Chapter 13 - The Brother Nobody KnewMy father had a brother.
I had no idea.
His name was Edward Hartwell.
He had disappeared from the family before I was born.
Mom explained everything inside Harold's office.
Edward had been my father's older brother.
Brilliant.
Ambitious.
Obsessed with expanding the farm.
But unlike my father, he believed land existed to be exploited.
In 1989, Edward tried to sell part of Willowbrook without my grandfather's permission.
The family fought him.
He left.
Never returned.
Until the night my father died.
“Why would Uncle Edward be there?” I asked.
Mom shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Harold opened his archive.
He searched for the name.
Nothing.
Then Emma found an old corporate registration.
Edward Hartwell had founded a company called Hartwell Agricultural Solutions.
Years later, it merged with another company.
North Ridge Land Holdings.
I stared at the page.
“Richard didn't build this alone.”
“No,” Harold said.
“He inherited part of the network.”
But Edward had vanished.
Until now.
We tracked him to a small town in another state.
He was alive.
Seventy-eight.
Retired.
Living under his mother's maiden name.
We flew there the next morning.
He opened the door.
One look at me.
Then:
“You have your father's eyes.”
I couldn't speak.
“You know who I am?”
“I've been waiting for you.”
Inside his house was a wall covered in maps.
Willowbrook.
Water routes.
County boundaries.
Names.
Edward sat down.
“Your father thought he could protect the land forever.”
“He tried.”
“Yes.”
“Did Richard kill him?”
Edward looked at me.
“No.”
“Who did?”
“No one.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Your father died because he chose to protect your mother.”
“What happened?”
Edward closed his eyes.
“I was there.”
Mom gripped the chair.
“Tell him.”
Edward nodded.
“Richard came to Willowbrook to force your father to sign.”
“He refused.”
“They argued.”
“What happened?”
“Your mother arrived.”
Mom looked away.
Edward continued.
“She had heard shouting.”
“My father?”
“He told her to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard had brought a gun.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Was Richard going to shoot him?”
“No.”
Edward looked at me.
“Your father was going to shoot Richard.”
Silence.
“What?”
“Your father had discovered the financial network.”
He had prepared evidence.
He intended to go to federal authorities.
Richard panicked.
But then Edward stepped between them.
“Why?”
“I wanted the evidence.”
I stared.
“So you were working with Richard?”
“At first.”
Mom whispered:
“You betrayed him.”
Edward nodded.
“I did.”
“Then why did you help us?”
“Because your father looked at me.”
Edward's eyes filled with tears.
“He said, ‘You're supposed to protect Charles.’”
He swallowed.
“I realized what I had become.”
“What happened next?”
“I took the gun from Richard.”
“And Dad?”
“He left.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did he die?”
Edward stared at the table.
“Your father went to the barn to retrieve the files.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
“Who followed him?”
“Your mother.”
Mom nodded.
“I heard a crash.”
Edward continued.
“Your father slipped near the old water shaft.”
“The shaft?”
“A maintenance tunnel beneath the barn.”
I remembered the cellar.
The aquifer.
The old structures.
“He was injured.”
“Badly?”
“Yes.”
“Could you have saved him?”
Edward looked at Mom.
“He could have lived.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then why didn't he?”
Edward's voice broke.
“Because Richard arrived.”
I stood.
“What happened?”
“Your father begged me to take your mother and leave.”
“And Richard?”
“He tried to retrieve the evidence.”
“Did he kill Dad?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He left your father bleeding.”
Edward looked at me.
“Your father refused medical help because he knew Richard had people watching the farm.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does when you're protecting evidence.”
“What happened at 12:04?”
Edward took a breath.
“Your father climbed the steps.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“He collapsed.”
“And?”
“Your mother found him.”
Mom nodded through tears.
“He was alive when I found him.”
My chest tightened.
“What did he say?”
Mom looked at me.
“He told me to choose you.”
“What?”
“He told me to protect you, not the farm.”
She pulled out a tiny notebook.
“This is his.”
I opened it.
One sentence was underlined.
Charles must never become what I became.
I read it again.
Then again.
Harold looked at Edward.
“What about the original evidence?”
Edward smiled sadly.
“I never had it.”
“Who did?”
Edward looked at me.
“Your father.”
“Where?”
Edward pointed toward the window.
“Under Willowbrook.”
We returned home that night.
The next morning, Harold received a call.
A development company had announced a press conference.
At Willowbrook Farm.
Richard was going to reveal the project.
Without our permission.
May you like
And the press release said:
The Hartwell family has agreed to sell.
