Chapter 9 - My Brother's ConfessionDaniel was waiting at the cemetery.

Alone.

No gun.

No mother.

No security.

He looked exhausted.

For the first time in my life, my brother looked afraid of our family.

"You came."

"Where is Lily?"

"Alive."

"Where?"

"Not far."

I stepped closer.

"What is Mr. Gray?"

Daniel looked at the cemetery.

"You won't like the answer."

"Try me."

"He worked for Dad."

"He worked for my father?"

"Security."

Daniel swallowed.

"Then he became Evelyn's fixer."

"What did he do?"

"Everything she couldn't do herself."

"Kidnappings?"

"Sometimes."

"Forgery?"

"Yes."

"Threats?"

"Yes."

"Did he kill Dad?"

Daniel looked down.

"No."

I waited.

"Did you?"

Silence.

Then:

"I helped."

My brother's confession came out in pieces.

Our father had discovered the forged trust.

He confronted Evelyn.

Daniel overheard the argument.

He sided with our mother.

He changed medication bottles.

He deleted security footage.

He helped create the appearance of natural death.

"But I didn't poison him."

"Who did?"

"Mr. Gray."

My hands shook.

"Why?"

"Because Dad found the original records."

"What records?"

"Financial transfers."

"To where?"

"A private company."

Daniel looked at me.

"The company developing your property."

I felt sick.

The developer had been planning this for years.

Daniel reached into his pocket.

He handed me a key.

"This opens a storage locker."

"Where?"

"Old train station."

"What is inside?"

"The archive."

I looked at him.

"Why help me?"

He swallowed.

"Because Lily wasn't supposed to be taken."

"What?"

"Mother changed the plan."

He looked ashamed.

"She was supposed to disappear for twenty-four hours."

"Then?"

"She would be returned."

"And Clara?"

"Hospitalized. Declared unstable."

"Then what happened?"

Daniel looked toward the road.

"Mother decided Lily was a liability."

I couldn't speak.

Daniel stepped backward.

"You need to go."

"Why?"

"They know I'm talking."

A car appeared at the far end of the road.

Black sedan.

Daniel looked at it.

Then at me.

"Run."

A gunshot shattered the cemetery silence.

Daniel dropped.

I threw myself behind a stone angel.

Another shot.

The sedan sped away.

When I crawled to Daniel, he was bleeding.

He grabbed my sleeve.

"The locker..."

He coughed.

"Don't open it alone."

"Why?"

He looked at me.

"Because the archive isn't for you."

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His eyes closed.

"It is for the world."