Chapter 8 - Blood is Thicker Than Code
"Julian?" Claire repeated, stepping closer as she saw the sheer devastation wash over Roman’s face. "Your brother helped Evelyn poison your mother?"
"He didn't just help her," Roman said, his voice dropping into a hollow, mechanical whisper that terrified Claire far more than his rage had. "Julian has been quietly liquidating our subsidiary holdings in the Cayman Islands for the past eighteen months. I thought it was market fluctuation. I thought it was bad logistics. It was embezzlement. He and Evelyn were planning a hostile takeover of Hale Technologies, and my mother was standing in their way."
He crushed the parchment in his fist, his knuckles turning pure white.
"Where is Julian right now?" Claire asked urgently.
"He's at the corporate headquarters downtown," Roman said, his eyes snapping up with a cold, terrifying clarity. "He’s chairing the emergency board meeting I called this morning to discuss quarterly earnings. He thinks I'm still dealing with the fallout at the penthouse."
"Then we go to the office," Claire said firmly.
Roman looked at her, his expression softening with a mixture of awe and protective dread. "Claire, no. This is a family war now. It’s corporate espionage, fratricide, and high-level treason. I’m not dragging you and Lily any deeper into this mire."
"You already dragged me into it the moment your fiancée's thugs broke down my kitchen door and beat me on the floor while my daughter listened," Claire snapped back, her eyes flashing with a fierce, unyielding courage that left Roman speechless. "You think I'm going to hide in this bunker while the men who tried to kill me walk free? Hand me my coat, Roman. We're going to the board meeting."
Roman stared at her for three long seconds. Then, slowly, a faint, respectful smile touched the corners of his lips.
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"Victor," Roman called out over his comm-link. "Prep the chopper. We're heading to the tower. And notify the federal prosecutor’s office that we have enough digital and physical evidence to execute an immediate corporate and criminal raid."
"Copy that, Boss," Victor replied. "It's time to clean house."
