Chapter 6: The Poisoned Chessboard
1322 Words
The photograph haunted Adrian.
It sat on his desk like a ticking time bomb, the edges frayed slightly as though it had passed through many hands—each one a silent accomplice to a nightmare he never truly woke from.
His mother.
Alive.
And terrified.
The scrawl on the back—You’re too late—was a message. A threat. A challenge. Someone was watching him closely. Too closely.
He tapped his fingers on the glass surface of his desk, the only sound breaking the heavy silence of his office. The city outside glimmered in the early dusk, a golden skyline that felt far removed from the darkness closing in around him.
“Clara,” he said into the intercom. “Get me Mira Holden.”
“Already on her way, sir,” came Clara’s efficient reply. “She said you’d want to talk.”
Of course she did.
---
Mira arrived fifteen minutes later, trench coat still damp from the rain, and a look in her eyes that said she knew something he didn’t.
She dropped a folder on his desk before he could speak. “I watched the footage.”
“And?”
“There’s no doubt. The voice, the timestamp, even the ambient noise—it matches the location of your father’s private estate. That conversation was real.”
Adrian sat back, fists clenched. “So, Caleb knew.”
“He knew your father was onto him,” Mira said, “and your father was preparing to disinherit him. Your mother’s reappearance… that’s not a coincidence. She saw something—something that made her a liability.”
Adrian picked up the folder and scanned through pages of old case notes, now tainted with new meaning.
“Who else was close to my mother?” he asked.
Mira pulled out an old photo from the file—his mother with a woman in her mid-thirties, brunette, sharp eyes.
“That’s Serena Gray. Former best friend. Was part of the inner circle. She disappeared a few months after your mother’s accident.”
“Find her.”
“I already did.”
Adrian looked up sharply.
“She’s in London. Under a new name. Working as a nurse.”
---
Across town, Caleb was fuming.
He smashed the glass in his study, whiskey dripping from his hand.
“He knows,” he spat, pacing the room like a caged animal. “The look in his eyes… He’s baiting us.”
Elena sat on the edge of the couch, pale but composed. “Then stop taking the bait. You’re losing control, Caleb.”
He turned on her, eyes wild. “He’s playing a long game. He wants me to move first. So he can expose me.”
“You already moved first, remember?” Elena said quietly. “You killed his father.”
That silenced him.
“You think he’s going to let that go?” she added. “You think he’ll stop at just exposing you?”
Caleb’s silence was answer enough.
“Then we need to get ahead of him,” she said. “Make him look unstable. Isolated. Paranoid.”
“How?”
Elena leaned forward, eyes glinting. “We feed the media a new story. About how Vale Enterprises is imploding. That Adrian is mismanaging the company. Then... we stage an ‘internal concern’ about his mental health. Make him look unfit.”
Caleb frowned. “You want to gaslight him?”
“No,” she said coolly. “I want to destroy him. From the inside out.”
---
Meanwhile, at the estate, Adrian found Liam sitting in the garden, staring at the koi pond.
“Got a minute?” Adrian asked.
Liam nodded, scooting over on the bench.
Adrian sat beside him, the air between them heavy.
“I know you’ve been quiet through all this,” Adrian began. “But I need to know where you stand.”
Liam glanced at him. “You don’t trust me?”
“I trust you,” Adrian said. “But I also know blood doesn’t always mean loyalty.”
There was a beat of silence, then Liam spoke. “I’ve always been on your side, Adrian. But you need to start telling me everything. I’m not a kid anymore. If we’re going to bring them down, I want in.”
Adrian looked at his brother—really looked. Gone was the boy he raised. In his place sat a young man shaped by shadows.
“Alright,” Adrian said. “Then you need to know this—Mom’s alive.”
Liam went pale. “What?”
“She was taken. Hidden. I think she saw something. And now… someone’s threatening her life again.”
Liam clenched his jaw. “Caleb?”
“Most likely. With Elena helping him. We need proof, Liam. Solid proof.”
“Then let’s find it.”
---
The next day, the headlines exploded.
“CEO Adrian Vale Facing Corporate Turmoil: Sources Claim Erratic Behavior, Financial Misconduct”
“Inside the Crumbling Walls of Vale Enterprises—A Dynasty on the Edge”
Clara barged into his office, face flushed. “Sir… we’re getting calls. Investors. The press. Even the Board is requesting an emergency meeting.”
Adrian didn’t flinch. “Let them talk. Let them panic.”
He opened his laptop and sent a mass encrypted message to a select group of trusted associates—his contingency plan.
Then he turned to Clara. “Set a meeting with all major shareholders. I’m going to show them who’s really behind the chaos.”
---
At the same time, Caleb and Elena watched the media chaos unfold from their private suite.
“It’s working,” Caleb said, sipping champagne.
“Not yet,” Elena corrected. “It’s only the beginning. We need to push him further. Make him lash out. We want him to spiral. That’s when we strike.”
But Caleb’s smile faltered slightly.
“What?” Elena asked.
“He’s not spiraling. He’s too calm.”
Elena frowned. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying… Adrian isn’t playing defense.”
---
That night, Adrian received a call from Mira.
“I found Serena,” she said. “But someone’s already been there. Her place was trashed.”
Adrian felt cold. “Is she okay?”
“Barely. She’s at a private hospital under protection.”
“I’m coming.”
---
Serena’s hospital room was dim, her face bruised, but her eyes—sharp as ever—fixed on Adrian the moment he entered.
“You’re your father’s son,” she said hoarsely.
“I need to know the truth,” he said.
Serena looked at him for a long moment before whispering, “Your mother… she discovered a shell company. Caleb was laundering money. Your father confronted him, but he didn’t want to expose the family. They fought. Your mother was going to go public.”
“She was silenced,” Adrian finished.
Serena nodded weakly. “She tried to run. I helped her disappear. But someone found her again.”
Adrian’s chest burned. “Where is she now?”
“I don’t know. They moved her recently. But... there was a man—one of Caleb’s fixers. Name’s Vaughn. Dangerous. He’s the key.”
Adrian stood. “Then I’ll find him.”
---
The next day, Clara burst into Adrian’s office, pale and breathless.
“Sir… there’s been a breach.”
“What kind of breach?”
She handed him a phone.
The screen played a video—grainy, shaky, clearly leaked.
It showed Adrian in a heated argument with his father, from years ago.
But it had been edited.
His father’s voice, twisted. Adrian’s face, framed to look violent.
A narrative had begun to take shape.
Adrian Vale: Abusive Son, Corrupt CEO, Mentally Unstable.
And worse... the caption read:
“Is this the man we want leading Vale Enterprises?”
- Writer
