?The guard watched Nick and Vernon entering Kugelblitz.
The guard still thought that Nick acted suspiciously, but in the end, he just shrugged.
He was not responsible for the investigation, and he was also one of the few guards who weren't working for Kugelblitz.
So, this didn't concern him.
He was just a bit interested.
Nick followed Vernon in silence.
Naturally, Nick was quite a bit nervous, even though he was trying his best to hide it.
It was a fact that Nick was the reason why Wyntor was dead.
He might not have killed him directly, but he had ordered his death.
And he knew very well that several people were suspicious of him based on his history with Wyntor.
The reason why Nick had ordered Wyntor's death this morning was twofold.
First, he wanted Wyntor to die while he had an alibi.
And second, he wanted to show his motive for killing Wyntor before it actually happened.
At first glance, the second part seemed stupid.
After all, why would anyone want to tell others that they had a reason to kill someone?
The reason was that Nick wanted to make it seem as unplanned as possible.
Additionally, Nick wanted to show that he already had a way out of this.
If he knew that Wyntor was about to die, why would he ask for a job from Vernon?
He already had a solution, and he had already made his peace with the outcome.
And then, Wyntor just suddenly died.
But there was actually one more reason as to why Nick unveiled his conflict with Wyntor.
Nick knew that he wasn't a good actor, and he was sure that someone as experienced as Vernon would notice if Nick decided to fake his emotions.
Now, since Nick had told Vernon about the broken relationship between him and Wyntor, it would no longer be as suspicious if Nick didn't seem as aggrieved.
Nevertheless, Nick was still in a lot of danger.
The next couple of hours were what would decide his future.
After a long walk in silence, Vernon led Nick back into his office.
The cup of coffee from earlier was still on the table.
Vernon sat down and sighed.
"I know a lot has happened, but we need to talk about Dark Dream first," Vernon said.
Nick nodded.
"I'm 90% sure that it was one of the other Manufacturers that killed my son, and if we don't want them to gain anything out of this, we need to deal with the matter of Dark Dream's ownership as quickly as possible."
"Since they killed Wyntor, they will soon also kill you. Before that happens, we need to get you to a safe place."
Even though Nick saw Vernon as a cold and ruthless businessman, he was still a bit shocked that Vernon could talk about money mere minutes after he heard that his son died.
Usually, parents wouldn't want to deal with anything so quickly after their children died.
Even more, except for a couple of minutes of grieving, Vernon looked quite normal and calm.
Nick hadn't expected that Vernon would be this cold to his family.
"Since I now own 70% of Dark Dream, I'm willing to buy your 30% and hire you as a team leader for Kugelblitz," Vernon said. "Like this, you don't have to fear anyone attacking you since there is nothing to gain from your death."
Nick suppressed a smile.
"That's not right, Vernon," he said.
Vernon raised an eyebrow.
"You don't own 70% of Dark Dream," Nick added. "I own 100% of Dark Dream now."
Vernon furrowed his brows in confusion and annoyance.
"I think you might have misunderstood the law," Vernon said after a sigh. "When somebody dies, their next-of-kin gets whatever they own. Since Wyntor does not have a wife or a child, all of his belongings go to me. That includes the 70% of Dark Dream."
Nick's eyes shone, and a suspicious expression appeared on his face.
"I was under the impression that Wyntor showed you the ownership contract for Dark Dream's shareholders," Nick said.
"Yes, he did," Vernon answered. "It's a standard contract that I personally drafted. I use it for all kinds of deals, and Wyntor borrowed it. He also gave me a copy for safekeeping.
"And that contract doesn't state anything in regards to the death of an owner of the company, which means that the standard process comes into effect."
"That's wrong," Nick said with furrowed brows. "I explicitly remember signing it about three to four years ago, and I am certain that there was a clause in regards to the death of an owner."
"I remember it saying that, in the case of a death, the other owners get the shares of the deceased owner."
"I'm 100% certain that it is in the contract since I even remember becoming suspicious. I was afraid that this clause was in the contract so that Wyntor could, one day, kill me to get all my shares without having to pay me."
Vernon started to become annoyed. "I have read through the contract, too, and I am certain that it is just the standard contract. I also told Wyntor to never create the specific clause you are talking about since that would endanger his life."
The two of them looked at each other in annoyance.
"I have a copy here. Let's just look at it and be done with it," Vernon said.
Then, Vernon stood up and searched through one of his drawers for a folder, which he then opened.
After about half a minute of going through the folder, Vernon put the folder on the table, the contract visible.
"Read," Vernon said.
Nick did so and looked through the contract.
As he kept reading, his brows furrowed.
Sure enough, there was no such clause in the contract.
But when Nick reached the end of the contract, his eyes widened in realization.
Then, he pointed at his signature at the very end of the contract.
"That is not my signature," he said.
"I never signed this contract."
"This is a fake."
