Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHElena Had Been Watching MeThe house was empty.
The front door wasn't locked.
Inside, dust covered everything except one chair near the window.
Someone had sat there recently.
I found cigarette ash in the tray.
A warm cup of tea.
A blanket.
And a photograph album.
Every photograph was of me.
Age six.
Age nine.
Age twelve.
Graduation.
My first company.
My first apartment.
My first board meeting.
Someone had been watching me for years.
I flipped faster.
Then I saw myself entering Vale headquarters three months ago.
Taken from across the street.
The next photo showed me leaving my office.
Another showed me at the airport.
Then one of me outside Rosehill.
My hands shook.
Under the final photograph was a note.
You were never supposed to buy it.
A sound came from upstairs.
I froze.
“Hello?”
No answer.
I pulled my phone out.
“Lena?”
No.
She was with Pilar at a shelter I'd arranged.
I moved upstairs.
Every floorboard creaked.
At the top was a bedroom.
A man stood by the window.
He was tall.
Thin.
Maybe twenty-three.
He turned.
I knew the eyes immediately.
My eyes.
He stared at me.
“Adrian?”
I couldn't speak.
“Lucas?”
He nodded.
For eighteen years, I had believed I was an only child.
Now my brother was standing five feet away.
Alive.
Older than me by less than a year.
And furious.
“You have no idea what they've done,” he said.
“What happened to Mom?”
“She disappeared because of you.”
The words hit me.
“What?”
“Dad found out she was taking records.”
“What records?”
“Financial records.”
Lucas pulled a folder from the desk.
“Vale Urban Holdings wasn't built on real estate.”
I opened it.
Offshore accounts.
Shell companies.
Property transfers.
Bribes.
Settlement payments.
Illegal evictions.
And one recurring name.
Rosehill Community Trust.
“What is this?”
Lucas looked at me.
“You.”
I frowned.
“The trust belongs to you.”
“No.”
“It was established on the day you were born.”
I stared.
My name appeared on every document.
Beneficiary.
Trustee.
Final recipient.
But I had never heard of it.
Lucas continued.
“Dad used your identity.”
“For what?”
“To hold assets nobody wanted traced back to him.”
A chill ran through me.
The biggest properties in my portfolio were connected to the trust.
Dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
Rosehill was only one.
My phone rang.
Martin.
I answered.
“What?”
“You're with Lucas.”
It wasn't a question.
“Yes.”
A long silence.
Then:
“Get away from him.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You've been looking for him for eighteen years.”
“Adrian, listen to me.”
“You sold him.”
“We were trying to protect the family.”
“From what?”
“From Elena.”
“She's your sister-in-law.”
“She wasn't.”
My blood froze.
“What does that mean?”
Martin whispered:
“Elena wasn't the woman you thought she was.”
The line went dead.
Lucas looked at me.
“What did he say?”
I shook my head.
Then I noticed the folder in Lucas's hand.
There was one document beneath the financial records.
I pulled it free.
A DNA test.
Names:
ADRIAN VALE
LUCAS SANTOS
Result:
NOT BIOLOGICAL BROTHERS.
I stared.
Lucas looked away.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
“You said you were my brother.”
“I am.”
“Then why does this say we're not related?”
He finally looked at me.
“Because the people who ordered the test were lying.”
“Who?”
Lucas took a photograph from his pocket.
It showed three people.
My father.
Martin.
And a stranger.
The stranger had the same scar I did.
Same location.
Same shape.
Same eyes.
May you like
Lucas whispered:
“That man is your real father.”
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