Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Wanted Everything
The old Hale airfield had not been used in fifteen years.
Victor remembered coming there with his father as a teenager.
Back then, the hangars were bright.
Small planes came and went.
Richard used to race Victor down the runway on bicycles.
Their father would shout after them.
For a brief moment, they had been brothers before ambition turned everything poisonous.
Now the runway was cracked.
Rainwater reflected the lights of one private jet parked near the largest hangar.
Victor stopped his car.
He stepped out.
No umbrella.
No hesitation.
The hangar doors opened.
Richard walked forward.
He was sixty.
Thinner than Victor remembered.
Gray at the temples.
Expensive coat.
Cold smile.
Isabelle followed.
Victor looked at her.
For months he had believed she loved him.
Now he saw only calculation.
Richard clapped slowly.
"Victor Hale. Still dramatic."
Victor ignored him.
"Where are the papers?"
Richard smiled.
"Straight to business."
"You wanted my signature."
"I want justice."
Victor almost laughed.
"You drugged a child."
"Isabelle drugged a child."
Isabelle's expression hardened.
"Don't pretend you weren't involved."
Richard looked at her.
"Careful."
Victor watched them.
Their alliance was cracking.
Good.
He needed time.
Daniel and police tactical teams were hidden beyond the perimeter.
But they could not move until Victor confirmed no other hostages were present.
Richard held up a folder.
"Sign."
Victor didn't move.
"What exactly?"
"Transfer of voting control."
"And then?"
"We disappear."
"With Isabelle?"
Richard smiled.
"That's the plan."
Victor looked at her.
"Do you believe him?"
Isabelle's eyes narrowed.
Richard turned.
"What are you doing?"
Victor continued.
"Richard has betrayed everyone he's ever worked with."
"Shut up."
Victor looked at Isabelle.
"You think he'll share Hale Industries?"
She said nothing.
Victor took one slow step forward.
"He used you."
Richard laughed.
"She's not stupid."
"No. She's ambitious."
Victor looked directly at her.
"And ambition makes people ignore obvious truths."
Isabelle's jaw tightened.
Richard stepped closer.
"Sign."
Victor took the folder.
He opened it.
Legal documents.
Prepared carefully.
Transfer clauses.
Trust modifications.
Executive control.
All requiring Victor's signature.
Victor closed the folder.
"No."
Richard's smile disappeared.
"You don't have a choice."
"Yes, I do."
Richard pulled a pistol.
Victor did not move.
Isabelle looked surprised.
"Richard."
"Stay out of this."
Victor looked at the weapon.
"You plan to shoot me after I sign."
Richard shrugged.
"Eventually."
Isabelle's face changed.
Victor saw it.
For the first time, she understood.
She had never been Richard's partner.
She had been disposable.
Victor looked at her.
"You were supposed to die too."
Richard snapped.
"Enough."
But Isabelle turned.
"What?"
Richard kept the gun on Victor.
"He's manipulating you."
Victor said, "Ask him who receives control if I die after the transfer."
Isabelle stared at Richard.
"Answer him."
Richard's silence answered first.
Victor continued.
"The documents probably transfer control to a holding company."
Isabelle looked at the folder.
Richard's face tightened.
Victor opened the pages.
He found the company.
"Marlowe Holdings."
Isabelle whispered, "You said it would be ours."
Richard laughed.
"You believed that?"
Her expression shattered.
Years of confidence disappeared in one second.
Victor had no sympathy for her.
She had tried to kill his daughter.
But division was useful.
Richard lifted the gun.
"Sign."
Victor shook his head.
"No."
Richard aimed at Victor's chest.
"Then die."
Isabelle moved.
She knocked Richard's arm sideways.
The gun fired.
The sound echoed across the runway.
Police lights exploded from the darkness.
"Drop the weapon!"
Richard shoved Isabelle to the ground.
He ran.
Victor rushed toward her only long enough to kick the gun away.
Then officers flooded the hangar.
Richard sprinted toward the jet.
Daniel intercepted him near the stairs.
Richard swung.
Daniel blocked the punch.
Two officers tackled Richard.
Within seconds, he was face-down on the wet runway.
Handcuffed.
Screaming.
"This company is mine!"
Victor walked toward him.
Richard looked up.
"You stole my life."
Victor stood over his brother.
"No."
His voice was quiet.
"You destroyed your own."
Police pulled Richard away.
Isabelle remained seated on the ground.
Wet.
Shaking.
Victor approached.
She looked up.
"You set me up."
Victor stared at her.
"I gave you a chance to reveal what you were."
Her eyes filled with tears.
Not grief.
Fear.
"I never meant for Lily to die."
Victor's expression remained cold.
"You gave her the drug."
"I thought she would wake up."
"In a coffin."
Isabelle looked away.
Victor lowered his voice.
"Underground."
She began crying.
Victor felt nothing.
"Why?"
Isabelle wiped her face.
"You don't know what it was like."
"What?"
"Being invisible."
Victor stared at her.
"That is your explanation?"
"I spent my whole life watching people like you have everything."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"So you married me."
"Richard found me years ago. He trained me. Changed my identity."
"To get close to me."
"Yes."
"Did you ever love me?"
Isabelle hesitated.
That hurt more than Victor expected.
Finally she whispered, "Sometimes."
Victor looked away.
That answer was worse than no.
Police led her toward a vehicle.
She stopped.
"Victor."
He did not respond.
"Lily asked me once if I loved her."
Victor slowly turned.
Isabelle's voice broke.
"I told her yes."
Victor stared at her.
"She believed you."
Isabelle looked down.
Victor's voice became softer.
"That's the part you should live with."
They took her away.
By sunrise, the conspiracy was collapsing.
Richard.
Isabelle.
Dr. Vale.
Two doctors.
A hospital administrator.
A funeral-home employee.
All implicated.
Victor returned to Lily's room at 6:20 a.m.
She was awake.
Sam sat beside her bed eating cereal.
Victor stopped at the door.
Lily smiled.
"Daddy."
Victor walked toward her.
She held out her arms.
Victor hugged her carefully.
Then Sam asked, "Did you catch the bad guys?"
Victor looked at him.
"Yes."
"All of them?"
Victor hesitated.
"We think so."
But that answer would prove premature.
Because one hour later, Daniel received a forensic report from the hospital.
The sedative used on Lily had been administered twice.
Once by Isabelle.
And once after Lily had already been admitted.
May you like
Meaning someone inside the hospital had personally ensured she would be declared dead.
And that person had not yet been identified.
