Chapter 8 - The Brother Who Came Back
Nathaniel stepped between Sebastian and Ruby.
“How did you enter my house?”
“I still know the old gate code.”
“It was changed nine years ago.”
Sebastian smiled faintly.
“Then someone wanted me to get inside.”
Marcus moved toward him.
Sebastian raised both hands.
“I’m not armed.”
“That has never made you harmless,” Nathaniel said.
Ruby studied the two brothers.
They had the same gray-green eyes, but Sebastian appeared calmer. Nathaniel carried his anger openly. Sebastian hid his behind perfect manners.
Sebastian looked at the silver compass.
“Father gave that to you because he believed you would eventually learn to open it.”
“Our father died before Ruby was born. Why was he creating accounts for her?”
“He wasn’t.”
“You said it was Father’s compass.”
“The seal belonged to him. The money did not.”
“Who used it?”
Sebastian glanced toward Ruby.
“Elara.”
Nathaniel shook his head.
“She could not access Father’s private seal.”
“I gave it to her.”
“Why?”
“Because she came to me after discovering what your executives were doing.”
Nathaniel took a step closer.
“You helped my daughter disappear.”
“I helped her stay alive.”
“You let me believe she was dead.”
“Elara believed one of your closest advisers was the Architect. At that time, I was not sure whether you were involved.”
“You knew me.”
“I knew the man you had become.”
Nathaniel’s expression hardened.
Sebastian continued.
“You had stopped reading the details beneath the numbers. Families lost homes while you celebrated record growth. Elara tried to warn you, but every complaint was intercepted.”
“By Gabriel?”
“No.”
“Then by whom?”
Sebastian looked around the library.
“Where is Gabriel?”
“Missing.”
“And Silas?”
“In custody.”
“Victoria?”
“Dead.”
For the first time, Sebastian lost his composure.
“Victoria is dead?”
“She was found in her office.”
“Then the Architect has started closing the circle.”
Ruby walked past Nathaniel.
“Do you know where my mother is?”
Sebastian looked at her for a long moment.
“I knew where she was eight years ago.”
“Is she alive?”
“She was then.”
“Where did she go?”
“I cannot tell you.”
Ruby’s face tightened.
“Adults say they’re protecting me when they don’t want to answer.”
Sebastian knelt.
“Elara left the country after someone tried to take you from the hospital. She planned to return when the network was exposed. But the evidence disappeared, and she stopped trusting everyone.”
“Did she stop trusting you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
Sebastian looked toward Nathaniel.
“I told Gabriel where she was.”
Nathaniel grabbed his brother’s coat.
“You led him to her?”
“I believed Gabriel was protecting Ruby.”
“Was he her father?”
Sebastian did not answer.
Nathaniel pushed him against the desk.
“Was Gabriel Cross the father of my granddaughter?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Elara refused to tell me. She said the truth would destroy what remained of the family.”
Marcus separated the brothers.
Sebastian straightened his coat.
“There is a reason Gabriel’s name appeared on the birth certificate and a reason Elara removed it. Those reasons may not be the same.”
He took a small data drive from his pocket.
“This contains copies of the Hawthorne transactions. I received them from Elara two weeks ago.”
Nathaniel froze.
“You heard from her?”
“Not directly. The drive arrived through a courier.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Because the message said to wait until Ruby returned the wallet.”
Everyone looked at Ruby.
Nathaniel’s voice lowered.
“How could Elara know Ruby would find my wallet?”
Sebastian placed another item on the desk.
It was a photograph taken the previous afternoon.
It showed Nathaniel standing beside his car.
Behind him, a man’s hand was slipping the wallet from his coat pocket.
Someone had stolen it and deliberately placed it where Ruby would find it.
On the back of the photograph, Elara had written:
The honest child will open the dishonest tower.
May you like
Ruby had not accidentally entered Vale Meridian.
Someone had arranged every step.
