The quiet words struck Frederic like a p of thunder, deafening and disorienting. He trembled uncontrobly, his face a mask of horrified disbelief. "What are you talking about? Are you suggesting I killed your uncle? You''re my son... how can you think such terrible things about your own father?"


    "I''m not specting. I''m simply stating the facts," Chad replied, crossing his legs with a rxed air. "And actually, I''m not here to condemn you. On the contrary, Ipletely understand your decision. After all, you and I are facing the same predicament."


    Frederic struggled to breathe. The man he had watched grow up now seemed like a predatory vulture, poised to sink its talons into his throat.


    "Back then, even though you were the eldest son and the rightful heir, Grandfather favored Uncle. He gave him all the most promising projects, paving the way for him to take over. Gradually, Uncle''s reputation within thepany surpassed yours. What must have been even more galling was that he was also a brilliant and capable businessman. His only weakness was that he was too kind, toopassionate. He didn''t have your ruthless, cutthroat nature."


    Chad''s voice was low and steady as he recounted the story, as if discussing amon business tactic. "So, when the Abernathy Group faced a bribery scandal, your good brother, in order to protect the family and you, offered to take the fall and go to prison."


    Frederic''s facev è was ashen, a sharp pain twisting in his chest. The secret he had buried for thirty years had


    ?????


    been brutally ripped out into the open leaving him exposed and him


    bleeding. But what shock


    even more was how Chad, who had


    been just an infant at the time, could possibly know all this.


    "But my kind uncle probably didn''t realize until it was toote that the moment he offered to take the me, he had walked right into your trap, one that would lead to his death." Chad rested his elbow on the arm of the sofa, tapping his temple with a long, pale finger. "Let me think... to convince him, you must have used me, ying the part of the desperate father was just a baby, my mother was mentally unstable... without you, the family would have fallen apart. And since my uncle had no wife or children, he was the perfect scapegoat. So you see, Dad, I was a part of your little y, too."


    "You—!" Frederic''s heart hammered against his ribs, threatening to burst. "Who... who has been feeding you these dark ideas?"


    In his panic, he had forgotten to deny it. His first instinct was to find the source.


    Because everything Chad had said wasn''t nder; it was the truth. And that dark secret was not only Frederic''s Achilles'' heel, but also Chad''s get-out-of-jail-free card.


    "There are no real secrets in this world. Everything that has ever happened is known by someone. Every murder leaves a trace," Chad said, slowly setting down his teacup. "I imagine not a day has gone by that you haven''t thought about my kind uncle. And you can t have forgotten that you were the one who bribed the prison doctor to inject him with a drug that induced cardiac arrest, then had him falsify the death certificate to make a murder look like an ident."


    Suddenly, Chad''s eyes glinted like the edge of a de pressed against Frederic''s throat.