The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 158 - One Hundred and Fifty-Eight

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Eight

Pa wood’s POV

The family meeting was a disaster.

I sat at the head of the table and watched my family fall apart. Travis looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Layla was alternating between rage and tears. Tom sat in silence, useless as always. Mario kept asking pointed questions about Malachi’s absence that were clearly designed to undermine my authority. Isabella and Sasha sat rigid, contributing nothing.

And the two people who should have been here, the two people at the center of this chaos, were gone. Malachi in Dark City. Alicia disappeared to god knows where.

"This is unacceptable," Mario said for the third time. "Your grandson abandons his responsibilities to chase personal vendettas. Your grandson-in-law’s wife vanishes without a trace. And you sit here acting like this is normal family business."

"Nothing about this situation is normal," I said calmly, even though inside I was anything but calm. "Which is why we’re having this meeting. To assess the situation and determine our next steps."

"Next steps?" Layla’s voice was shrill. "My son is in a coma because of that woman. Then she has the audacity to leave divorce papers and run away. She should be arrested. Charged with assault."

"Travis grabbed her first," I said coldly. "Multiple witnesses confirmed that. If anyone should be charged, it’s him."

"He’s my son!"

"And he’s a grown man who made choices. Choices that led to consequences. Alicia’s departure is one of those consequences."

Travis spoke for the first time. "She’s with Malachi. I know she is. They’ve been having an affair for months."

"Malachi is in Dark City," I said. "Alicia is not with him."

"How do you know?"

"Because I have people tracking both of them. Malachi is focused on Zhao Wei. Alicia is..." I paused. "Alicia is somewhere safe. Away from all of us."

"You know where she is." Mario leaned forward. "You know and you’re not telling us."

"What I know and what I choose to share are two different things." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"This is exactly the problem. Secrets. Always secrets with you. How are we supposed to function as a family when you keep everything locked away?"

"We function by trusting that I have the family’s best interests at heart. Which I do. Even when my decisions aren’t understood."

"Trust." Mario laughed bitterly. "You want trust. From the same family you manipulate like chess pieces. The same family where people get banished without explanation. Where marriages are arranged for mysterious reasons. Where—"

"That’s enough." My voice cut through the room like a blade. "This meeting is about addressing our current situation. Not relitigating the past."

But Mario wasn’t wrong. I did keep secrets. I did manipulate. I did arrange things for reasons I couldn’t always explain.

Like Alicia’s marriage to Travis. That hadn’t been random. Hadn’t been about business connections or family alliances like everyone assumed. There had been a reason. A specific, crucial reason that no one in this room could ever know.

And now she was gone. Out of my reach. Out of my protection. And I had no idea if my carefully laid plans were about to unravel completely.

"Meeting adjourned," I said abruptly. "Everyone out. I have work to do."

They filed out slowly, muttering complaints and questions. I ignored them all until the room was empty except for me and James, my butler and most trusted confidant.

"Sir?" James approached carefully. "Are you alright?"

"No. I’m not alright. Alicia is missing. Malachi is spiraling. Everything I’ve spent years building is falling apart."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Send more men to Italy. I want Alicia found. I want to know she’s safe. I want eyes on her at all times."

"Without approaching her?"

"Without approaching her. She ran for a reason. If we push too hard, she’ll run further. But I need to know where she is. Need to know she’s protected."

"Understood. What about Malachi?"

I felt a headache building behind my eyes. Malachi. My grandson. The one I’d pinned so many hopes on. The one who was supposed to be different from the others. Strong. Controlled. Capable of leading this family into the future.

Instead, he was in Dark City destroying himself over a woman.

"He’s transferring," I said. "His feelings for Alicia, his rage about losing her, he’s channeling all of it into this war with Zhao Wei. It’s how he copes. By focusing on something he can control."

"Is that healthy?"

"No. But it’s what he does. What we all do. When we can’t fix what’s broken, we break something else."

"Should I call him? Try to bring him home?"

"He won’t come. Not until he’s either destroyed Zhao or destroyed himself trying. That’s how Malachi operates. All or nothing. No middle ground."

James nodded. "There’s something else. Something you should know."

The way he said it made my stomach tighten. "What?"

"Malachi’s been investigating. Digging into old records. Specifically, records about Emily’s father. Hong Wei."

Everything inside me went cold. Lethal. Focused.

"What exactly is he looking into?"

"The accident. The circumstances of Hong Wei’s death. He’s requesting autopsy reports, police files, anything he can get his hands on."

"And has he found anything?"

"Not yet. But he’s persistent. And he has resources. It’s only a matter of time before—"

"Make sure he finds nothing." My voice was ice. "I don’t care what you have to do. Destroy files. Pay off officials. Make the trail go completely cold. Malachi cannot find what he’s looking for."

"Sir, if I may ask. Why is he investigating Hong Wei? What does Emily’s father have to do with current events?"

"That’s not your concern. Your concern is making sure those records disappear. Permanently. Am I clear?"

"Crystal clear, sir."

"Good. And James? If Malachi continues this line of inquiry, I want to know immediately. Every file he requests. Every person he talks to. Everything."

"Understood."

James left. I was finally alone.

I opened my desk drawer. Pulled out an old photograph I kept hidden. Looked at it for the first time in months.

Two men. Younger. Smiling. Arms around each other like brothers. Hong Wei and me. Before everything went wrong. Before choices had to be made. Before I did what was necessary to protect what I’d built.

Hong Wei had been my best friend. My closest confidant. My partner in building this empire. And I’d killed him.

Not directly. I wasn’t the one who cut his brake lines. Wasn’t the one who sent him careening off that mountain road. But I’d given the order. Made the decision. Chosen the empire over friendship.

Because Hong Wei had found out. Had learned things he shouldn’t have learned. Had threatened to expose secrets that would have destroyed everything. Had given me an ultimatum: come clean or he’d do it for me.

I’d chosen the empire. Chosen power. Chosen to eliminate the threat even though it meant killing the man who’d stood beside me for twenty years.

Emily had never known. Had never suspected that the man who’d adopted her, who’d raised her like his own daughter, was the same man who’d ordered her father’s death.

That guilt had eaten at me for years. Still ate at me. Watching Emily grow up. Loving her. Knowing what I’d done. Knowing she’d hate me if she ever found out.

And then Emily had died too. Another accident. Another convenient tragedy that had solved problems I didn’t know how to solve any other way.

I’d never confirmed it. Never asked the questions that would have given me answers. Because some truths were too terrible to face.

Now Malachi was digging into Hong Wei’s death. Following threads that led to places he couldn’t be allowed to go. Discovering things that would destroy his image of me. His trust in the family. His willingness to lead.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I looked at the photograph again. Hong Wei’s smiling face. The friend I’d betrayed. The man whose daughter I’d raised. The secret that could unravel everything if exposed.

"I’m sorry, old friend," I whispered to the image. "But you gave me no choice. Then. And Malachi gives me no choice now."

I put the photograph back in the drawer. Locked it. Composed my expression into the mask of control I’d worn for decades.

Outside this office, I was Pa Wood. The patriarch. The leader. The man who held this family together through sheer force of will.

But inside, I was just an old man who’d made terrible choices. Who’d killed his best friend to protect his empire. Who’d arranged marriages and manipulated lives and done whatever was necessary to maintain power.

And now it was all threatening to come apart. Alicia gone. Malachi spiraling. Secrets rising to the surface like bodies buried too shallow.

I’d spent my life controlling things. Controlling people. Controlling outcomes. But control was an illusion. Eventually, everything slipped through your fingers no matter how tightly you held on.

I just had to hold on a little longer. Keep the secrets buried a little deeper. Protect the empire a little more carefully.

Until what? Until I died? Until someone else took my place and inherited all these sins?

I didn’t know. Didn’t have answers anymore.

Just an old photograph of a dead friend and the weight of decisions that could never be undone.

The telephone on my desk rang. James.

"Sir. Our people in Italy have confirmed Alicia’s location. The villa in Bellagio. She’s there with her sister and a friend."

"Good. Maintain surveillance. Report any changes immediately."

"There’s one more thing. A woman approached Alicia in town. An older woman. She appeared to recognize Alicia. Called her a ghost. Said she should be dead."

My blood ran cold. "Who was this woman?"

"We don’t know yet. But we’re working on identifying her. Should we be concerned?"

Yes. Yes, we should be very concerned. Because there were very few people who would recognize Alicia and think she was dead. Very few people who knew enough to make that connection.

"Find out who she is. Quietly. And find out what she knows. This is priority one."

"Above the Hong Wei investigation?"

"This IS the Hong Wei investigation. It’s all connected. Find that woman. Now."

I hung up and stared at my locked drawer. At the photograph hidden inside. At the secrets that refused to stay buried.

Everything was connected. Hong Wei. Emily. Alicia. The arranged marriage. The woman in Italy.

All of it leading back to choices I’d made. Sins I’d committed. Truths I’d tried to hide.

And now, somehow, it was all coming undone.