Chapter 1 - The Backward Strap
Dominic Vale knew pain.
He knew the clean burn of a knife wound, the deep throb of broken bone, and the cold pressure of a gun held against the ribs.
But the pain that tore through his left leg that evening felt different.
Wrong.
His cane struck the marble floor with a crack that silenced the great room.
"Don't touch him," Vincent Hale snapped.
Across the room, Clare Rowan spun away from her linen cart.
"Ellie!"
Her four-year-old daughter was kneeling beside Dominic's injured leg, one tiny hand on the lowest strap of the black orthopedic brace hidden beneath his trouser cuff.
Ellie did not look scared.
She looked puzzled.
"The shiny part is backward," she said.
Clare went pale. "Mr. Vale, I'm so sorry. She loves buckles and little locks. I turned around for two seconds."
Dominic lifted a hand.
Clare stopped mid-step.
Behind the glass doors of the conference room, six senior men waited around a walnut table. At the head sat Arthur Voss, silver-haired, elegant, and patient. Papers lay in front of him that would transfer temporary control of Dominic's companies and private organization until Dominic was "medically fit" again.
Three weeks ago, Dominic could walk fifty feet in therapy.
Now ten feet made his calf feel like it was being crushed in a vise.
His doctors called it a setback.
Arthur called it proof.
Dominic looked at Ellie. "Show me."
She held up her wooden latch board. "This little piece goes outside so it closes flat. Yours is inside."
Dr. Samuel Mercer approached from the rehabilitation wing. Vincent moved between them.
"Easy," Vincent said.
Mercer frowned. "I'm his doctor."
"And I'm the man who notices when people get too close."
Dominic waved Vincent aside.
Mercer crouched, loosened the strap, and froze.
His face gave him away before his mouth did.
"What?" Dominic asked.
"The retaining plate is reversed."
"Could it happen by itself?"
Mercer hesitated.
Dominic's voice dropped. "Samuel."
"No."
The word changed the room.
Mercer removed tension from the strap. Pressure released from Dominic's calf so quickly that he sucked in a breath.
"In this position," Mercer said, "it could create swelling, nerve irritation, and serious pain."
"Difficulty walking?"
"Yes."
Dominic stared through the glass.
Arthur was watching him.
Smiling.
"When was this brace inspected?" Dominic asked.
"This morning."
"By whom?"
"Angela Pierce began the session. A technician may have adjusted it afterward."
"May have?"
Arthur opened the conference room door. "Dominic, the council has waited long enough."
Dominic slowly stood.
Mercer reached toward him. "Don't."
Dominic ignored him.
He put weight on his left leg.
Pain came, but the crushing pressure was weaker.
He took one step.
Then another.
Arthur's smile faded.
Dominic stopped a few feet from him.
"The vote is postponed."
Arthur's jaw tightened. "On what grounds?"
"Mine."
Then Dominic turned to Vincent.
"Lock the estate. Full lockdown. Copy every security recording before anyone touches the originals."
Clare grabbed Ellie's shoulder. "Please, sir. We can leave. She didn't mean any harm."
"You're staying. For your safety."
Dominic lowered himself toward Ellie.
"Did you see anyone touch this brace?"
The child's eyes moved toward the rehabilitation hall.
"Yesterday," she whispered. "When Mommy got towels. A man clicked it."
Vincent stopped breathing.
"What man?" Clare asked.
Ellie pointed through the glass doors.
Her finger traveled past one councilman, then another.
It stopped on Arthur Voss.
Arthur stared back.
The patient smile vanished from his face.
May you like
And Dominic realized the vote behind those doors was not an attempt to replace a weak man.
It might be the final step in making him weak in the first place.
