.
Vincent attacked my companies.
Factories burned.
Cars exploded.
Three employees were killed.
The message was clear.
He wanted me back in the old world.
I refused.
Then he took someone else.
Hannah.
She disappeared from the school.
We found the van.
Empty.
A note.
COME ALONE.
I was ready to go.
Julian stopped me.
“No.”
“She has my family.”
“She has our family.”
I looked at him.
“You're coming.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they expect you.”
“What?”
“You are the target.”
He explained.
Vincent believed I still cared about the empire.
He wanted to make me choose.
Money.
Or family.
Julian wanted to exploit that.
We created a trap.
We let Vincent believe I was coming alone.
Instead, we surrounded the location.
Hannah was alive.
She had never surrendered.
She had hidden a tracking device.
We followed her signal.
Vincent was there.
So was the archive.
The one my father had hidden.
I finally saw it.
Names.
Accounts.
Photographs.
Every criminal operation connected to the family.
Everything.
Vincent had wanted it.
We had it.
The confrontation ended with Vincent being arrested.
But not before he said something.
“Your father wasn't the mastermind.”
I froze.
“Who was?”
He smiled.
“Your mother.”
My blood went cold.
My mother had died when I was twenty-two.
Or so I thought.
Vincent told me she had created the network.
My father joined.
Then tried to leave.
She had him killed.
She manipulated Vincent.
She hid behind charities.
She was still alive.
And she had been watching me.
We found her.
An estate in Connecticut.
She didn't resist.
She smiled.
“Adrian.”
I stared.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me mourn you.”
“I needed you angry.”
“Why?”
“Because anger makes men obedient.”
I hated her.
But I needed the truth.
She explained.
Our family had been chosen to carry the network.
Julian resisted.
I embraced power.
She manipulated both.
The daughters were evidence.
Grace and Sofia represented the only remaining claim to a hidden trust.
But I could change that.
I destroyed the trust instead.
I gave the assets to victims.
The network collapsed.
My mother was arrested.
Vincent was sentenced.
The family name was stripped from every criminal operation.
And I walked away.
May you like
For the first time, I had nothing.
And I had never felt richer.
Related Stories
