Chapter 555: A Day Too Late

The next day…

Lucian sat behind his desk, the paperwork before him untouched. He leaned back in his chair, his mind drifting elsewhere. Even though Ashley had told him not to worry about Julius, he couldn’t help it.

“It’s too quiet,” he whispered.

Not the peaceful kind of quiet, but the kind that made him uneasy.

He knew Ashley was growing anxious as well, especially now that Julius had appeared on their radar. It wasn’t that they were afraid of him, but they knew exactly what kind of government body stood behind the man—and what it was capable of.

Amid Lucian’s thoughts, a knock sounded at the door.

His gaze snapped up as the door opened from the outside.

Gustav and Lukas walked in.

Seeing them together, Lucian’s brows drew together. Normally, the two reported to him separately since they handled different matters. The fact that they had come together meant they had made progress.

Once Gustav and Lukas stopped a few steps from the desk, their eyes fell on the untouched paperwork.

Lucian never left documents sitting idle on his desk. If anything, the papers usually found there were the ones he had already finished reviewing.

How did they know he hadn’t touched these?

Because Lucian had a habit of placing every completed document on the opposite side of the desk.

“Speak,” Lucian ordered, swiveling his chair to face them fully. “What progress have you made?”

Lukas and Gustav exchanged glances before turning back to him. Lukas stepped forward, placed a folder on the desk, and slid it within Lucian’s reach.

“After following some of our men, we uncovered something… worth looking into,” he began as Lucian opened the folder. “It started with our suspicions regarding the number of people in Dominion who had supposedly died during missions. We discovered that some of those deaths occurred during relatively simple assignments.”

“Even low-risk missions had casualties listed in their reports,” Gustav added. “So, we looked deeper. While investigating several board members, we found something interesting.”

As they spoke, Lucian turned to the next page.

This time, he was met with photographs of several people.

Gustav craned his neck slightly to see which page Lucian was studying.

“We discovered that a man currently working for one of our suspected moles was officially declared dead months ago,” he continued. “We checked the list again. Out of roughly two hundred recorded deaths over the past year, more than half were falsified.”

Lucian’s brows furrowed as he looked up at them.

“How did we fail to notice that?” His voice remained calm, but his heart had begun pounding heavily against his chest.

Lukas drew a deep breath. “Over the past year, the Black Dragon faction has been focused on making Dominion’s operations legal. The numbers also weren’t large enough to cause immediate alarm, especially since the deaths were scattered across different factions and territories.”

Together, the numbers were concerning, but individually, they were easy to overlook.

Dominion was an enormous organization with a foothold across the world.

“Most of the supposed deaths came from Dominion’s most distant branches,” Gustav added knowingly. “We’re still backtracking and gathering more files, but we estimate this has been happening for at least three years… perhaps longer.”

Silence claimed the room as Lucian glanced between them before returning his attention to the folder.

“Master,” Lukas called solemnly. “If this has been happening for years, they could already control at least thirty percent of the organization. That would make their forces equal to ours.”

“We still don’t know if anyone in the High Chamber is involved, but from what we’ve seen, some of them probably knew about it,” Gustav chimed in. “However, the High Elder would never approve of something like this.”

Lucian listened without saying a word, continuing to skim the report until he reached the last page. He then leaned back and stared at the two men.

“Master, if they truly possess this much power… Lukas and I have been thinking…” Gustav trailed off as Lucian finished the thought for him.

“You’re afraid Memphis infiltrated the High Chamber to gain access to the High Elder?”

Gustav and Lukas fell silent, determination hardening their eyes.

Regardless of their relationship with the High Chamber, its High Elder—the man who presided over that table—was reasonable. He was neither their ally nor their enemy. He was simply someone who would never allow Dominion to fall during his tenure.

More importantly, the man commanded at least twenty percent of the High Chamber’s power.

He always acted in Dominion’s best interests, and for years, Lucian had been Dominion’s best option.

“Either they’ll target him next… or convince him that you’re no longer in Dominion’s best interests,” Lukas said gravely. “Master, we’re running out of time. We have to move.”

“I agree with him.” Gustav nodded, his expression stern. “We haven’t uncovered even half of what they’ve done. Taking these people down one by one will only slow us down. Going directly to the High Chamber is our best option.”

Lucian’s jaw tightened as he drew a shallow breath.

“Prepare to leave within the hour,” he ordered. “We’ll fly straight to the High Chamber.”

“Should I call an emergency meeting?” Gustav asked.

Lucian shook his head. “I’ll make the call. I only need the High Elder’s twenty percent. My wife holds one percent of Dominion. Combined with my thirty percent, that gives me fifty-one percent. It’s enough to stop a coup—if that’s truly what this is.”

Gustav and Lukas frowned slightly at the mention of Ashley’s one percent.

In truth, she didn’t even command a full percent of Dominion. However, her crew consisted of highly skilled men Lucian had initially assigned to protect her. Their strength alone made that one percent far more valuable than it sounded.

“Do it now.”

“Yes, Master.”

Gustav and Lukas lowered their heads briefly. Without another moment’s hesitation, they left the office to arrange their departure.

Lucian remained seated.

His eyes fell on the documents scattered across his desk as his hand curled into a tight fist.

“Is this really it?” he whispered. “A coup meant to take me down?”

But was Lucian truly their target?

Or, more importantly, was he their only target?

Either way, he had to make his move now.

His enemy had been preparing for years. He couldn’t afford to waste another second.

Shaking his head, Lucian pulled open a drawer and retrieved the spare phone Ashley had given him. He needed to make several calls before leaving—and his wife would be the first.

Unfortunately for Lucian, he had uncovered the truth a day too late.