Chapter 9 - The Brother Who Lived in the Walls
Daniel opened the ledger on the memorial stone.
The first pages contained lists of payments and coded initials. Later pages held copies of medical reports.
One entry showed that Catherine had delivered twins at a private residence three days before her death.
Twin A: Female. Transferred to Laura and Thomas Bennett.
Twin B: Male. Retained under family supervision.
Isabella read the words until they blurred.
“Why would Margaret keep you?”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“Because I was born with a heart condition. The doctors believed I would not survive. She kept me hidden while she decided how to use me.”
“Use you for what?”
“As evidence that Catherine’s heir had died.”
Adrian studied the document.
“They planned to substitute your medical records for Isabella’s.”
“Yes. When I survived, I became a problem.”
“Where did you grow up?” Elena asked.
Daniel looked toward the hill beyond the cemetery.
“In Valecrest.”
Isabella remembered the noises behind the east-wing doors.
“You were the child in the locked rooms.”
“For the first twelve years of my life.”
Adrian stared at him.
“I lived in that house.”
“We met once.”
“I would remember.”
“You were five. You called me the boy behind the wall.”
Adrian’s face lost color.
A memory seemed to pass through him.
“My mother told me you were imaginary.”
“She told everyone I did not exist.”
“What happened when you were twelve?”
“My uncle found me.”
“Your uncle?”
“Your father.”
Adrian’s eyes sharpened.
Daniel continued.
“He discovered Margaret had kept me sedated and hidden. He arranged a false identity and sent me to a school abroad. Years later, he brought me back to work near the family.”
“As my security chief.”
“He believed someone inside the company was continuing Margaret’s crimes. He wanted me close enough to investigate.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He planned to.”
“What stopped him?”
Daniel turned a page of the ledger.
A death certificate was clipped inside.
Adrian’s father had supposedly died of a heart attack.
Below the certificate was a handwritten note from Rosa.
Same drug as Sebastian.
Adrian stepped back.
“My mother killed my father.”
“We do not yet have enough evidence to prove it,” Daniel said.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“And you continued working inside our house.”
“I was trying to find Isabella.”
Isabella looked at him.
“You knew I existed?”
“Our mother spoke your name before she died. Rosa told me you had been placed with another family, but all records had been changed.”
“Why didn’t you approach me when you found me?”
“Because Adrian found you first.”
Adrian’s head lifted.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Daniel closed the ledger.
“I did not know whether he was protecting you or delivering you to Margaret.”
Adrian moved toward him.
“I would never deliver her to anyone.”
“You hid the truth from her.”
“To keep her alive.”
“That is what Margaret always says.”
The men stood inches apart.
Isabella stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both turned toward her.
“I have spent my life surrounded by decisions other people made for my protection. I will not allow either of you to continue.”
Daniel’s expression softened.
“You are like her.”
“Catherine?”
“Our mother.”
The words struck Isabella with unexpected force.
She had spent years believing she had no living family.
Now she had a brother.
But before she could ask another question, a rifle cracked through the trees.
Daniel fell.
Blood spread across the shoulder of his suit.
Adrian pulled Isabella behind the memorial stone while Elena and Dr. Ross dropped to the ground.
A second bullet struck the stone.
Daniel remained conscious.
He dragged the ledger toward Isabella.
“Take it.”
Adrian pressed a hand against Daniel’s wound.
“Where is the shooter?”
“Eastern ridge.”
Isabella opened the ledger.
A folded page slipped free.
It contained a photograph of Catherine standing beside a man whose face had been torn away.
On the back was a message.
The father of the twins is still alive.
May you like
Below it was an address.
Valecrest Villa.
