Chapter 11 - The Other Man With My Brother's FaceThe hospital staff told Eleanor that Catherine had a chance.
The bullet had struck her shoulder rather than her chest, but she had lost a dangerous amount of blood. Surgeons took her into emergency surgery while Chen stationed two guards outside the operating room.
Eleanor sat in the corridor with her mother's locket clenched in her fist.
Desmond brought her coffee.
She did not drink it.
“Mrs. Ashworth,” he said gently, “you need to rest.”
“I'm not going to sleep.”
“You cannot help your family if you collapse.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“I've spent my entire life being told what I cannot do.”
Desmond sat beside her.
For the first time, he seemed less like a butler and more like an old friend.
“Then perhaps it's time someone told you what you can do.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
A doctor emerged from the operating room shortly before midnight.
Catherine had survived the surgery, but she remained unconscious.
Eleanor pressed her forehead against the wall and exhaled slowly.
One more person she loved had returned to her life only to nearly disappear again.
Chen approached with a tablet.
“We've identified the man in the car.”
Eleanor stood immediately.
“Who is he?”
“His name is Elliot Vale.”
“The boy from the photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Julian's friend?”
Chen hesitated.
“Not exactly.”
He displayed an old personnel file.
Elliot Vale had been born two months after Eleanor. His mother had worked for a private security company later absorbed into Charles Ashworth's network.
He had been listed as missing following the crash.
Then a second identity appeared.
ADRIAN VALE.
Eleanor stared at the screen.
“Why was he using Adrian?”
“Because Charles gave him the name of Theron's erased brother.”
“And the man with the scar?”
“Julian.”
Eleanor looked up sharply.
“That was Julian in the car?”
“Most likely.”
“Then who is Adrian?”
Chen closed the file.
“A story that Charles told to keep two families fighting each other.”
He explained that Adrian Ashworth had not vanished after all. The child in the photograph had been Elliot Vale, placed in the Ashworth household as part of an arrangement between Charles and Richard. The arrangement had been designed to conceal the movements of several children connected to the network.
Theron had grown up believing Elliot was his older brother.
Julian had believed Elliot was his trusted friend.
And Eleanor had remembered him only as a face from a photograph.
“But why would Charles pretend he had an older son?” she asked.
“Because Adrian's name belonged to someone who had died years earlier. Charles used it to hide Elliot's identity and create a false trail.”
Eleanor stared at the file.
“Then Julian and Theron were both deceived.”
“Yes.”
“Did Theron know Elliot wasn't his brother?”
“I believe he suspected it.”
Eleanor's gaze hardened.
“Every answer leads to another lie.”
“That is often how powerful people protect themselves.”
Her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A message appeared.
YOUR MOTHER IS ALIVE. YOUR BROTHER IS ALIVE. YOUR HUSBAND IS ALIVE. HOW MANY TIMES MUST YOU WATCH SOMEONE DIE BEFORE YOU UNDERSTAND?
A second message followed.
BRING THE JADE PENDANT TO THE OLD KINGSLEY HOUSE. MIDNIGHT TOMORROW. NO POLICE.
Eleanor showed Chen.
He shook his head.
“It's a trap.”
“Of course it is.”
“We won't go.”
“We will.”
“Eleanor, you cannot keep walking into danger.”
She stood.
“Then stop sending me into it alone.”
Chen studied her.
At last, he nodded.
“Very well. But we will choose the ground.”
The old Kingsley house stood on a wooded estate outside the city. It had been abandoned after the crash, then sold to a developer who never completed the renovation.
At midnight the following night, Eleanor entered through the side door with Chen and Desmond close behind her.
Dust covered the floors. Moonlight shone through broken windows, revealing the faded wallpaper her mother had chosen when Eleanor was born.
In the nursery, a music box rested on the mantel.
Eleanor recognized it.
Her father had wound it every night before bed.
She touched the lid.
The music began.
A man's voice emerged from the darkness.
“You always did like that song.”
Eleanor turned.
Julian stood in the doorway.
He looked exhausted, older than his years, and dangerously calm.
She took one step toward him.
“Julian.”
He raised a hand.
“Don't come any closer.”
Her heart broke a little more.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know whether I can trust you.”
She stared at him.
“I'm your sister.”
“You're Richard Kingsley's daughter.”
“I'm both.”
He shook his head.
“You don't understand what he did.”
“Then tell me.”
Julian's eyes filled with something that looked almost like grief.
“He sold me.”
Eleanor swallowed.
“I know.”
“He let them torture me. He let them turn me into a weapon. Then he spent twenty-six years pretending he was trying to save me.”
“Mother told me.”
Julian went still.
“Mother is alive?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, hope flickered across his face.
Then it disappeared.
“Where is she?”
“In the hospital.”
He closed his eyes.
“Who shot her?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Julian looked directly at her.
“Then I think it's time I told you who did.”
He turned toward Chen.
“Give me the phone.”
Chen didn't move.
Julian reached into his coat and pulled out a pistol.
“Now.”
Eleanor stepped between them.
“Julian, please.”
His eyes returned to her.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
He lowered the gun slightly.
“Then ask Mr. Chen what he did on the night of the crash.”
Chen's expression changed.
May you like
Julian smiled without warmth.
“He was the one who locked the hangar doors.”
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