Arthur Cane had eyes everywhere.
He didn’t need flashing headlines or police reports to know Alexandra Steel had been arrested. He knew two minutes after it happened.
It was one of the perks of his job—or perhaps a curse, depending on the day.
Still, this? This pissed him off.
He stood beside David Brown in the dead silence of Luca Steel’s private study. The heavy scent of cigars and old leather still clung to the bookshelves like ghosts. Thick curtains were drawn tight, casting the room in a twilight gloom.
Stacks of folders lined the mahogany desk. Cupboards had already been rifled through. David was now sifting through the cabinet behind the desk, his gloved hands precise, methodical.
Arthur crouched near a bottom drawer, flicking through manila folders with dates scribbled in the corner. Each document held years of business dealings, contract signings, half-truths dressed in executive gloss.
Still nothing useful.
“She didn’t even do it,” Arthur muttered, shutting one drawer and opening another. “They really booked her for fraud. False accusations. And Zade just stood there like it wasn’t his circus.”
David grunted, pulling out a dusty binder.
“Well,” Arthur said, glancing up. “You’re not exactly shocked.”
“I’ve known the Hales longer than you’ve been shaving,” David replied flatly, flipping a page.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Fair. But still, going after Alex? That’s low—even for them.”
David didn’t answer.
They worked in silence for another few minutes, interrupted only by the quiet rustling of pages and the occasional creak of an old hinge.
Arthur broke it.
“David, may I ask you something?”
David didn’t look up.
“I mean, you don’t have to answer,” Arthur continued, shifting to another drawer. “But why exactly are you enemies with the Hales? I heard you used to be partners.”
David paused mid-turn of a page. His eyes stayed fixed on the yellowed paper before him.
“You don’t want to know,” he said eventually.
Arthur snorted, shutting a drawer harder than necessary. “That’s the problem. I do want to know.”
Silence.
David closed the folder and leaned back in the worn leather chair, hands folded on his stomach.
He stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then, he spoke.
“I was about your age,” he began, voice unusually calm. “Eighteen. Maybe twenty. Back then, I was just a name floating around. Some street kid who started rising too fast. Drug dealing, mostly. Small-time. But I was clever. Got rich quicker than the rest. Got noticed.”
Arthur stayed still, listening.
“Eventually, I got invited into bigger circles. Started meeting people who didn’t just deal drugs—they built empires. That’s when I met Simon Hale. He was younger too, but already ruthless. They were a... calculated family. Polished, powerful. But cold as hell.”
David rubbed his jaw. “At first, it was a perfect match. We worked well. Expanded together. They had influence, I had networks. Within years, I had full control over two dens, three distribution routes, and a loyal crew. The Hales handled cleanup, finances, connections with the elite. I thought it was the golden ticket.”
Arthur frowned. “What changed?”
David’s eyes darkened. “Your little friend’s grandfather.”
“Alex’s?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Back when I was a teen, I was starving. Cold. Nothing but a name on the corner. This old guy finds me, takes one look, and instead of brushing me off, he gives me food. A blanket. Money. Says, ‘You don’t have to rot like this, son. Try something different.’ He wasn’t rich, just kind. Later, I find out he was part of the Steel family. Just didn’t live like them.”
Arthur blinked.
“I owe that man everything,” David continued. “Everything. And years later, after I became someone, I find out the Hales—my partners—killed him. Like it was just another move in a power game. A deal went sideways, someone didn’t pay, someone didn’t obey—so they ended him. Quiet. Efficient.”
He spat on the floor beside the desk.
Arthur sat on the edge of the bookshelf, stunned. “You’re sure?”
David nodded once. “Too sure. Found out too late to stop it. But not too late to hate them.”
There was a stillness in the room now, heavier than any silence before.
Arthur swallowed. “Did you know Luca back then?”
“Briefly. We weren’t close. But we had mutual respect. Alex’s grandpa was the only reason I didn’t burn this whole legacy down.”
Arthur leaned forward. “So when you heard they were arranging a marriage between Zade and Alex…”
“I saw fire,” David said quietly. “But I didn’t intervene. At first, I thought maybe it’d bring balance. Maybe she’d kill him in his sleep. Who knows.”
Arthur let out a dry laugh. “Honestly, not impossible.”
They fell into silence again, the air charged with buried rage and secrets that had slept too long.
Arthur looked up at him after a while. “Are you going to tell Alex? About her grandfather? And her father’s involvement with the Hales?”
David’s jaw tightened.
Then, slowly, he shook his head. “No.”
Arthur narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”
“Because she doesn’t need another reason to hate everyone around her,” David replied. “And if she finds out what her father didn't find out—or worse, preferred not to find out and rather live in the comfortable illusion of safety—she’ll never recover from it.”
Arthur leaned back. “Still. I think you should.”
David reached into the cabinet and pulled out a thin, stapled file.
“I think you should shut up,” he replied flatly.
He held up the document. “This is what we came for. Proof of the partnership between the Steels and the Hales. Signed twenty years ago, revised five years ago. Alex can use it.”
Arthur took the folder carefully.
The Hale signature was there. So was Luca Steel’s.
Clear as day.
“Well,” David said, standing up and brushing dust from his pants. “We’ve been in here too long. Let’s get out before one of the housekeepers grows a conscience.”
Arthur followed him toward the door. “You know this isn’t over, right?”
David paused. “What?”
“This thing with Alex. Zade. The Hales. The Steel company. None of it’s over.”
David didn’t look back. “You think I'm an idiot? Of course I know.”
They slipped out of the study, file in hand, leaving behind the dust and the ghosts.