Chapter 4 - The Brother's Betrayal
Julian cornered me in the dim, echoing underground parking garage later that evening.
He didn't look like a billionaire playboy anymore. He looked entirely pathetic.
His styled hair was a mess, his designer tie was pulled loose, and he smelled faintly of panic and cheap scotch.
“We can make this all go away, Vic,” he pleaded, stepping into my path, his tone rapidly shifting from his usual arrogance to sheer, trembling desperation.
“Dad has billions hidden in the Cayman Islands. Untraceable accounts. We’ll give you a cut. Twenty percent. Just call off the feds and tell them the intel was flawed.”
I stopped walking and looked at my older brother, feeling absolutely nothing but cold pity.
This was the very man who had forcefully held my arms down while the corrupt doctors injected me with sedatives five years ago.
This was the man who had laughed and taken pictures as they dragged me out of my own home in a straitjacket.
“You really still don’t get it, do you, Julian?” I asked softly, the sound of my voice echoing off the concrete walls.
“This isn’t about money. It was never about the money. It's about justice.”
I reached into my pocket, pulled out a small silver flash drive, and held it up to the fluorescent lights.
“Do you know what’s on this drive, Julian?”
He stared at the small device, swallowing hard, his eyes wide with rising terror.
“This is the master ledger from the shell company you quietly set up in Panama. The one you used to skim millions from Dad’s illegal deals. You’ve been stealing from his most dangerous clients for three years.”
Julian’s face went completely white, all the blood draining from his cheeks.
He fell to his knees right there on the cold, oily concrete. “Please, Victoria. Please don't do this. I’m your brother. They'll kill me.”
“My brothers are the men who pulled me out of a burning, sinking ship,” I replied coldly, staring down at him. “You’re just a greedy thief.”
I dropped the flash drive right onto his lap.
“I’m not giving that to the feds, and I'm not giving it to Dad. I sent a digital copy to every major investigative journalist in the country an hour ago. Check your phone.”
Right on cue, Julian’s phone began to buzz frantically in his pocket, lighting up with notifications from the press.
May you like
I turned around and walked away, the sound of my heels clicking against the pavement, leaving him weeping and entirely broken in the dark.
One piece of the corrupt empire down. Two to go.
