Chapter 299 Son's Betrayal

Chapter 299 Son's Betrayal
Derek's POV

The heavy wooden door of my estate slammed shut behind me with a satisfying crash. Three days. Three fucking days I'd been locked up like some common criminal in Gabriel's makeshift prison. My hands were still shaking with rage as I stalked through the marble foyer, my Armani suit wrinkled from confinement.

"Gabriel, you sanctimonious bastard," I muttered, loosening my silk tie. "You think you can humiliate me? Make me lose face in front of the entire family?"

I needed revenge.

My footsteps echoed on the Italian marble as I made my way to the study. The leather chair behind my mahogany desk had never felt more like a throne than it did now. Soon, very soon, I'd be sitting in Gabriel's chair at Rothschild headquarters.

The sound of shuffling feet drew my attention to the corner where Jack sat hunched on the leather sofa, staring blankly at his hands.

"You useless piece of shit!" I snapped, my voice cutting through the silence like a blade.

Jack flinched, his shoulders drawing up defensively. "Dad, I—"

"Shut up!" I stood so abruptly that my chair rolled backward and hit the wall. "Do you have any idea what that woman has done to our family? What she's cost us?"

Jack remained silent, but I could see his mind working behind those weak eyes. He was thinking about her – about Scarlett Ross, the small-town nobody who'd somehow transformed herself into the untouchable Victoria Langley. The same woman who'd played him like a fool and was now married to my brother.

Well, divorced from my brother, technically. But the damage was done.

I walked around the desk and delivered a sharp kick to his shin, sending him tumbling off the sofa onto the Persian rug.

"Get up," I snarled. "Your self-pity disgusts me."

As Jack scrambled to his feet, nursing his bruised leg, I reached for the secure phone in my desk drawer. The phone that connected me to the one person who could help me destroy Gabriel once and for all.

The number was burned into my memory – ten digits that represented my path to ultimate power. My fingers moved across the keypad with practiced precision.

The phone rang twice before a voice answered – deep, gravelly, with the weight of years behind it.

"Derek."

"I need your help," I said without preamble. "I want Gabriel Rothschild dead."

The silence stretched for a long moment, filled only by the sound of my own heartbeat. Then came a low chuckle.

"Consider it done."

I blinked, caught off guard by the immediate response. "Just like that? No questions about payment or—"

"Derek," the voice interrupted, suddenly warm with an emotion I couldn't identify. "There's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you years ago."

My grip tightened on the phone. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not just helping you because of our business arrangement. I'm helping you because you're my son."

The words hit me like a physical blow. The phone slipped in my sweaty palm, and I had to catch it with both hands.

"That's impossible," I whispered.

"Your mother was already pregnant when she married into the Rothschild family," the voice continued matter-of-factly. "She never told her husband the truth. She never told you the truth. But I've been watching over you your entire life."

My legs gave out, and I collapsed into my chair. Jack, still on the floor, looked up at me with confused concern, but I barely saw him.

"You're... you're really my father?"

"Yes. And Derek, my boy, this is just the beginning. Not only will I help you take control of the Rothschild empire, but I'll make you the king of New York. Every family, every business, every influential person in this city will bow to you."

The phone call ended with those words ringing in my ears: "Wait for good news, my son."

I set the phone down with trembling hands, staring at it as if it might explode. Then, slowly, a smile spread across my face. It started as a smirk, then grew into a grin, and finally erupted into full-blown laughter.

"Gabriel! Austin Cooper! Everett Carter!" I shouted to the empty room. "You're all going to die!"

The relief was intoxicating. I didn't have to feel guilty about destroying the Rothschild family anymore. They weren't really my family – they never had been. I was free to crush them all without a shred of remorse.

My laughter echoed off the study walls, but I was too euphoric to notice the calculating gleam that flashed in Jack's eyes as he watched me from the floor.

---

Gabriel's POV

The encrypted communication system in my study lit up with an incoming trace notification. I'd been monitoring Derek's communications since his release, expecting him to make contact with his mysterious benefactor sooner rather than later.

But I hadn't expected this.

The conversation had been brief but revealing. A phone number based in New York – though the exact location was still scrambled through multiple proxy servers. More importantly, the voice analysis suggested someone significantly older than I'd anticipated.

Someone claiming to be Derek's biological father.

I was still processing the implications when Adam knocked on my study door.

"Sir, Jack Rothschild is requesting an immediate audience. He appears quite distressed."

Interesting timing. "Send him in."

Jack entered looking like a man who'd seen a ghost. His usually pale complexion had gone completely white, and his hands were visibly shaking.

"Uncle Gabriel," he said, immediately dropping to his knees on the Persian rug. "Please, you have to help me!"

I leaned back in my leather chair, studying his desperate expression. "Help you with what, exactly?"

"I don't want to marry Violet Cooper. I don't want any part of this family war. I just want to disappear, to start over somewhere safe."

"And what makes you think I'd be willing to help you with that?"

Jack's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Because I have information you need. About Derek. About what he's planning."

Now he had my attention. "I'm listening."

"The man Derek was talking to on the phone," Jack began, his voice barely above a whisper. "He said he was Derek's real father. That Derek's mother was pregnant before she married into the Rothschild family."

The pieces clicked into place with disturbing clarity. If Derek truly believed he had no blood connection to the Rothschild family, it would explain his willingness to eliminate his supposed relatives without hesitation.

"And Derek's planning?"

"To have you killed. The man promised to help him become 'king of New York' – whatever that means."

I stood and walked to the window, looking out at the pre-dawn darkness. This changed everything. Derek wasn't just a jealous brother anymore – he was a man with nothing to lose and a powerful ally backing his revenge.

"What do you want in return for this information?"

"Safe passage out of the country. New identity. Enough money to start over." Jack's voice grew steadier as he outlined his terms. "I don't care if I can never use the Rothschild name again. I just want to live."

"Deal. But you need to tell Violet that Dr. Sterling will be conducting an inspection at Rothschild Corporation," I said, my mind already working on the plan. "Make it seem like you're nervous about the security arrangements."

If Violet passed that information to Austin, and Austin was now working with the Dark Organization, it might draw them into a trap of our making.

"After that, you'll have twenty-four hours to disappear," I continued. "But understand this – once you're gone, you're never coming back. No contact with family, no claims on inheritance, nothing. You'll be dead to us."

Jack nodded eagerly. "That's exactly what I want."

As he left my study, I returned to my monitoring equipment. Derek thought he'd gained a powerful ally, but he'd also revealed the existence of a threat far larger than family rivalry.

The game had changed, and it was time to change my strategy accordingly.