At exactly 12:04 a.m., Daniel Whitmore was jolted awake by the deafening crash of a mirror shattering to pieces.

Daniel spent four grueling hours inside a sterile interrogation room at the LAPD Central Division.

He refused to answer any further questions without his legal counsel present. At 8:15 a.m., the door swung open, and Marcus Sterling—the lead corporate litigator for Whitmore Holdings—walked in, carrying a heavy leather briefcase.

Marcus was a tall, sharp-featured man in his fifties who had represented the Whitmore family for over twenty-five years. He possessed a terrifying legal mind and zero patience for corporate games.

"Remove those cuffs immediately," Marcus barked at the station officer following behind him. "My client is being held on fraudulent claims manufactured by a compromised family court petition."

The officer hesitated, but after looking at the signed federal injunction Marcus slapped onto the table, he reluctantly unlocked Daniel's handcuffs and left the room.

Daniel rubbed his sore wrists, looking up at his attorney. "How bad is it, Marcus?"

"It's messy, but we've regained control," Marcus said, sitting down across from him. "I contacted Judge Reynolds at 6:00 a.m. We presented Maria's sober toxicology reports from the hospital—which proved she had zero alcohol or drugs in her system—along with the medical examiner's initial assessment of her injuries. The judge immediately threw out the Hart family's emergency guardianship petition."

Daniel let out a long breath of relief. "Where is Noah?"

"Frank Vance has him tucked away at a secure private compound in Malibu," Marcus assured him. "The LAPD can't touch him. Maria is still recovering under armed guard at the hospital, but she is legally recognized as his sole guardian."

"Good," Daniel said, leaning forward. "Now tell me about Andrew."

Marcus’s calm demeanor shifted slightly. He set his pen down on his notebook and looked around the empty interrogation room before speaking in a low, measured voice. "How much did Maria tell you?"

"She told me Andrew faked his death six years ago," Daniel said. "She told me he discovered financial corruption on our board. Marcus... did you know about this?"

Marcus took a slow, deep breath, crossing his hands over his briefcase. "Six years ago, two weeks before Andrew vanished, he came to my private office late at night. He had uncovered a massive money-laundering scheme operating through Whitmore Holdings' maritime shipping division. Someone was using our cargo vessels to move illegal assets worth over fifty million dollars."

Daniel felt a heavy knot form in his stomach. "Who was running the scheme?"

"Richard Hart," Marcus revealed grimly. "Vanessa's father."

Daniel stared at his attorney in absolute shock. "Richard Hart? He wasn't even on our board back then!"

"No, but he was our primary real estate partner," Marcus explained. "Your father was very sick at the time, Daniel. You were running the European operations in London. Andrew was the only one in Los Angeles noticing the discrepancies. When Andrew confronted Richard Hart with the evidence, Richard threatened to ruin Whitmore Holdings publicly."

"So Andrew fled?" Daniel asked, his voice shaking with anger. "He faked his drowning and left us?"

"Andrew didn't flee voluntarily, Daniel," Marcus said quietly, his eyes dark with grave seriousness. "The night his boat exploded near Santa Barbara, Andrew was meeting an informant who promised to give him the encrypted drive containing Richard Hart's master ledgers. The boat explosion wasn't an accident—it was a hit."

Daniel felt as though the air had been kicked out of his lungs. "A hit? But Maria said... she said he faked it!"

"Maria believed he faked it because Andrew told her he was going into hiding," Marcus clarified. "He intended to fake his death to escape Hart’s assassins. But what Maria didn't know—and what I only uncovered three days ago—is that Andrew never made it off that boat before the explosive device detonated."

Daniel lowered his face into his hands, tears burning behind his eyelids. For six years, he had lived with the agonizing weight of his brother's loss. To find out today that his brother hadn't just drowned in a tragic boating mishap, but had been cold-bloodedly murdered by the father of the woman Daniel was planning to marry... was a nightmare beyond comprehension.