Chapter 6 - THE ARCHITECT OF ASHES
Marcus’s throat worked frantically, his polished corporate confidence crumbling like cheap drywall under Jerry's predatory stare.
"She's lying, Jerry!" Marcus spat, his voice pitching high with desperation. "She's an impostor! A street hustler trying to run a long con on a grieving billionaire! Why would I go to Oyingbo Market?!"
"Because you didn't know she was alive until three weeks ago," Jerry whispered, the horrifying puzzle pieces finally locking together in his mind with terrifying clarity.
Jerry walked toward his younger brother with slow, deliberate steps. Each footfall sounded like an executioner approaching the gallows.
"Chief Arthur Cole’s company was facing insolvency six years ago," Jerry laid out the facts, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper. "He needed my capital to bail out his offshore shipping lines. But I refused to invest in a company with reckless management—until Arthur introduced me to his brilliant, beautiful daughter, Mirabel. I fell in love with her. We merged the companies. And my family became the majority shareholders."
Jerry stopped two feet from Marcus, towering over him.
"Two months ago, Mirabel discovered that fifty million dollars had been siphoned from our joint escrow accounts into a Panamanian shell company. She told me she was conducting an internal audit. She was going to present the findings to the board of directors on the very day her car mysteriously lost its brakes on the Lekki expressway."
Marcus began to tremble, backing up until his spine hit the mahogany front door. "Jerry, listen to me... you're making connections that don't exist—"
"The Panamanian shell company was registered under your middle name, wasn't it, Marcus?" Jerry growled, grabbing his brother by the silk lapels of his designer jacket and lifting him onto his toes.
"Jerry! Don't!" Marcus choked out, clutching Jerry’s iron wrists.
"Where is my wife?!" Jerry roared, slamming Marcus against the reinforced wood with enough force to shake the doorframe. "Who is lying in that morgue drawer?! Answer me before I throw you off this balcony!"
"I didn't kill her!" Marcus screamed, tears of terror finally bursting from his eyes. "I swear to God, Jerry, I didn't want anyone to die! It was Chief Cole! Arthur set the whole thing up!"
"Talk!" Jerry snarled.
"Arthur found out Mirabel was digging into the accounts!" Marcus sobbed, his defenses completely shattered. "He knew if you found out, you’d ruin him and send both of us to prison! Arthur told me he had an insurance policy. He said Mirabel had a twin sister separated at birth in an illegal adoption racket twenty-five years ago. Arthur tracked Chidinma down to Oyingbo. The plan was to kidnap Mirabel, stage her death using an unidentified body from a hospital morgue, and bring Chidinma in later to act as an amnesiac heir so Arthur could control the trust funds!"
Chidinma gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. "You wanted to replace her with me?"
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"Where is she, Marcus?" Jerry demanded, his fingers tightening like steel bands around his brother's throat. "Is Mirabel alive?!"
"Yes!" Marcus choked out, gasping for air. "Yes! She’s alive! Arthur has her locked in the private basement clinic at his estate in Epe! He's holding her until the probate papers clear tomorrow morning! If you don't sign over the voting shares, he’s going to put her on a cargo freighter to South America!"
