Chapter 5 - The Brother Nobody MentionedNo one moved.
Even the air seemed to hesitate.
“My father had a son?”
Evelyn nodded.
“His name is Noah.”
My mother covered her face.
Dana looked at me.
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I were.”
Sage stared at Evelyn.
“So Grandpa had another child?”
“Not exactly.”
Evelyn chose her words carefully.
“Robert had a son before he married your grandmother.”
My mind raced.
A child outside the family.
A secret.
A hidden beneficiary.
A trust designed for future grandchildren.
How had my father hidden an entire branch of his life?
“Where is he?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“That is the problem.”
“What problem?”
“Noah has been missing for seventeen years.”
Dana whispered, “Missing?”
“He disappeared at twenty-three.”
“Did my father know where he was?”
“For years.”
“Then what happened?”
Evelyn looked at my mother.
“She forced Robert to stop looking.”
My mother snapped.
“That is a lie.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell them why you paid a private investigator to find Noah.”
My mother went silent.
Dana stared.
“You did what?”
My mother shook her head.
“I never wanted him harmed.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“He was dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew too much.”
The sentence landed like a stone in glass.
Sage stood.
“About what?”
My mother looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s another lie,” I said.
She turned on me.
“Do you think I enjoyed any of this?”
“You enjoyed choosing Brin.”
“That is not fair.”
“You made it fair for yourself.”
My mother’s face crumpled.
“You don’t understand what Robert did.”
“Then explain it.”
She did not.
Evelyn reached for the red folder.
“There is one person who can.”
She removed a business card.
A name was printed on it.
Noah Ellis.
No address.
Just a phone number.
My heart started pounding.
“Where did you get this?”
“Robert gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
“Why didn’t you call him?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He answered.”
The room went completely silent.
“What did he say?”
Evelyn stared at the table.
“He said Robert was supposed to call him the night before he died.”
My husband’s expression changed.
“Your father never mentioned this.”
“No.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“He also said someone had been following him.”
My mother whispered, “No.”
I looked at her.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“What happened after that?”
“He vanished.”
I took the card.
The phone number looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
“Is this still active?”
“I don't know.”
I pulled out my phone.
Sage grabbed my wrist.
“Mom.”
I looked at her.
She was holding the letter.
“There’s another sentence.”
I read it.
“When the family asks what they did to Noah, do not believe the first answer.”
My chest tightened.
My father had known we would be suspicious.
He had known there would be lies.
And he had planned around them.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Nobody spoke.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man said:
“You have my number.”
I froze.
“Who is this?”
“You know who.”
The line went dead.
Dana stared at me.
“Who was it?”
I looked at Evelyn.
She had gone pale.
“That was Noah.”
“How do you know?”
“Because,” Evelyn whispered, “he has the same voice as Robert.”
My mother suddenly screamed.
“Get out!”
Everyone jumped.
She was pointing at the dining-room door.
Nobody was there.
Then we heard a slow knock.
Three times.
May you like
My mother whispered:
“He found us.”
