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3rd Person POV

He took a step closer, ignoring how Adrien continued to struggle against Carlby’s hold, the younger man’s face flushed with anger and exertion. Keith’s tone turned almost pleading, laced with the sharp edge of justification.

"Get over it, Adrien. Move on, the evidence is gone...smashed under my heel like the worthless recording it was. A dying criminal’s ramblings against a respected businessman? No one will believe you.... Especially not when they see how violently you attacked your own father. I’ve escaped the law for years because I know how this world works. Judges, lawyers, favors owed in high places, I’ll sweep this under the carpet just like I’ve dealt with every inconvenience before. You think a tantrum and a broken phone can take me down? You’re just a kid playing at justice."

Adrien’s struggles ramped up, twisting in Carlby’s grip as he yelled,

"You’re a monster! A cold-blooded goddamn killer hiding behind your suits and charities! And you—" He jerked his head toward Carlby, eyes blazing with accusation. "You helped him! Stood by while he murdered my mother, while he silenced Logan. How many more? How deep does this rot go?!"

Carlby’s grip tightened, his voice a steady murmur meant to calm Adrien, but it did nothing to quell the fire in his chest. "Easy now, lad. This isn’t the way."

But Adrien wasn’t listening. The betrayal cut deeper than any physical blow, the realization crashing over him: Helen, Noah’s mother, was entangled in the affair; Carlby, the loyal fixer; even the carefully constructed family facade had hidden monsters beneath.

"I was so stupid," he gasped between labored breaths, still fighting against the arms that bound him. "Blind to it all—right under my nose. My own father... a murderer. And the rest of you, complicit. How could I not see it?!"

Keith’s mocking chuckle broke the tension, low at first but building into something sharper as he paced a slow circle around the desk, crunching glass underfoot.

"Even if they take me in tonight, I’ll be out by morning. Broken evidence, a son’s hysterical accusations...no court will hold me. I’ve played this game longer than you’ve been alive."

Adrien’s laughter burst out then, surprising even him, it was a raw, pained sound that reverberated through the room like a challenge, laced with defiance despite the ache in his ribs and the bruises forming on his arms. It began as a wheeze from the struggle, then grew stronger, cutting through the heavy air.

"That’s where you’re wrong, Dad. Should I even call you that?"

Keith halted mid-step, his expression shifting from smug confidence to a flicker of uncertainty, and then outright horror as Adrien’s words sunk in.

His eyes narrowed, searching Adrien’s face for any hint of a bluff, but finding only steely resolve mixed with lingering grief.

Adrien pressed on, his voice steadier now despite the pain radiating from where Keith had landed a vicious blow to his stomach earlier...a kick that had doubled him over momentarily, forcing a sharp cry from his lips before Carlby fully restrained him.

"You only destroyed my phone. But I’ve got a backup... and just now, while you were busy confessing like the arrogant fool you are, I got even more evidence. Noah’s plan worked perfectly. He planted his phone in my clothes before I came in here, recording every word, every admission...the police heard all of it. Your villain monologue, the confession, all of it. No matter how many judges you bribe, no matter how deep your influence runs... you’ll die in jail for what you did. Both of you will."

The horror on Keith’s face deepened, his complexion paling beneath the bruise and blood, the calculated mask cracking once more to reveal the raw fear of a man who had finally glimpsed the edge of his own downfall.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came...only a stunned silence that hung heavy in the air, broken only by the crackle of the dying fire and the distant wail of approaching sirens slicing through the night outside.

Those sirens grew closer with each passing second, their mournful cry cutting through the walls of the grand house like a reckoning long overdue.

Ethan had done it, he had taken the original video straight to the station, rallying the authorities with the weight of Logan’s dying words and getting them to tap into Noah’s phone to overhear Keith’s confession.

The police were on their way, lights flashing blue and red against the manicured lawns and stone facade of the estate where so many lies had taken root and flourished in the shadows.

Adrien stood taller now, even as Carlby’s grip loosened slightly in the wake of the revelation, his own breathing ragged but his posture unwavering.

The burden of years of deception lifted off his shoulders like a physical load finally shed, though new pain settled deep in his chest, a grief not only for his mother but for the father he had once idolized, now revealed as nothing more than a hollow shell of ambition and cruelty.

Whatever unfolded in the coming hours, the arrests, the trials, the public unraveling of the family empire...he had faced the monster in its very lair. And he had refused to look away.

Keith’s eyes darted toward the windows, the sirens now unmistakable, growing urgent as vehicles pulled up the long drive. For the first time that night, the man who had orchestrated deaths and deceptions with chilling precision looked genuinely cornered, the empire he had built on blood teetering on the verge of collapse.

Carlby finally released Adrien, stepping back with a muttered curse, his expression mirroring the dawning realization that their carefully woven web of influence might not withstand the storm approaching.

Adrien met his father’s gaze one last time, the air thick between them with the ghosts of what had been lost and the bitter promise of justice for an innocent woman who’s only crime was being forced to marry a man who cared nothing for her.