Chapter 12 - Moving the Pieces
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Maya returned to Damian’s suite, her jaw bruised but her spirit unbroken. She quickly relayed Vivian’s threat to Damian.
When he heard that Vivian had threatened Maya’s sister, the air in the room grew suffocatingly cold. Damian’s hands gripped the armrests of his wheelchair so hard the leather creaked.
"She has crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed," Damian said, his voice a low, lethal rumble. "It’s time to end this."
He pulled his encrypted cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. He put it on speaker.
"Carlo," Damian said.
"Boss," his operations chief answered immediately. Carlo was the only man outside the estate who knew the truth about Damian’s condition.
"It's Silas," Damian informed him coldly. "He’s the traitor. He’s working with Vivian."
There was a heavy silence on the other end of the line. "Silas... your own blood. Tell me what you need, Damian. Say the word, and I'll put a bullet in his head tonight."
"No," Damian said, his eyes glittering with dark calculation. "I want to destroy his reputation before I destroy his life. I need you to orchestrate a fake transfer of funds from the Cayman accounts. Five million dollars. Route it through a dummy corporation, but leave a digital trail that points directly to Silas."
"Setting him up for embezzlement?" Carlo asked, a dark chuckle echoing through the phone.
"Exactly. Make the capos think Silas is stealing from the family while I'm paralyzed," Damian ordered. "When the inner circle sees the proof, they’ll turn on him. He won't have the support he needs to stage a coup."
"Consider it done, Boss. What about the woman?"
Damian looked at Maya. "Vivian thinks she’s won. She’s bringing the lawyers tomorrow to force me to sign the power of attorney. I want you to summon the inner circle to the estate tomorrow evening. Tell them I am making a final announcement regarding the succession of the empire."
"They'll think you’re stepping down," Carlo noted.
May you like
"Let them think exactly that," Damian smiled fiercely. "I'll see you tomorrow, Carlo."
He hung up the phone. The trap was fully set. The board was arranged. The king was finally ready to move.
