Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Did Not Exist
Rebecca left the archive room without opening the remaining files.
The discovery had shaken her more deeply than she allowed anyone to see.
For thirty-nine years, she had believed she was Gideon Alden’s only child.
Now a hidden record claimed she had a brother named Thomas.
A brother whose face had appeared in footage taken eighteen years apart without any visible aging.
Outside the research center, Blake remained inside his guarded car.
When Rebecca emerged, he searched her expression.
“What did you find?”
She did not answer.
Lena instructed the guards to transfer Blake to a secure interview facility.
He resisted.
“I cooperated.”
“You provided a note after helping steal medicine from a child,” Lena said. “That is not cooperation. It is fear.”
Blake looked toward Rebecca.
“I can still help you.”
Rebecca faced him.
“Then answer one question.”
“Anything.”
“Who first introduced you to Vesper?”
Blake hesitated.
“Marissa.”
From behind him came the sound of another car door opening.
Marissa had arrived with her attorney and two federal investigators.
She had agreed to provide evidence in exchange for formal protection.
“That is a lie,” she said.
Blake turned.
“You brought Vesper into my company.”
“No. You did.”
Marissa handed Lena a tablet.
“The first payment arrived six months before Blake hired me. I found the records when I became procurement director.”
Rebecca looked at Blake.
“Who contacted you?”
Blake remained silent.
Marissa swiped through a series of messages.
“The contact used the name Thomas Vale.”
Rebecca’s attention sharpened.
“Vale?”
Marissa nodded.
“I thought he might be related to my family, but the name was false. He sent Blake market information, private bids, and lists of clinics facing bankruptcy. Every acquisition Blake believed he discovered came from Thomas.”
Blake’s medical empire had not been built by intelligence.
It had been arranged for him.
“Did you ever meet Thomas?” Rebecca asked.
“Blake did.”
Everyone looked at him.
Blake’s face hardened.
“One time.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Before our wedding?”
“A week before.”
Rebecca felt the truth approaching.
“What did he tell you about me?”
“He said you were financially secure but emotionally vulnerable. He said your first husband’s death had made you afraid of being alone.”
The words were clinical and cruel.
Someone had studied Rebecca before Blake entered her life.
“You did not meet me by accident,” she said.
Blake looked away.
“He told me which charity event you would attend.”
“And you approached me because you thought I had money.”
“I approached you because he said you had access to Northstar.”
“You told me you did not know.”
“I did not know what Northstar was.”
“But you knew I was connected to it.”
“I thought it was a family investment account.”
Rebecca remembered their first conversations.
Blake had asked about her charity work, her late husband, Rosie, and her financial independence. At the time, his interest had seemed thoughtful.
Now every question felt like an interview.
“Why marry me?” she asked.
Blake’s voice became defensive.
“At first, I was gathering information. Then things changed.”
“You fell in love?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked at him for several seconds.
“No. You became comfortable.”
Blake took a step forward before the guards stopped him.
“I gave you a life.”
“You entered a life someone else had already designed for you.”
Marissa opened another file.
“Thomas paid Blake a final amount after the wedding.”
The record showed a transfer of two million dollars.
Rebecca looked at the date.
It was the morning after she and Blake returned from their honeymoon.
Blake had received payment for marrying her.
He saw the realization in her face.
“It was not like that.”
“What was it like?”
“He said the money was an investment.”
“In what?”
“My access to you.”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
At last, the marriage made sense.
The rushed proposal.
The questions about Rosie’s medical records.
The pressure to combine accounts.
The demand that Rebecca grant him emergency authority over her family trust.
She had refused the final request.
That refusal was why the manipulation had continued.
“You never loved me,” she said.
Blake’s expression changed.
For the first time, he looked less angry than afraid.
“I did not expect to love you.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I stayed after the agreement ended.”
“You stayed because you still had not reached the trust.”
Blake had no reply.
Rebecca turned to the investigators.
“You have my full cooperation. Provide them with every Whitmore and Northstar record connected to Vesper.”
Blake stared at her.
“You will destroy everything.”
“No. I will separate what deserves to survive from what you corrupted.”
“What about the clinics?”
“They will remain open under temporary management. The patients will not pay for your choices.”
Marissa looked at Rebecca.
“And me?”
“You will testify.”
“I know.”
“You will return every dollar you received.”
Marissa’s face tightened, but she nodded.
“And after that?” she asked.
“That is for the investigators and the courts.”
Blake laughed bitterly.
“You think this makes you different from your father? You walked into one meeting and froze thousands of lives.”
“I protected thousands of patients while removing one man.”
“You removed your husband.”
“You sold that role before you ever met me.”
The investigators placed Blake under arrest for medical theft, fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction.
As they led him toward the vehicle, he looked back.
“Thomas said you would do this.”
Rebecca did not move.
“He said the moment you learned the truth about me, you would return to Alden.”
“What else did he say?”
May you like
Blake smiled faintly.
“He said you would never forgive Martin when you discovered how your first husband really died.”
