Chapter 7 - The Brother in the ShadowsDaniel's Greatest Fear
Claire turned so quickly she nearly fell.
A man stood at the end of the passage.
Late twenties or early thirties.
Dark hair.
A thin scar through his left eyebrow.
The same face from the photograph.
Claire stared.
“Noah?”
The man didn't answer.
Daniel's pistol lowered slightly.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
The man smiled without humor.
“So were three other people in this room.”
Daniel's eyes shifted toward Elias.
“You knew.”
“I figured it out years ago.”
“No.”
Daniel's face twisted.
“You couldn't.”
Noah stepped forward.
“I could.”
Claire looked between them.
“Noah...”
He finally looked at her.
His expression softened.
“I've been trying to find you for years.”
Claire couldn't move.
He pulled a small silver bracelet from his pocket.
The same one that had belonged to Evelyn.
“I found this in an old cabin.”
Claire began crying before she realized it.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did I.”
Daniel raised the gun again.
Noah moved faster.
He struck Daniel's wrist.
The pistol hit the floor.
Elias kicked it away.
Daniel lunged.
Claire stepped back.
The struggle was brief but violent.
Noah forced Daniel against the wall.
“Where is my mother?”
Daniel laughed.
“You think she wants you?”
Noah froze.
Daniel looked at Claire.
“That's what you don't understand.”
He pointed toward the legal documents.
“Evelyn didn't disappear because Victor took her.”
Claire stared.
“She left.”
“No.”
“She left you.”
Daniel's smile returned.
“She believed you were responsible for Noah's disappearance.”
Claire felt sick.
“My mother thought I had something to do with it?”
“She thought your father used you.”
“No.”
Daniel shrugged.
“That's what Victor told her.”
Noah's face hardened.
“Where is she?”
Daniel said nothing.
Noah grabbed him.
“WHERE?”
Daniel smiled.
“St. Helena.”
Claire gasped.
“The facility.”
Daniel nodded.
“She has been there for twenty-seven years.”
Claire's body went numb.
“Why?”
“Because she knows what happened.”
“To Noah?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“To you.”
The room went silent.
Claire's voice shook.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel leaned close.
“Ask your grandmother.”
“She died.”
“I know.”
Daniel laughed.
“That's the problem.”
He suddenly kicked Noah backward and ran.
Elias chased him.
A door slammed upstairs.
Claire followed.
They reached the mansion courtyard.
No Daniel.
Only tire tracks.
Noah stood beside Claire.
“He escaped.”
Claire looked at the tracks.
Then at him.
“What did he mean?”
Noah shook his head.
“I don't know.”
A car horn sounded at the gate.
A black sedan waited outside.
The driver lowered his window.
“Claire Bennett?”
“Yes?”
“I was sent by St. Helena.”
He held out an envelope.
“For you.”
Claire opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother.
Older.
Alive.
And standing beside her was a little girl.
Claire recognized the girl immediately.
Herself.
But the photograph was dated December 1999.
Claire stared at it.
“That can't be me.”
Noah looked over her shoulder.
Then his expression changed.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“That isn't your childhood home.”
The photograph's background showed a mountain lodge.
And in the window behind Evelyn and young Claire stood a third child.
A boy.
Older than Noah.
Claire's heart stopped.
“Who is that?”
May you like
Noah whispered:
“I think that's our other brother.”
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