Chapter 4 - The Poison in the Family
By midnight, the grand manor in Oakwood was quiet.
Lily and Nora were fast asleep in a warm, newly renovated guest suite on the second floor, with Mrs. Gable sitting in an armchair nearby, keeping a watchful eye over both children.
Downstairs in the private study, lit only by a desk lamp and the fading embers of the fireplace, Adrian sat behind his heavy mahogany desk.
Maren Cole and Marcus—the head of Ashford Private Security—stood across from him.
“What did we find on Victor’s off-books accounts?” Adrian asked, his voice low and sharp.
Marcus set a heavy black folder on the leather desk blotter.
“It’s worse than we thought, Boss,” Marcus reported, his face grim. “Victor hasn't just been using Vance Logistics for petty embezzlement. For the last eighteen months, he’s been using the Vance shipping routes to transport illicit pharmaceutical precursors through the Port of Chicago, working directly with the Moretti syndicate out of Detroit.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
The Moretti family was the bitterest rival of the Ashford empire—a ruthless criminal syndicate that Adrian’s father had fought a bloody war against fifteen years ago. Adrian had established a strict truce, pushing them out of Chicago completely.
“Victor brought the Morettis back into Chicago?” Adrian asked, his tone ominously smooth.
“Yes,” Marcus confirmed. “Victor guaranteed them safe passage through Vance Logistics' warehouses in exchange for a twenty-percent cut of the street distribution. And Kendra Vance’s deceased sister? She worked as an accountant for Vance Logistics before she died of cancer.”
Maren stepped forward, flipping open a page in the folder.
“Adrian,” Maren said urgently. “Lily’s mother—her name was Clara Vance—didn't just die of cancer. Three weeks before she died, she downloaded twelve gigabytes of encrypted financial records from Julian Vance’s private server. She realized what Julian and Victor were doing.”
Adrian sat up straight, his hands clenching into tight fists on the desk.
“Where are those files?” Adrian demanded.
“We don't know,” Maren said. “Clara died in a hospice care unit three days after downloading them. But according to the digital footprint, the files were loaded onto a high-capacity flash drive. Clara never gave them to Julian. And that’s why Kendra locked those kids in that apartment.”
“Kendra was looking for the drive,” Adrian realized, the terrifying puzzle pieces locking into place. “Julian and Victor knew Clara took the data, but they couldn't find it in Clara’s belongings. They kept the children isolated in that apartment, hoping Lily would reveal where her mother hid it.”
A cold knock at the study door shattered the silence.
Diane Mercer walked in, holding her ringing smartphone.
“Adrian,” Diane said, her face pale under the dim light. “I just received a call from the Cook County Jail. Kendra Vance was just transferred to an isolated holding cell pending her bond hearing tomorrow morning.”
“And?”
“Her court-appointed public defender was just replaced,” Diane said, her voice shaking with outrage. “By Victor Ashford’s senior corporate counsel, Richard Sterling. Sterling just filed an emergency motion to claim that Lily and Nora were illegally removed from Kendra’s custody by an armed private security force under your direct orders.”
Adrian stood up slowly, picking up his suit coat from the back of his chair.
“Victor is panicking,” Adrian said flatly. “He knows that drive exists. He thinks if he gets control of the children, he can force us to hand over whatever legal leverage we have.”
“What are you going to do, Adrian?” Maren asked, fear creeping into her voice for the first time. “If Victor goes to the board tomorrow morning with Sterling’s legal motion, he could call for an emergency vote to strip you of executive authority over Ashford Global, claiming you’re using corporate security assets for personal kidnappings.”
Adrian pulled a heavy steel key from his vest pocket and unlocked the low drawer of his mahogany desk, pulling out a sealed black leather ledger—the historic record of every family debt, alliance, and enforcement asset built over three generations.
He looked at Maren, his eyes burnished with an icy, terrifying resolve.
“Tell Marcus to double the armed guards around the compound perimeter,” Adrian ordered. “No one enters or leaves without my personal clearance. Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, we don't just attend the board meeting.”
May you like
He closed the ledger with a sharp, heavy snap.
“We end Victor’s time in this family.”
