Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Never ExistedElena barely slept.
Elena barely slept.
At dawn, she confronted Richard in the library.
"You have ten minutes."
Richard stared into the fireplace.
"I had another child."
Elena felt the floor tilt beneath her.
"When?"
"Before you."
"How old?"
"Thirty-seven."
Her throat tightened.
"Where is he?"
Richard closed his eyes.
"We don't know."
"You don't know?"
"He disappeared."
"When?"
"Twenty years ago."
Elena stepped closer.
"What was his name?"
"Adrian."
She waited.
"What does Julian have to do with him?"
Richard's silence was answer enough.
"Everything."
Elena's hands trembled.
Richard finally spoke.
"Adrian was brilliant. Reckless. Angry."
"Why?"
"He discovered something about the family trust."
"What?"
"That your grandfather had created a hidden succession clause."
Elena frowned.
"Why?"
"Because he feared someone would try to seize the company."
"Who?"
Richard looked at her.
"People we trusted."
He took out an old photograph.
Two young men stood beside a yacht.
One was Adrian.
The other was Julian.
Elena froze.
"They knew each other?"
"Before you met Julian."
Her mind raced.
"Why did Julian marry me?"
Richard's voice was low.
"That is what I feared."
Elena looked at the photograph.
Julian had not entered her life randomly.
Maybe he had been searching for the family trust.
Maybe the marriage had been part of a plan from the beginning.
She turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
Find the second vault.
Elena frowned.
"What second vault?"
Richard looked startled.
"You've never seen this?"
"No."
He looked toward Martin.
Martin immediately called a family archivist.
An hour later, a massive steel door was uncovered beneath the old estate chapel.
Elena stood before it.
The door had no keypad.
Only a handprint scanner.
Martin examined the mechanism.
"It's biological."
Richard looked at Elena.
"Try yours."
Elena placed her hand on the glass.
The machine scanned.
A green light appeared.
The vault opened.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Financial records.
Legal documents.
And one enormous ledger.
Elena opened it.
Her father's name.
Her grandfather's name.
Then Julian's.
The date beside Julian's name was nine years ago.
The exact week they met.
Elena's breathing stopped.
Beneath his name was a note.
Candidate selected through external intelligence network.
She turned the page.
There were reports.
His childhood.
His finances.
His friendships.
His business history.
Someone had been tracking Julian long before Elena married him.
She looked at Richard.
"You knew he was dangerous."
"We suspected."
"And you let me marry him?"
Richard looked devastated.
"We believed he would change."
Elena's eyes filled with anger.
"You gambled my life."
"I thought love would defeat ambition."
She closed the ledger.
Then something else caught her attention.
A file marked:
ADRIAN VALE: STATUS UNKNOWN
Inside was a recent photograph.
Elena stared.
A man stood outside a hotel in Singapore.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken six months earlier.
"He's alive."
Martin stepped closer.
"Apparently."
Elena picked up the photograph.
On the back was an address.
Then a sentence.
He knows why Julian chose you.
Elena looked up.
"Book the flight."
Martin hesitated.
"Where?"
"Singapore."
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A man's voice whispered:
"Don't go looking for Adrian."
"Who is this?"
The caller laughed.
Then said:
"Because he isn't the person you need to fear."
The line went dead.
Elena stared at her phone.
A second message appeared.
A photograph.
Julian.
Standing beside Adrian.
May you like
Both men were smiling.
The picture had been taken yesterday.
