Chapter 13 - Blood Against Blood
The temperature in the executive office dropped below zero. Henderson immediately stepped in front of Emily, his hand disappearing beneath his suit jacket toward his concealed firearm.
""Stand down, Henderson,"" Dominic said, flashing a dark, predatory smile. He raised his phone, displaying a live video feed of the Hawthorne estate in Connecticut. On the screen, tactical teams dressed in black tactical gear were stationed at the perimeter gates. ""If your hand moves another inch, the tactical breach order goes through. Lord Alexander is currently resting in his greenhouse. It would be a tragedy if an old man suffered a sudden cardiac event.""
Emily grabbed Henderson’s shoulder gently, pulling the butler back. She walked around the mahogany desk, stopping six feet from the man claiming to be her brother.
She looked past him, locking eyes with Julian, who cowered slightly behind Dominic’s broad frame.
""You really never learn, do you, Julian?"" Emily murmured. ""You trade one master for another, hoping someone else will do your fighting for you.""
Julian sneered, gaining false courage from Dominic’s presence. ""This time it’s legitimate, Emily! You stole my life, and now your real brother is taking yours! You're nothing! Just a usurper!""
""Shut up, Julian,"" Dominic said without looking back, his tone casual and dismissive. He fixed his gray eyes entirely on Emily. ""Mother was very thorough in hiding me, Emily. She knew Alexander Hawthorne was a jealous, vindictive tyrant who would have crushed any reminder of her past. She gave me away to protect my life. But she left me the keys to the vault.""
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Dominic pulled an antique iron pendant from beneath his tie—a medallion engraved with the crest of the Vane maternal dynasty. It was the twin of the locket Emily wore beneath her shirt every single day.
""Tomorrow morning at eight a.m., the trust convenes,"" Dominic declared, tapping his signet ring against the doorframe. ""You surrender the executive voting rights to me, or I release every document regarding our mother’s secret life to the global press. Her name, her memory, her legacy... I will drag it through every tabloid on the planet until the Hawthorne empire burns to ash.""
