CHAP 14 — THE BETRAYAL IN THE STUDY
Dominic’s claim was impossible.
Until it wasn’t.
Thomas Ellis had spent months hidden after the fire.
Vincent Rainer’s wife, Catherine, had been part of the old network.
Daniel Rainer had been born eight months after Thomas disappeared.
Dominic produced private letters suggesting Catherine and Thomas had been lovers.
If valid, the Ellis inheritance could split.
Margaret looked sick.
“Dominic isn’t Thomas’s son.”
Samuel corrected her.
“Dominic was born Dominic Vincent Rainer.”
“Then who is Daniel?”
A voice answered from the doorway.
“Me.”
Everyone turned.
Malcolm Pierce entered Nathan’s study.
Security moved behind him.
Nathan held up one hand.
“Let him speak.”
Malcolm looked exhausted.
“My legal name was Daniel Ellis.”
Margaret stared at him.
“No.”
“My mother changed it after Thomas died.”
“You’re my brother?”
“Half-brother.”
Nathan felt the betrayal settle into place.
Malcolm had not merely served Whitmore for twenty-three years.
He had been waiting inside it.
“Did Dominic know?” Nathan asked.
“For years.”
“Did my mother?”
Malcolm’s voice cracked.
“Yes.”
Margaret stepped backward.
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“For seven years.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was trying to protect what was mine.”
Margaret’s anger exploded.
“You helped Victoria destroy people.”
“I never told her to do that.”
“You gave her access!”
Malcolm looked ashamed.
“I thought she would pressure you. I didn’t know—”
Nathan slammed his palm against the desk.
“Stop using ignorance as innocence.”
Silence.
Malcolm looked at him.
Nathan continued.
“You knew Dominic was moving against us.”
“Yes.”
“You gave him records.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted recognition.”
Margaret stared at him.
“As Thomas’s son?”
“As anyone.”
The words were quiet.
Ugly because they were human.
Malcolm had spent decades watching Whitmores become billionaires while knowing the man he believed was his father had vanished from history.
Resentment had matured into betrayal.
Samuel examined the birth records.
“There’s a problem.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Thomas Ellis cannot be Malcolm’s father.”
Malcolm’s face changed.
“What?”
Samuel showed them Thomas’s military medical records.
A childhood injury had left him infertile.
Margaret frowned.
“Then how am I his daughter?”
Samuel looked at her.
“Legally.”
The room became silent.
Margaret sat.
Samuel continued.
“Thomas adopted you when you were eleven months old.”
Margaret whispered:
“My mother never told me.”
“He was your father in every legal sense.”
Malcolm grabbed the record.
“Then who was mine?”
Nathan already suspected.
Samuel unfolded another document.
A sealed letter from Catherine Rainer.
Malcolm read.
His face collapsed.
Vincent Rainer.
Malcolm Pierce was Dominic’s half-brother.
Not Margaret’s.
Dominic had known.
He had fed Malcolm a lie for years.
Nathan watched understanding become horror.
“You betrayed us for a claim you never had.”
Malcolm sat down.
Dominic had promised him Thomas’s legacy.
Instead, Malcolm had been working for the very family that killed Thomas.
His phone buzzed.
One message.
From Dominic.
BOARD VOTE TOMORROW. DON’T GET SENTIMENTAL NOW.
Malcolm looked at Nathan.
“I can fix this.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“I know his financing.”
“You’ll give it to investigators.”
“I can stop the vote.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“You’re finished deciding what happens inside my company.”
Malcolm lowered his eyes.
For the first time in twenty-three years, Nathan called security.
“Take him.”
As Malcolm reached the doorway, Margaret spoke.
“Did you ever care about us?”
He stopped.
Then looked back.
“Yes.”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“That somehow makes it worse.”
Security led him away.
Nathan looked at the clock.
May you like
Twelve hours until the board vote.
And Dominic now knew his most valuable insider had fallen.
