Chapter 26 - Vincent’s Last Bargain
Vincent requested another meeting.
Adrian almost refused.
Clara encouraged him to go.
“Closure isn’t forgiveness.”
“I know.”
“Then hear him.”
Vincent looked different this time.
Thinner.
Older.
The arrogance had been worn down by prison walls and sleepless nights.
He sat behind the glass.
“Calder pleaded.”
“Yes.”
“Harlan too?”
“Negotiating.”
Vincent nodded.
“So it’s finished.”
“Almost.”
Vincent looked down.
“I gave prosecutors everything.”
“I heard.”
“I’ll still serve twelve years.”
“You framed an innocent woman for five million dollars.”
“I know.”
“You tried to destroy Harbor House.”
“I know.”
“You helped Calder intimidate Thomas.”
“I know.”
Adrian studied him.
Vincent finally raised his eyes.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I want you to give Clara something.”
He slid an envelope toward the guard.
Inside were documents transferring every remaining asset Vincent controlled into a restitution fund for Harbor House tenants and dockworker families harmed by the pension scheme.
Nearly fourteen million dollars.
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“What else am I going to buy? Better prison coffee?”
“Vincent.”
His brother’s face crumpled.
“I wanted what you had.”
Adrian waited.
“Father respected you even when he hated you. Grandmother trusted you. Mother worried about you. I was always the second son standing three feet outside the light.”
“That didn’t make you steal.”
“No.”
“Or frame Clara.”
“No.”
“Or betray Thomas.”
“No.”
Vincent breathed shakily.
“I did those things because I was weak.”
Adrian had spent years believing weakness meant vulnerability.
Now he knew better.
Weakness was refusing responsibility.
“What do you want from me?”
“One thing.”
“What?”
“Tell the baby someday that he had an uncle who eventually understood what he destroyed.”
Adrian stared at him.
“We don’t know if it’s a boy.”
Vincent gave a small laugh.
“Then tell her.”
Adrian looked down at the restitution papers.
“I won’t lie to my child for you.”
Vincent nodded.
“But I won’t erase you either.”
Vincent’s eyes filled.
“That’s more than I deserve.”
“Yes.”
The meeting ended.
Outside the prison, Clara waited in the car.
“How was it?”
Adrian handed her the documents.
She read them.
“He’s giving everything back?”
“Everything he can.”
“That matters.”
“It doesn’t undo it.”
“No.”
Adrian stared through the windshield.
“I spent half my life hating weakness. Now I think refusing to admit what you did is the weakest thing a person can do.”
Clara smiled gently.
“You’re becoming annoyingly wise.”
“I’m unemployed. I have time.”
She laughed.
Then winced.
Adrian immediately panicked.
“What?”
“Relax.”
“Pain?”
“No.”
She grabbed his hand and placed it against her stomach.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
A tiny kick.
Adrian froze.
Again.
His mouth opened.
Clara watched his face transform.
“That was…”
“Your child.”
Another kick.
Adrian began crying instantly.
No attempt to hide it.
No embarrassment.
He pressed his forehead against Clara’s stomach.
“Hello.”
Clara ran her fingers through his hair.
“You know the baby cannot answer.”
“I’m making an introduction.”
“Very corporate.”
He looked up.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“Not corporate.”
He kissed her stomach.
May you like
“Just Dad.”
And after everything the Vale name had meant—power, fear, money, betrayal—Adrian discovered that no title in his life had ever sounded more important.
