The drive back from the docks to the city was silent, but it wasn't the peaceful, companionable silence they had shared in the conservatory. It was the heavy, suffocating silence of a house of cards collapsing. Arthur drove with white-knuckled intensity, his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned ghost-white. Beside him, Alicia stared out the window at the passing streetlights, her mind replaying the image of Henry Carter's cold, calculating eyes.
The man she had started to respect—the man she thought was the architect of Arthur's success—was actually the architect of her greatest tragedy.
When they reached the vast gates of the Carter estate, Arthur didn't head toward the main mansion. He turned down a narrow, gravel path that led to the far edge of the property, where a small stone cottage sat secluded near the dark, still waters of a private lake.
"My father doesn't come here," Arthur said, his voice cracked and hollow. "It's the only place on this land that doesn't feel like it's built on a graveyard."
They sat on the porch steps, the moonlight reflecting off the lake like shards of broken glass. Alicia finally let the tears fall, her shoulders shaking with the weight of a decade of grief. "He killed them, Arthur. My parents weren't just a 'risk' or a 'liability.' They were my world. And he took them just to protect a profit margin."
Arthur pulled her into his arms, his own tears dampening her hair. The "Ice CEO" was gone, replaced by a man whose heart was breaking in real-time. "I didn't know, Alicia. I swear to you on my life, I didn't know. I lived in that house for ten years, thinking I was the only victim of the shadows. I never imagined that the blood of your family was the foundation of mine."
"What do we do now?" she whispered against his chest, her voice small and terrified. "He threatened Léo, Arthur. He said if I speak, if I use that folder... the treatment stops. He's holding my brother's life as a ransom."
Arthur pulled back, taking her face in his hands. His gray eyes were no longer cold; they were like molten steel, burning with a resolve she had never seen before. "He can't touch Léo. I've already anticipated his moves. I've spent the last hour, while driving, authorizing a secret transfer of the foundation's clinical funds to an offshore private account he can't access. I am the CEO of Carter Corp, Alicia. I am the one with the digital keys now."
He leaned his forehead against hers, his breath warm on her skin. "I am going to burn his legacy to the ground. I'm going to go to the authorities. I'm going to give them the logs, the files, and my own testimony about his private dealings. I don't care about the scandal."
"You'll lose everything, Arthur," Alicia said, looking toward the massive, glowing mansion in the distance. "The company, the name, your reputation... your entire family history will be dragged through the mud."
Arthur looked at her, a sad but beautiful smile touching his lips. It was the smile of a man who had finally found his freedom. "I've spent my whole life being a 'Carter.' It's a name built on secrets and blood. I'd rather be a nobody with you, building something honest, than a king in a graveyard of lies."
But as they held each other in the moonlight, a new shadow began to stir. Back at the main house, Henry Carter wasn't admitting defeat. He was on the phone, and the person on the other end was Melissa.
"He's chosen the girl," Henry said coldly into the receiver. "You know what to do. If Arthur won't protect the family name, then he's no longer part of the family. Clear his office. And Melissa... find that girl's brother. If we can't stop Alicia with words, we'll stop her with his heartbeat."