The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 178 - One Hundred and Seventy-Eight

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Eight

Malachi’s POV

Maurice walked into my office without knocking. He only did that when something was urgent.

"What?"

"Travis completed the Zhao Wei operation."

I looked up from the files I’d been pretending to read. "And?"

"Clean. Efficient. Seven dead. Zhao walked away alive, just like you ordered."

I sat back. "How did Travis seem?"

"Sober. Focused. Almost like his old self." Maurice dropped into the chair across from me. "He also got information out of Zhao before letting him go."

"What kind of information?"

"About Emily. Zhao said she approached him three months ago. Wanted to form an alliance. Offered to help him take down the Blackwood empire from the inside."

My jaw tightened. Three months ago. She’d been planning this even longer than I thought.

"What did Zhao tell her?"

"He said no. Claimed he works alone. But here’s the interesting part—Emily told him she had someone on the inside. Someone close to the family feeding her information."

I stood up and walked to the window. Dark City spread out below me, lights flickering in the darkness like dying stars.

A traitor. In my family.

"Who?"

"Zhao didn’t know. Emily wouldn’t say. But she seemed confident. Like whoever it is, they’re giving her exactly what she needs."

I ran through the possibilities in my head. Not Travis—he was too broken, too obvious. Not Malachi’s inner circle—I’d handpicked them myself, tested their loyalty a hundred times over.

That left cousins. Extended family. People on the periphery who had access but not enough power to matter. Until now.

"What else did Zhao say?"

Maurice hesitated. "He mentioned Hong Wei. Said Emily told him the Blackwoods were responsible for her father’s death."

"She’s not wrong."

"I know. But if she’s spreading that information around, if she has proof—"

"Then we have a bigger problem than a revenge plot. We have a potential war with Hong Wei’s remaining allies."

My phone buzzed. A text from Rose.

Emily spotted at the harbor. Meeting with unknown male. Asian. Mid-40s. Taking photos now.

I showed Maurice the message.

"Hong Wei’s people?"

"Probably. She’s building an army." I typed back to Rose. Follow but don’t engage. I want to know everyone she talks to.

Another message came through. This one from Violet.

Pa wants to see you. Says it’s urgent. He’s at the main house.

I grabbed my jacket. "I need to go."

"What about Emily?"

"Keep tracking her. I want hourly updates on her location and everyone she meets with. And find out who the insider is. Check everyone. I don’t care how long it takes."

Maurice nodded and left.

I drove to the main house faster than I should have. Pa calling an urgent meeting meant something had gone very wrong. He didn’t panic. Didn’t summon people unless absolutely necessary.

The house was dark when I arrived except for lights in Pa’s study. I took the stairs two at a time.

Travis was already there when I walked in. He looked terrible. Pale. Shaking slightly. But sober.

"What’s going on?" I asked.

Pa sat behind his desk looking older than I’d ever seen him. His hands were clasped in front of him, and I noticed they were trembling.

"Sit down, Malachi."

"I’d rather stand."

"Sit. Down."

I sat. Whatever this was, it was bad enough that Pa was using his command voice. The one that meant there would be no arguments.

"Travis told me Emily is alive," Pa said. "That she’s planning to destroy the family."

"Yes. I told you that days ago."

"What you didn’t tell me is why she wants revenge."

I glanced at Travis. He was staring at the floor like it held all the answers to the universe.

"Because we’re Blackwoods. Because she thinks we destroyed her life. Take your pick."

"No." Pa’s voice was hard. "Because I killed her father. And because the hospital fire that killed her son wasn’t an accident."

The room went silent.

I stared at Pa. At this man who’d raised me. Taught me everything I knew about power and control and doing whatever was necessary to protect the family.

"What did you just say?"

"Hong Wei didn’t die of natural causes. I had him eliminated. He was becoming a threat. Making demands. Trying to take territory that belonged to us." Pa’s voice was steady, but his eyes weren’t. "And the hospital fire—it was meant to destroy records. Evidence linking us to his death. I didn’t know the baby was still in that wing. I swear I didn’t know."

I stood up. Walked to the window. Tried to process what I was hearing.

Pa had killed Emily’s father. Had accidentally killed her son while covering up the first murder.

And Emily knew.

"How long have you known she was alive?" I asked without turning around.

"I found out yesterday. When Travis told me."

"And you’re just telling me now?"

"I needed time to think. To figure out how to explain—"

"Explain?" I spun around. "You murdered someone and accidentally killed a baby and you needed time to figure out how to explain it?"

"I did what I had to do to protect this family."

"You created a war. Emily’s not going to stop until we’re all dead. And we deserve it."

"We don’t deserve—"

"Yes, we do." I looked at Travis. "You knew about this?"

"I found out the same time you did."

"And Alicia? Does she know?"

Travis shook his head. "I never told her. There was nothing to tell. I thought Emily was actually dead."

Alicia. God, Alicia. If she found out about this, if she knew the family she’d married into was capable of murdering children, even accidentally—

She’d never come back. Never forgive me. Never let me explain.

"We need to find Emily," Pa said. "Stop her before she makes this public. Before she destroys everything we’ve built."

"She’s meeting with Hong Wei’s remaining allies. Building support. My people are tracking her, but she’s careful. Professional." I turned to Pa. "She’s been planning this for five years. She knows our weaknesses. Our secrets. And now she has motivation and resources and nothing to lose."

"Then we eliminate her. Like any other threat."

"She’s not just any threat. She’s family. Was family."

"She stopped being family when she faked her death and started plotting against us."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to say that killing Emily would make us exactly what she claimed we were. Monsters who eliminated anyone who got in our way.

But Pa was right. Emily was a threat. And threats had to be neutralized.

Even if part of me understood why she wanted us dead.

"I’ll handle it," I said.

"How?"

"I don’t know yet. But I’ll figure it out."

My phone buzzed again. Another message from Rose.

Emily’s meeting just ended. The man gave her a briefcase. She’s heading east toward the old district.

Then another message. This one from Maurice.

We found something. You need to see this. Coming to you now.

"I have to go," I said.

"Malachi—"

"We’ll figure this out. But I need to handle my people first."

I left before Pa could respond. Before Travis could say whatever was written on his face.

In the car, I called Maurice.

"What did you find?"

"Financial records. Someone’s been siphoning money from the family accounts for months. Small amounts. Spread across multiple transactions. Easy to miss unless you’re looking."

"How much total?"

"About two million."

Two million. Enough to fund an operation. Buy weapons. Hire people. Destroy a family from the inside.

"Who had access to those accounts?"

"That’s the problem. Everyone. Anyone with family clearance could have done it."

"Narrow it down. Find out who made the transactions. I want a name by morning."

"I’m working on it."

I hung up and drove aimlessly for a while. Thinking. Planning. Trying to figure out how to stop Emily without becoming exactly what Alicia feared I was.

A monster.

But maybe I was already a monster. Maybe I’d been one for years and just refused to see it.

My phone rang. Unknown number.

I answered. "Yes?"

"Hello, Malachi." Emily’s voice. Distorted through some kind of modulator, but recognizable. "Missing me?"

"What do you want?"

"To give you a choice. You can help me take down Pa and Mario. Help me get justice for what they did. Or you can go down with them."

"You know I can’t do that."

"Can’t? Or won’t?"

"Both."

"Then you’ve chosen your side. Good. That makes things simpler."

"Emily—"

"I’m not Emily anymore. Remember? I’m Ghost. And ghosts don’t forgive. Don’t forget. Don’t stop until they’ve destroyed everything they came for."

The line went dead.

I stared at my phone. At the black screen that had just delivered a death sentence.

Emily was coming for us. For all of us.

And I had to stop her.

Even if it meant doing things I couldn’t come back from.

Even if it meant proving Alicia right about what kind of man I really was.

I drove back to my office. Found Maurice waiting with files spread across my desk.

"Tell me you have something."

"Maybe. There’s a pattern to the transactions. They all happened on Thursdays. Between two and four PM. When most of the family is in meetings."

"Who’s not in meetings during that time?"

Maurice pulled up a schedule. Ran his finger down the list.

Then stopped.

His face went pale.

"What?" I demanded.

"Malachi, you’re not going to like this."

"Just tell me."

He turned the screen toward me. Showed me the name highlighted in red.

My blood ran cold.

"No. That’s impossible."

"The evidence doesn’t lie."

I stared at the name. At the person who’d been feeding Emily information. Who’d been stealing money to fund her revenge.

Someone I’d trusted. Someone who’d been in the family for years.

Someone I never would have suspected.

"Find them," I said quietly. "Bring them to me. Tonight."

"What are you going to do?"

"What I should have done the moment I found out Emily was alive."

"Which is?"

"Whatever it takes to protect this family. No matter the cost."

Maurice left.

And I sat alone in my office, staring at that name on the screen, realizing that Emily had been right about one thing.

The Blackwoods were monsters.

And I was the worst of them all.