Chapter 8 - Her Brother’s Secret Deal
Adrian rushed upstairs.
The attic was empty.
A window stood open.
On the floor lay a phone.
Daniel's phone.
Evelyn's stomach dropped.
They found blood on the window frame.
But no Daniel.
Then a message appeared on the phone.
BRING CLAIRE.
Evelyn stared.
"No."
Adrian agreed.
They would not trade her mother.
Investigators traced the message.
It came from a property owned by Thomas Blackwood.
Adrian's father.
A dead man.
Again.
The pattern was becoming impossible to ignore.
Dead people in this family had an alarming habit of refusing to stay dead.
Adrian revealed what he remembered.
Thomas had supposedly died in a boating accident when Adrian was twelve.
No body had been recovered.
Sebastian raised Adrian afterward.
If Thomas survived, everything changed.
Claire's warning made sense.
Sebastian wasn't the only Blackwood involved.
They went to the property with police.
Daniel was found alive.
Bruised.
Bleeding.
Alone.
He confessed.
Years earlier, Richard had pulled him into the fraud.
Daniel signed documents.
Moved money.
Created companies.
He believed he was protecting the family.
Then he realized he was trapped.
Recently, someone else contacted him.
Thomas Blackwood.
Thomas promised immunity if Daniel helped destroy Richard.
"But he wasn't trying to destroy Dad," Daniel said.
"He wanted the ledger."
Why?
Because Thomas's name appeared throughout it.
Adrian went silent.
His father was alive.
And corrupt.
Daniel handed Evelyn another item.
A flash drive.
"I copied Dad's files before the wedding."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was scared."
"Of Dad?"
Daniel looked at Adrian.
"No."
Adrian understood.
"Thomas."
Daniel nodded.
The flash drive contained years of correspondence.
Richard and Thomas had remained partners.
But recently they had turned against each other.
Both wanted the blue ledger destroyed.
Both feared Claire.
Both feared Sebastian.
And both had underestimated Evelyn.
One email contained an address.
Adrian recognized it.
His grandfather's hunting lodge.
They drove there at dawn.
Inside, they found Sebastian.
Alive.
Adrian stopped in the doorway.
The old man stood slowly.
"Hello, son."
Adrian's face collapsed.
Not grandson.
Son.
Evelyn looked between them.
Sebastian closed his eyes.
"There's one more truth."
Adrian stepped backward.
"No."
"Thomas wasn't your father."
Adrian stared.
Sebastian continued.
"I was."
The room went silent.
Adrian looked as though someone had struck him.
His grandfather was his father.
His father was his half-brother.
And Thomas knew.
Sebastian had hidden the truth to protect Adrian from the scandal.
Instead, secrecy poisoned another generation.
Evelyn watched Adrian's anger rise.
"You taught me to hate lies."
"I know."
"And built my entire life on one."
"I know."
Adrian walked outside.
Evelyn followed.
He stood beneath the trees.
She didn't touch him.
After several minutes, he spoke.
"I became Sebastian to avenge him."
Evelyn understood the cruelty.
Adrian had literally worn his father's face without knowing it was his father's.
"Come back inside," she said.
"Why?"
"Because running from the truth is apparently how all of this started."
He looked at her.
Then returned.
Sebastian told them Thomas was coming.
He wanted Claire.
Not because she could testify.
Because she had something Thomas believed nobody else possessed.
A second recording.
Claire had never mentioned it.
They called the hospital.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a nurse finally picked up.
Evelyn asked for Claire.
The nurse went silent.
"Ms. Mercer checked out twenty minutes ago."
"What?"
"A man said he was her son."
Evelyn looked at Adrian.
The nurse continued.
"She left with him."
Adrian whispered one name.
"Thomas."
Outside, a car engine started.
Sebastian turned toward the window.
May you like
A black sedan waited at the gate.
And Claire was sitting in the back seat...
