Chapter 6 - The Voice on the Cassette
Nora Bell owned a small audio restoration studio in Brooklyn.
She had met Elena during university and remained the one person capable of insulting Adrian without being removed by security.
When Elena arrived with the cassette, Nora locked the front door.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“You know I mean frightened.”
“I know.”
Nora placed the cassette inside an old player connected to restoration equipment.
The tape began with static.
Then a woman’s voice emerged.
Evelyn Vale.
Elena recognized her from archived interviews.
“If this recording survives,” Evelyn said, “Richard has already chosen the company over our sons.”
Nora looked at Elena.
“Sons?”
The tape continued.
“Adrian believes he was born alone. He was not. His brother was removed from all family records after Project Winter declared him unsuitable.”
A man spoke in the background.
“We need to leave now.”
Evelyn answered, “Not without both boys.”
Another voice entered.
Richard Vale.
“You cannot take Adrian. The board requires a stable heir.”
“He is a child.”
“He is the future of this family.”
“And Elias?”
A pause.
Then Richard said, “Elias is a liability.”
The tape filled with movement, raised voices, and what sounded like furniture being dragged.
Evelyn continued, now farther from the recorder.
“If anything happens to me, tell Adrian that his brother survived. Ruth knows where they sent him. The divided-circle files contain the names of every child involved.”
The recording ended with a loud impact and the sound of an alarm.
Nora removed her headphones.
“Elena, Adrian has a twin brother.”
“According to a twenty-two-year-old tape.”
“And you found medical photographs.”
“Yes.”
“You need to tell him.”
“I need proof that the recording is real.”
“You need to stop behaving as if proof will make this less dangerous.”
Elena stared at the sound wave frozen across the screen.
“Someone told me to bring Adrian’s file to the ball.”
“Are you going to?”
“I left the original in the cabinet.”
“What did you take?”
“A list of identification numbers from the children’s photographs.”
Nora stood.
“You copied secret research files after an unknown person photographed you doing it?”
“I needed something to investigate.”
“You are pregnant, Elena.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that like it is only a fact and not a reason to avoid underground laboratories and family conspiracies.”
Elena placed both hands on the table.
“If Adrian has a brother, someone erased him. If the same people still control the board, they have spent decades making sure Adrian never learns the truth. Telling him without knowing who to trust could push him directly into their trap.”
Nora lowered her voice.
“What are you planning?”
“The Winter Charity Ball brings every senior board member into one building.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Elena.”
“I’m going to find the man with the silver ring.”
Nora’s face tightened.
“What silver ring?”
Elena described the photograph in Adrian’s file. Richard Vale stood beside the two boys, his hand resting on Adrian’s shoulder.
On his finger was a ring marked by the divided-circle symbol.
After Richard’s death, the ring had passed to his younger brother, Victor Vale.
Victor currently served as vice chairman of Vale Global.
He had been Adrian’s guardian after Evelyn died.
He was also the man Adrian trusted more than anyone on the board.
Nora replayed the final seconds of the cassette.
Beneath the alarm, another sound emerged after digital filtering.
A child’s voice.
“Adrian, don’t let them take me again.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Nora whispered, “That voice is not Adrian’s.”
May you like
“No.”
It belonged to the brother he had been forced to forget.
