Chapter 7 - BrothersAdrian did not embrace his brother.
Julian did not come downstairs.
For almost ten seconds, the two men simply stared at each other across a staircase.
Mara had imagined reunions before.
People running.
Crying.
Hands covering mouths.
But Adrian and Julian were sons of Victor Vale.
Whatever affection had once existed between them had learned to wear armor.
Finally Adrian said:
“You’re alive.”
Julian gave a humorless smile.
“Observant.”
“Eight years.”
“Yes.”
“You let Catherine think you were dead.”
Something changed in Julian’s face.
Pain.
Brief.
Then gone.
“I know.”
“She looked for you.”
“I know.”
“I looked for you.”
“I know.”
Adrian stepped toward the stairs.
Julian immediately stepped backward.
Finn noticed.
So did Mara.
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
Mara did not need to explain.
Choice.
Distance.
Consent.
Even brothers deserved it.
Adrian looked at Julian.
“Can we talk?”
Julian glanced at Mara.
“You brought her.”
“I brought myself,” Mara said.
Julian’s mouth twitched.
“I can see why he likes you.”
Adrian frowned.
“How much do you know about Mara?”
“Enough.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
Local police confirmed Julian’s identity.
No active warrants.
No immediate evidence of a crime.
Eventually they left.
Finn remained outside.
The four of them—Mara, Adrian, Julian, and twenty-six years of lies—sat in Daniel Cross’s kitchen.
“Where is Daniel?” Adrian asked.
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was he here?”
“Yesterday.”
“Did he contact Mara?”
Julian looked at her.
“Some messages were mine.”
“Which?”
“The photograph. The storage address.”
“The call?”
“No.”
“ASK ADRIAN WHO REALLY KILLED HIS FATHER?”
“Yes.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know what you remembered.”
“You could have called.”
“I didn’t trust you.”
“You could have called Catherine.”
“I didn’t want her involved.”
Adrian laughed once.
Cold.
“You don’t get to pretend disappearing protected her.”
Julian flinched.
Good, Mara thought.
Some wounds deserved names.
Julian looked away.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“I don’t.”
Silence.
Then Mara asked:
“Did Daniel manipulate Evan?”
Julian looked surprised.
“You found that.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel found Evan three years ago.”
“Why?”
“He wanted access to Grayhaven’s legacy accounts.”
“For money?”
“No.”
“For what?”
“Records.”
Mara frowned.
“Why steal money?”
“To make Adrian investigate.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“He used two million dollars as a breadcrumb?”
“Daniel believed you ignored anything that didn’t threaten the organization.”
“Did you?”
Julian asked it quietly.
Adrian did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Mara stepped in.
“Why involve Evan?”
“He was disposable.”
Her stomach tightened.
Julian saw it.
“I know what he did to you.”
“No. You know what’s written in reports.”
“Fair.”
“Evan put my name on companies. If Daniel encouraged him—”
“He didn’t tell Evan to use you.”
“But he created the opportunity.”
“Yes.”
“Then Daniel helped put me in danger.”
Julian nodded.
“Yes.”
No excuses.
Mara appreciated that.
“Why did you help him?”
“I didn’t know about Evan until later.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“Trying to prove our father killed our mother.”
Adrian’s head lifted.
“Our mother.”
Julian met his eyes.
There it was.
The photograph.
The note.
The question neither had asked.
Julian exhaled.
“Elena was my mother.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Victor told me your mother was Rebecca Shaw.”
“She raised me.”
“But?”
“Elena gave birth to me.”
“How?”
Julian almost smiled.
“The usual way.”
“Julian.”
“Victor hid it.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t his.”
Silence.
Adrian looked toward the photograph.
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
Mara watched Adrian absorb it.
Victor Vale had raised another man’s son.
Why?
Power.
Punishment.
Control.
Perhaps all three.
Julian continued.
“Elena tried to leave Victor when you were twelve. Daniel was helping her.”
“Helping?”
“They were in love.”
Adrian looked sick.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Dad know?”
“Eventually.”
“And when he discovered Julian?”
“He kept him,” Julian said.
Mara frowned.
“Why?”
“To punish Elena.”
The room became colder.
Adrian whispered, “Jesus.”
“Victor told Daniel the baby died. Told Elena Daniel had abandoned her. Then he gave me to Rebecca Shaw, one of his employees, and told everyone I was his child from an affair.”
Mara felt nausea rise.
Human beings converted into leverage.
Children into punishment.
It was Evan’s behavior enlarged by money and power until it became architecture.
“How did you discover this?” she asked.
“Rebecca told me before she died.”
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
“Before Victor died?”
“Two months before.”
Adrian stared.
“You confronted him.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He laughed.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“He laughed?”
“He said blood didn’t matter because he had made me a Vale.”
Julian’s voice cracked on the surname.
“I told him I would expose everything.”
“And six months later he died,” Mara said.
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
Adrian’s eyes snapped toward his brother.
Julian looked directly at him.
“No.”
“Did Daniel?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Daniel wanted Victor alive.”
“Why?”
“To confess.”
Mara leaned forward.
“Then who killed him?”
Julian looked at Adrian.
“You did.”
Silence.
Mara felt the room stop.
Adrian did not move.
“What?”
“You killed Victor.”
“No.”
“You don’t remember?”
“No.”
Julian watched him.
Then shook his head.
“I wondered.”
Adrian stood.
Chair legs scraped violently.
“I found him dead.”
“No.”
“I found him in his study.”
“You found him after.”
“After what?”
“After you fought.”
Adrian stared.
Julian continued.
“I was outside the study.”
“No.”
“You were screaming at him.”
“No.”
“You told him you knew what he did to Mom.”
Adrian backed away.
Mara stood but did not approach.
“Adrian.”
He looked at her.
Not seeing her.
Memory was moving behind his eyes.
“I didn’t know.”
“You did,” Julian said. “For one night.”
“What does that mean?”
“You found the hospital records.”
“What records?”
“Samuel Pike kept copies. You found them.”
Adrian pressed both hands against the kitchen counter.
“No.”
“You confronted Victor.”
“No.”
“He admitted changing her medication.”
Adrian’s breathing became shallow.
Mara moved closer.
Not touching.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“Breathe.”
He inhaled.
Julian looked away, suddenly ashamed.
Mara said, “Continue carefully.”
Julian nodded.
“Victor admitted he ordered Samuel to make Elena sick.”
“Not kill her?”
“No. He wanted her dependent. Too weak to leave.”
Mara closed her eyes.
Control.
Always control.
“But Samuel gave her too much.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor killed Samuel?”
“No.”
“Then who was in the garage?”
“Daniel.”
Adrian looked up.
Julian continued.
“Victor discovered Daniel had come to the hospital. They fought. You tried to intervene.”
“The blood.”
“Daniel’s.”
“What happened to Samuel?”
“He disappeared two days later.”
“Daniel?”
“Survived.”
Adrian whispered, “And Victor?”
Julian’s eyes filled.
“You confronted him years later.”
“After Rebecca told you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“You hit him.”
“With what?”
“Your hands.”
“Did I kill him?”
Julian hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Adrian stared.
“You just said I did.”
“I said you killed him because that’s what I believed.”
“Believed?”
“I left the house. When I returned, Victor was dead.”
“How long?”
“Forty minutes.”
Mara stepped forward.
“So there was a forty-minute window.”
“Yes.”
“Anyone could have entered.”
“Yes.”
“Why accuse Adrian?”
Julian looked at his brother.
“Because he was standing over the body.”
Adrian whispered, “I don’t remember.”
“You were covered in blood.”
“His?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn’t there an investigation?”
“Because Leonard Pike arrived.”
Of course.
Mara almost laughed at the inevitability.
“What did Leonard do?”
“Called Victor’s doctor. Cleaned the room. Told us Victor’s death would destroy everything if police became involved.”
“And Adrian?”
“He was barely conscious.”
Mara frowned.
“Why?”
Julian looked at him.
“I thought alcohol.”
“I don’t drink,” Adrian said.
“You did that night.”
“No.”
Julian stopped.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“I never drank around Victor.”
“Then…”
Mara understood first.
“Drugged.”
All three went silent.
Adrian looked at her.
“If someone drugged me…”
“You could have lost memory.”
Julian’s face changed.
For eight years he had believed his brother killed Victor.
Now uncertainty entered.
Mara returned to the wall in her mind.
Victor.
Leonard.
Daniel.
Samuel.
Who benefited?
Who had access?
Who could manipulate evidence?
“Leonard,” she said.
Julian looked at her.
“What?”
“Leonard Pike controlled Victor’s accounts. He appeared immediately after Victor died. His brother was involved in Elena’s death. Victor knew enough to destroy both of them.”
Adrian became still.
“And Leonard died seven years ago.”
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“Leonard Pike isn’t dead.”
Mara stared.
Julian continued.
“He staged it.”
“Why?”
“Because someone finally started looking for him.”
“Who?”
Julian looked toward the window.
“Daniel.”
A sound came from outside.
Glass shattered.
Finn shouted.
Mara dropped instinctively.
Adrian moved toward her.
A gunshot cracked through the kitchen.
The wall behind Julian exploded.
Everyone hit the floor.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Finn shouted from outside:
“Vehicle moving east!”
Adrian crawled toward Mara.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Julian?”
“I’m fine.”
Mara looked at the bullet hole.
It had entered exactly where Julian’s head had been seconds earlier.
Not a warning.
A kill shot.
Julian stared at it.
May you like
Then whispered:
“Leonard knows I’m alive.”
