Chapter 5 - THE FIFTY-MINUTE DEALThe Signature They NeededI left Rosehill at 10:07.
Exactly thirteen minutes before the penalty clause.
The boardroom was silent when I walked in.
Twelve people looked at me.
My lawyer.
The seller.
Three investors.
Two executives.
And my uncle Martin.
He stood.
“Adrian.”
I didn't answer.
I placed the blue box on the table.
Every face changed.
Martin's was the first.
Then my lawyer's.
Then the seller's.
“Where did you get that?” Martin asked.
“From my mother's hiding place.”
Nobody moved.
I sat at the head of the table.
“Let's talk about Rosehill.”
The seller's attorney cleared his throat.
“The agreement expires at 10:20.”
“Then let it.”
Martin stepped forward.
“You're throwing away a two-hundred-forty-million-dollar opportunity.”
“Maybe.”
“You have twenty-seven thousand square meters of prime land.”
“Maybe.”
“You spent eighteen months building this deal.”
“I know.”
He lowered his voice.
“You're letting an old apartment building make an irrational decision for you.”
I looked at him.
“Who is Lucas?”
Silence.
Martin stopped breathing for a second.
Then he smiled.
“What are you talking about?”
“My brother.”
He glanced at the others.
“You've been listening to lies.”
“My mother had another son.”
“We all know that.”
I stared.
The room felt suddenly colder.
“You knew?”
“Your mother was unstable after the pregnancy.”
“Stop.”
“She became obsessed with rescuing every sick child in the city.”
“Stop.”
“She left.”
“You told me she died.”
“She disappeared.”
“That's not what you told me.”
Martin's eyes narrowed.
“Adrian, you're confused.”
“No.”
I pushed the adoption documents across the table.
“I'm finally not confused.”
My lawyer picked up the papers.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get these?”
“Room 814.”
He went pale.
“How do you know about Room 814?”
“That's what I'm asking you.”
Nobody answered.
I opened the blue box.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Property maps.
I spread them across the table.
Then I placed my mother's letter in the center.
Martin read it.
His face hardened.
“You should burn that.”
I leaned back.
“Why?”
“Because Elena was trying to destroy this family.”
“What family?”
“The Vale family.”
“No.”
I looked around the table.
“The family that built itself by taking apartments from people?”
Martin slammed his hand down.
“Watch yourself.”
There it was.
The real Martin.
Not my mentor.
Not my uncle.
The man behind the curtain.
I stood.
“The deal is off.”
My lawyer's eyes widened.
The seller's representative cursed.
Martin stared at me.
“You don't understand what you've done.”
“Then explain it.”
He said nothing.
I walked toward the elevator.
Behind me, Martin said quietly:
“You think you found your mother's secret.”
I stopped.
“But you found mine.”
I turned.
His expression had changed.
There was fear there.
Real fear.
Not fear of losing money.
Fear of exposure.
“What secret?”
He smiled faintly.
“Ask yourself why your mother disappeared.”
Then he walked away.
I left.
Outside, rain had stopped.
But waiting beside my car was a woman in a gray coat.
She handed me an envelope.
“From Elena Vale.”
I stared.
“What?”
“She told me to give this to you when you refused the Rosehill deal.”
My heart stopped.
“When did she give it to you?”
“Three years ago.”
“Three years?”
The woman nodded.
“She was alive.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
My mother.
Older.
Alive.
Standing outside a small house.
And beside her was a teenage boy.
Lucas.
On the back, seven words:
Your brother knows why I had to disappear.
I looked up.
“Where is this house?”
The woman pointed toward the city.
“Twenty minutes north.”
May you like
Then she said something that made my blood turn cold.
“Your mother was there last night.”
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