Chapter 2 - THE BLOODLINE SECRETS
By midnight, the Vance Manor was crawling with federal investigators. Victoria was locked in the private holding room, screaming for her lawyers, while forensics swept the property. But inside Arthur’s private study, a different kind of investigation was taking place.
Arthur sat behind his mahogany desk, watching Toby devour his third plate of hot food. The boy ate like he hadn't seen a meal in weeks—because he hadn't.
"Slow down, kid. Nobody's going to take it from you," Arthur said gently.
"Sorry, sir," Toby mumbled, hastily wiping his mouth. "I haven't eaten since Tuesday."
"Where are your parents, Toby?"
Toby lowered his eyes, his fingers tightening around his fork. "My mom died two years ago in a hospital. She was real sick. My dad... I never met him. Mom said he was a powerful man, but he didn't know I existed. She gave me this before she passed."
Toby reached inside his tattered shirt and pulled out a worn silver locket hanging from a fraying string. He handed it to Arthur.
Arthur opened the tarnished metal casing. Inside was a faded photograph of a young woman with bright hazel eyes and a distinctive crescent-shaped mole near her collarbone.
Arthur froze. The color drained completely from his face. His hands began to shake—a sight no colleague or enemy had ever witnessed in his forty years of life.
"Clara..." Arthur breathed, his voice cracking. "Clara Miller."
"You... you knew my mom?" Toby asked, his eyes wide.
Arthur didn't answer right away. He stumbled over to his safe, entered a combination, and pulled out a velvet box. Inside was a matching half of the exact same silver locket. He placed them side-by-side on the desk. They fit together perfectly.
Fifteen years ago, before Arthur made his first billion, he had loved Clara. But his family's ruthless ambition and a web of corporate lies had torn them apart. He was told she had moved away and married someone else. He never knew she was pregnant.
"She told me..." Arthur swallowed hard, tears welling in his cold gray eyes, "...she told me she left because she hated me."
"No," Toby said softly. "She kept this under her pillow every single night. She told me the man who gave it to her was the braves guy in the world."
Arthur dropped to his knees in front of the little boy, wrapping his massive arms around Toby's fragile shoulders. The cold, unyielding billionaire wept silently into the child's shoulder.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the study burst open. Leo, the head of security, stepped inside, his expression grim.
"Mr. Vance, we have a massive problem," Leo said urgently. "Victoria’s legal team just arrived with an injunction. But that's not the worst part."
"What is it?" Arthur demanded, wiping his eyes and standing up, instantly resuming his commanding aura.
"The mechanic, Thomas... he just vanished from the garage. And the security feed showing the saboteur? Someone wiped the server clean from an internal IP address five minutes ago."
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Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Victoria didn't act alone."
"No, sir," Leo said, holding up a file. "We just tracked the offshore account that wired fifty thousand dollars to Thomas this morning. The wire didn't come from Victoria. It came from your brother, Julian."
