Chapter 7 - The BrotherFelix looked like the floor had vanished beneath him.
"No."
The stranger stepped forward.
"My name is Adrian Kingsley."
Felix shook his head.
"Adrian died."
"That's what Mother told you."
Odette said nothing.
I looked at her.
She didn't deny it.
Felix turned toward his mother.
"You said he was dead."
"I said what you needed to believe."
"Why?"
"Because Adrian was unstable."
Adrian laughed.
"Unstable?"
He reached into his coat.
"Tell Sarah why I disappeared."
Odette's face hardened.
"Don't."
Adrian threw a photograph onto the table.
It showed three boys.
Felix.
Adrian.
And another child.
I looked closer.
A little girl stood beside them.
Odette's expression changed.
"Who is she?"
Adrian looked at me.
"Your sister."
Felix stared.
"What?"
Adrian smiled without humor.
"Our family tree is more complicated than Mother let us believe."
Odette turned toward him.
"You were never supposed to come back."
"And yet here I am."
Felix stepped forward.
"Where were you?"
"Underground."
"For seven years?"
"Mother had me declared dead."
"Why?"
"Because I found out what she did to Sarah."
I looked at him.
"What did she do?"
Adrian's eyes met mine.
"She didn't just steal Marlowe House."
He glanced at Felix.
"She stole your child."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
Adrian nodded.
"After Sarah disappeared, Mother tried to take Lily."
Felix's face turned white.
"She knew where Sarah was."
"Yes."
"And she tried to take Lily?"
"Yes."
I remembered Oregon.
Men appearing outside my house.
Threatening phone calls.
A black SUV parked across the street.
I had always assumed it was because of the company.
Adrian shook his head.
"It wasn't the company."
"What was it?"
"You."
The word struck harder than anything else.
"You were the asset."
"Why?"
"Because Odette knew Felix would eventually learn the truth."
Felix's voice cracked.
"What truth?"
Adrian pointed to the folder.
"That Sarah never abandoned you."
Felix stared.
"Then why didn't she come back?"
"Because Mother convinced her that if she did, Lily would disappear."
He turned to me.
"You were protecting her."
I nodded.
"I was."
Felix looked broken.
"I spent seven years hating you."
"I know."
"I thought you chose money."
"I chose Lily."
He covered his face.
A sound came from the hallway.
A slow clap.
Celeste stepped into view.
"Beautiful."
I turned.
She was crying.
But she was smiling.
"Now we can stop pretending."
Felix looked at her.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing."
She held up her phone.
"Odette wants the board hearing reopened."
"Why?"
"Because the merger closes in twelve minutes."
I looked at Adrian.
"What merger?"
Adrian answered.
"The merger gives Odette control of every Kingsley asset."
"Why would she need that?"
"Because once the company is consolidated, the shell accounts become invisible."
Felix understood immediately.
"Money laundering."
"Billions."
My stomach sank.
"And Marlowe House?"
"The source."
I stared at Odette.
She looked almost bored.
"You built the machine," she said.
"I only built a restaurant."
"You built a brand."
She smiled.
"And brands hide things beautifully."
A siren sounded upstairs.
Then another.
Adrian checked his watch.
"We're out of time."
Felix turned to me.
"Where is Lily?"
Adrian looked toward Odette.
Odette smiled.
"You still haven't understood the game."
Then every light in the archive switched on.
A live video appeared on the wall.
Lily was sitting in a white room.
She was crying.
And someone was standing behind her.
The camera zoomed in.
The person stepped closer.
It was Sarah.
My own face.
My own voice.
But a different woman.
I stared at the screen.
"What..."
May you like
Adrian whispered:
"That's your sister."
