Chapter 5 - The Heir in the Shadows
The voice on the phone was young—barely twenty—yet it carried a strange, eerie composure that cut through the tense silence of the study.
Julian reached out, snatched the phone from Daniel’s hand, and pressed it to his ear. His expression turned dangerously cold, his voice dropping into a lethal whisper.
“Identify yourself,” Julian demanded. “You have ten seconds before I hunt you down and bury you.”
The young man on the other end didn't flinch. A faint, bitter chuckle came through the speaker.
“You can threaten me all you want, Julian, but it won't change the blood in our veins,” the stranger replied smoothly. “Tell Julian I'm the person his father left everything to. My name is Elliot Ricci. Your father’s true, unacknowledged firstborn son.”
The words hit Julian like a physical blow. He stumbled slightly, gripping the edge of the mahogany desk for balance. An unacknowledged firstborn son? Don Vincente Ricci had been a ruthless patriarch, but secrets in the underworld had a way of staying buried in shallow graves—until now.
“That’s impossible,” Julian hissed, his knuckles turning white. “My father died without any other heirs. You’re a ghost fabricated by Victoria and Michael to steal what belongs to the family.”
“Am I?” Elliot’s voice hardened, losing its youthful warmth and taking on a sharp, dangerous edge that sounded hauntingly like Vincente himself. “Ask Michael about St. Anne’s Children’s Hospital downtown. Ask him what happened to the medical records from twenty years ago—the ones where Vincente hid his illegitimate child away to protect the family dynasty, while paying off hospital administrators to declare me dead on paper.”
Julian’s mind flashed back to Allison’s hospital confession: “That kid is supposed to be dead. If Julian finds out he's breathing, everything we built is gone.”
The photograph of the little boy in the hospital courtyard. The St. Anne’s stamp. It wasn't a fabrication; it was a living, breathing human being whom Victoria and Michael had tried to eliminate—or worse, manipulate—to seize control of the trust.
“Then explain why I shouldn't sign this document right now,” Julian challenged, his eyes locked on the open envelope on his desk. “If you're the true heir, why are Victoria and Michael forcing my hand to sign over the estate to an anonymous proxy?”
The stranger on the other end answered with a warning that made Julian’s blood run cold.
“Because the moment you sign that paper, you validate their fraudulent amendments, making them the legal executors of my inheritance,” Elliot said grimly. “And someone inside your mansion will die the second the ink dries. They aren't trying to help me, Julian. They’re using me as a pawn to kill you and take the entire empire for themselves.”
The connection immediately went dead, replaced by a harsh dial tone.
Julian stood frozen in the center of the study. The missing surveillance footage, the threatened hospital murders, the forged signatures, and the ghost brother from St. Anne’s Children’s Hospital all clicked into place like the tumbler of a vault opening.
Before he could turn to warn Daniel, three sharp, rhythmic knocks echoed against the heavy oak door of the study.
May you like
Then, Victoria Langford’s familiar voice drifted through the wood. It sounded unnaturally sweet, perfectly composed, and dripping with venomous confidence.
“Julian, sweetheart,” Victoria called out, her heels clicking softly against the hallway floor outside. “It’s almost midnight. Open up. Let’s celebrate our future together.”
