Chương 5
“Yes.”
“No.”
Thomas removed his glasses.
“You understand the emotional part.”
He tapped the papers.
“I’m talking about the practical part.”
Dominic stayed silent.
“These documents could involve financial crimes.”
“I know.”
“People may deny them.”
“I know.”
“They may question how they were obtained.”
“I know.”
Thomas sighed.
“You say that a lot when you are angry.”
Dominic looked away.
Thomas continued.
“Anger is useful for making decisions quickly.”
He placed the papers down.
“It is terrible for making good decisions.”
The comment annoyed Dominic because it was true.
His entire life had been built around moving faster than threats.
That strategy had helped him survive.
It had also made him someone who trusted action more than patience.
A knock interrupted them.
Margaret stood at the doorway.
She had changed her cardigan.
Her hair was fixed again.
She looked more like herself.
That almost made the situation worse.
Dominic had always associated his mother with ordinary things.
Morning coffee.
Grocery lists.
Old movies.
Not secret documents and family betrayals.
“Can I come in?”
Thomas stood.
“Of course.”
Margaret entered slowly.
She looked at the papers.
Then at Dominic.
“I should have told you sooner.”
Dominic did not answer immediately.
The anger he felt was complicated.
It was easier when he was angry at Lucian.
It was harder when the person who hurt him was someone he loved.
“You should have.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
The simplicity of the answer took away some of his anger.
She did not defend herself.
She did not create excuses.
She just accepted the wound.
“I was afraid,” she said.
Dominic looked at her.
“Of Lucian?”
“No.”
She sat down.
“Of you.”
The words surprised him.
“Me?”
Margaret folded her hands together.
“When your father died, you were twenty-two years old.”
Dominic remembered.
He remembered the hospital hallway.
The smell of disinfectant.
The phone calls.
The people who suddenly appeared claiming they had always cared.
“You stopped sleeping,” she continued.
“You worked constantly.”
“I had responsibilities.”
“You had grief.”
He looked away.
Margaret continued softly.
“You turned yourself into someone nobody could hurt.”
Dominic swallowed.
“And you thought this would hurt me?”
“I thought the truth would.”
The honesty made the room quiet.
“It was not just about money,” she said.
“It was about finding out that the man you spent your life trying to understand may have been hiding things from you.”
Dominic looked at the letter.
That was the part nobody understood.
He did not hate his father.
That would have been easier.
Hate required distance.
What he felt was unfinished.
A child’s need for approval trapped inside an adult who had learned not to need anyone.
Thomas gathered the documents carefully.
“We need to verify everything before making any move.”
Margaret nodded.
“I expected that.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You expected that?”
“Yes.”
She gave a small smile.
“You were always the child who checked the instructions before building anything.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Almost.
“I was six.”
“You were six and angry because the toy company forgot one screw.”
“It mattered.”
“It was a plastic airplane.”
“It still mattered.”
For a brief second, the room felt normal.
Not safe.
Not fixed.
Just normal.
Then Thomas’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Dominic asked.
Thomas hesitated.
“There was a request filed tonight.”
“What request?”
Thomas looked at Margaret.
Then at Dominic.
“For access to your father’s archived estate records.”
Dominic felt his stomach tighten.
“Who filed it?”
Thomas did not answer right away.
He did not need to.
The hesitation was enough.
“Lucian.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
Somewhere above them, Lucian was waiting.
Not running.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
That meant he still believed he had control.
Dominic picked up the letter again.
The paper moved slightly between his fingers.
For years, he had thought his father’s greatest mistake was underestimating people.
Now he wondered if his father’s greatest mistake was assuming the people around him would stay the same forever.
“Then we stop waiting,” Dominic said.
Thomas looked at him carefully.
“What are you planning?”
Dominic looked at the closed office door.
The same door his father had used to hide behind.
The same door where his mother had once stood outside crying.
“This time,” Dominic said quietly, “we make him open it.”
“This time,” Dominic said quietly, “we make him open it.”
Thomas did not respond immediately.
He looked at Dominic the way he had looked at contracts for years, searching for the part nobody else noticed.
The hidden risk.
The sentence that changed everything.
The decision made before anyone admitted a decision had been made.
“You need to understand something,” Thomas said.
“Lucian is not going to sit there and explain himself because you ask him to.”
“I know.”
“No, you know how to fight him.”
Thomas picked up the documents.
“You do not know how to fight a person who has spent his entire life making sure nobody can prove what he did.”
Dominic looked through the office window.
The mansion grounds were dark except for the lights along the driveway.
Cars moved slowly outside the gates.
Reporters were still waiting.
Somebody was already telling a story about what happened inside.
Somebody was already choosing who was the victim and who was the villain.
“I don’t need him to confess,” Dominic said.
“I need him to make a mistake.”
Thomas sighed.
“That is exactly the kind of sentence that worries me.”
A quiet knock came from the doorway.
Ava stood there holding a stuffed rabbit that Dominic had given her years earlier.
The rabbit had one damaged ear because she had taken it everywhere.
Dominic had offered to replace it twice.
She refused both times.
Children were often better at understanding attachment than adults.
“Is Grandma okay?” Ava asked.
Dominic looked at Margaret.
She nodded before he could answer.
“She’s okay.”
Ava studied his face.
She did not believe him completely.
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Three-year-olds did not understand legal strategy or family secrets.
But they understood when adults were pretending.
