CHAPTER 3 — “THE RULES OF POWER”
The first convoy arrived through the iron gates like a controlled invasion.
Black vehicles. No markings. No sirens.
Just certainty in motion.
Security at the estate tried to respond, but their radios only returned static.
Someone had already shut the system down from the inside.
Grayson moved toward the window.
“No,” he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.
Dominic remained in the library.
Still next to Harper.
He took off his jacket and placed it gently over her shoulders.
A gesture so ordinary it felt unreal in that house.
Harper’s lips moved slightly.
“…You came.”
Dominic didn’t look at her.
“You called,” he replied.
Outside, the first men entered the estate perimeter.
Not police.
Not military.
Something in between.
Controlled authority.
Grayson turned sharply.
“You can’t just walk into my home and rewrite jurisdiction.”
Dominic finally faced him again.
“No,” he said. “I can’t rewrite it.”
A pause.
Then:
“I can expose what it already is.”
A folder was placed on the library desk.
No drama in the movement.
Just placement.
Grayson didn’t touch it.
That hesitation again.
Dominic noticed.
Everyone noticed.
Paige stepped back until her shoulder hit the bookshelf.
Celeste finally spoke, voice tight.
“Grayson… what did you do?”
For the first time, the question wasn’t rhetorical.
Dominic opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Medical reports.
Bank transfers.
Court seals.
And recordings.
Grayson’s breathing changed.
Barely.
But it changed.
Dominic’s voice stayed calm.
“She’s not the first,” he said.
May you like
Silence.
“She’s just the first one who reached the right number.”
