Chapter 6 - THE WILL DOMINIC’S FATHER BURIED
Dominic did not believe him.
Emily knew because he became too calm.
“That’s impossible.”
Frederick pushed the drive across.
“I thought so too.”
Dominic did not touch it.
“My mother inherited Black Pine from her parents.”
“Yes.”
“She left it to me.”
“No.”
Frederick’s voice softened.
“She left half to you.”
“And half to me.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“You were not her son.”
“She apparently disagreed with the relevance.”
Emily looked at him.
“What was your relationship with Dominic’s mother?”
Frederick’s eyes changed.
For the first time, something warm appeared.
“Margaret raised me.”
Dominic looked away.
Frederick continued.
“My biological mother died when I was six.”
“Margaret was twenty-nine.”
“She had married Walter less than a year earlier.”
“She took me in before anyone asked her to.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“She called you her son.”
“Yes.”
Emily understood.
Then why had Dominic never known?
Frederick answered before she asked.
“Walter intercepted the will.”
“He replaced it with one leaving everything to Dominic.”
Dominic finally touched the flash drive.
“Proof?”
“Copies from her attorney’s archives.”
“The attorney died.”
“His daughter found boxes after selling the office.”
Frederick leaned back.
“Victor bought them.”
“Of course.”
Emily whispered.
Frederick nodded.
“He knew what he had.”
Victor planned to use the forged will against both brothers.
If Frederick obtained his half through litigation, Black Pine could be split.
Development became possible.
If Dominic paid to suppress the claim, Victor gained money and leverage.
“Why didn’t you sue when you learned?” Emily asked.
Frederick looked at Dominic.
“Because I wanted him to know first.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“After seventeen years?”
“I wrote.”
“You disappeared.”
“Your father threatened your life.”
“Then Father died.”
“And every message I sent vanished.”
“Ruth has them now.”
Frederick’s expression changed.
“You found the letters.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Old anger met old grief.
Emily could almost see the boys beneath the men.
Finally Dominic asked:
“When did you learn about the will?”
“Nine months ago.”
“That’s when Alder Ridge accelerated purchases.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“So don’t pretend sentiment.”
“I’m not.”
Frederick met his eyes.
“I wanted Black Pine.”
“Because Margaret loved it.”
“Because it was the only place I ever belonged.”
Dominic went still.
Frederick continued.
“You inherited our house.”
“Our memories.”
“Our mother’s grave.”
“Everything.”
“And I spent seventeen years being told I had no right to any of it.”
The anger in his voice made Emily’s chest tighten.
Understandable.
Not innocent.
Frederick had still financed Victor.
Still allowed predatory land assembly.
“You could have knocked on the gate.”
Dominic said.
Frederick laughed.
“Would you have opened it?”
Dominic did not answer.
That silence mattered.
Emily looked between them.
Two powerful men.
Both convinced the other should have been brave first.
It was exhausting.
“Enough.”
Both turned toward her.
Emily crossed her arms.
“You are fifty-eight.”
She pointed toward Frederick.
“And forty-one.”
Dominic.
“You have spent seventeen years behaving like emotionally constipated teenagers with lawyers.”
Frederick stared.
Dominic looked almost offended.
Emily continued.
“Your father lied to both of you.”
“He stole from both of you.”
“He made one brother believe the other was dead.”
“And the other believe his brother accepted everything.”
“Congratulations.”
“He won.”
Silence.
Frederick’s mouth twitched.
Dominic did not.
“Emily,” he warned.
“No.”
She looked at Frederick.
“You funded Victor.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he used aggressive debt.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he falsified fees?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
Frederick stopped.
There.
Emily smiled without humor.
“Exactly.”
Then Dominic.
“You inherited Black Pine.”
“You never looked deeply into how your father got everything.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“No.”
“Did you benefit?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask?”
Silence.
Both brothers looked angry.
Good.
Emily continued.
“You are more alike than either of you can tolerate.”
Frederick actually laughed.
Dominic glared at him.
Then Sarah? No Sarah here. We have state lawyer Hannah. Could use AG investigator Melissa Grant. Let's introduce.
Investigator Melissa Grant entered with two forensic accountants.
They examined the will files.
By evening, the conclusion was clear.
The original will appeared legitimate.
Walter’s replacement contained irregular notarization.
If litigated, Frederick had a serious claim to half of Black Pine Springs.
Dominic sat alone in the private library afterward.
Emily found him there.
“You okay?”
“No.”
Better.
“Good answer.”
He looked at her.
She smiled faintly.
“What do you want?”
he asked.
Emily frowned.
“About Black Pine.”
“Not my decision.”
“I know.”
“Then why ask?”
“Because apparently I need practice asking.”
That softened her.
Emily sat.
“What do you want?”
she returned.
Dominic looked around.
The lodge.
His mother’s memory.
The private spring.
The property his father lied about.
“I don’t want to lose it.”
“Then don’t.”
“He may legally own half.”
“Then half isn’t losing everything.”
Dominic stared.
“You’re suggesting shared ownership.”
“I’m suggesting maybe the universe is punishing you with a sibling.”
He almost smiled.
“Terrible system.”
“Yes.”
“Frederick wants development.”
“Maybe.”
“Or he wanted access to something he thought you stole.”
Dominic went quiet.
Emily continued.
“Those aren’t the same.”
“You trust him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“But I understand him.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
“So do I.”
That sounded painful.
Progress.
The next morning, Frederick came to Black Pine Springs.
No security convoy.
One car.
One lawyer.
He stopped in the lobby.
Ruth saw him.
The tray in her hands slipped.
A cup shattered.
Frederick went completely still.
“Ruth.”
The old woman covered her mouth.
“Oh, you stupid boy.”
Then she crossed the lobby and slapped him.
Hard.
Emily nearly laughed.
Frederick blinked.
Ruth hit his chest.
“You were alive.”
“I wrote.”
“You were alive!”
“I know.”
Then Ruth hugged him.
Frederick’s face collapsed.
He held her.
Dominic watched from the staircase.
Nobody spoke.
Eventually Frederick saw him.
The brothers stared.
Then Dominic said:
“Mother’s room burned.”
Frederick’s expression changed.
“I know.”
“Victor.”
“I believe so.”
“Help me prove it.”
Frederick stared.
Dominic continued:
“After that, we deal with Black Pine.”
“Together?”
Dominic hated the word.
Emily could tell.
“Yes.”
Frederick nodded.
“Fine.”
They spent three days combining records.
Alder Ridge accounts.
North Valley shell companies.
Black Pine security logs.
Victor Salerno’s hidden operations.
The pattern led to something larger.
Victor had diverted more than nine million dollars from Frederick’s development funds.
He had purchased judges.
Inspectors.
Local officials.
Then staged defaults on properties already being targeted.
The fire at Black Pine was intended to destroy a records archive containing old land deeds that could interfere with development.
Dominic’s mother’s room had been collateral damage.
That somehow made him angrier.
Not because Victor targeted her memory.
Because he had not cared enough even to know it existed.
Then Caleb discovered the location.
Victor was hiding at an unfinished Alder Ridge mountain property near Lake George.
Frederick wanted private men.
Dominic wanted the same.
Emily stared at both.
“No.”
They looked at her.
“Police.”
Frederick laughed.
“You really do this?”
Dominic sighed.
“Constantly.”
Emily picked up the evidence file.
“You have enough for warrants.”
“You want him in prison?”
“Or do you want ten minutes of feeling powerful?”
Neither brother answered.
Emily smiled.
“That’s what I thought.”
State police went.
Victor Salerno was arrested at 4:18 the next morning.
No gunfight.
No disappearance.
No body.
Dominic received the call while standing beside Emily in the private hot-spring courtyard.
“Alive?”
he asked.
Caleb answered.
“Yes.”
Dominic looked disappointed.
Emily raised an eyebrow.
Then he corrected:
“Good.”
She smiled.
“Very good.”
Victor’s arrest should have ended the war.
Instead, during the search of the mountain property, investigators found a photograph pinned inside his office.
Emily walking toward Murphy’s Grill.
Taken three days earlier.
On the back, one sentence:
IF CARVER WON’T SELL BLACK PINE, MAKE HIM AFRAID TO KEEP HER.
Dominic read it once.
May you like
Then looked at Emily.
The legal war had just become personal again.
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