Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO DIDN'T EXIST
Jason stared at his father.
“I don't have a brother.”
Richard said nothing.
Margaret turned toward the window.
Jason laughed once.
It wasn't amusement.
It was disbelief.
“Dad.”
Richard's hands were trembling.
“You had a brother.”
Had.
The word landed harder than anything else.
“What happened to him?”
Margaret answered.
“He died.”
Jason turned toward her.
“When?”
“Twenty-seven years ago.”
Jason was thirty-four.
I did the math.
He would've been seven.
“You would've remembered.”
Jason looked at me.
“I don't.”
Richard lowered his head.
“Because you were told he was your cousin.”
Jason's face changed.
“Daniel?”
Silence.
“Daniel was my brother?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Jason backed away.
I'd heard Daniel's name exactly once.
A family photograph in Richard's study.
Two boys standing beside a lake.
Jason had pointed at the older child and said it was a cousin who died young.
Apparently, that had been a lie.
“What happened?”
Richard's voice was barely audible.
“There was an accident.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“That's the story we told.”
Jason stared at her.
“What actually happened?”
Richard stood.
“We shouldn't do this here.”
I couldn't believe him.
“Your wife just burned my wedding dress.”
I pointed toward the hallway.
“There are two hundred people waiting for a ceremony that may not happen.”
I looked back at him.
“We're doing this here.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“Daniel was seventeen.”
Jason didn't move.
“He was brilliant.”
Richard's voice softened.
“Reckless, but brilliant.”
Margaret turned away.
“He discovered financial irregularities inside the company.”
Jason frowned.
“The company barely existed then.”
“It was small.”
Richard nodded.
“But we had investors.”
“And?”
“Daniel found evidence that Margaret's brother, Charles, was moving money through shell companies.”
Margaret spun around.
“My brother saved your company.”
“He stole from it.”
“He protected us.”
“He stole from investors.”
Margaret's eyes flashed.
Richard continued.
“Daniel threatened to expose him.”
Jason whispered,
“And then he died.”
Nobody answered.
Jason's face went pale.
“No.”
Margaret stepped toward him.
“It was an accident.”
“Was it?”
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Jason looked at his father.
“Was it?”
Richard's eyes filled with something I'd never seen before.
Shame.
“We never proved otherwise.”
Jason stared at him.
“You spent fourteen million dollars keeping someone quiet about Daniel's death?”
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“The payments started years later.”
“Then who were you paying?”
Before Richard could answer, someone knocked.
Three firm knocks.
Jessica opened the door slightly.
A man stood outside.
Maybe sixty.
Gray hair.
Dark suit.
I'd never seen him before.
Richard had.
The color drained from his face.
Margaret stumbled backward.
“No.”
The stranger looked past Jessica.
Straight at Margaret.
Then he said,
“Hello, Maggie.”
Margaret's knees almost gave out.
Jason whispered,
“Who is that?”
The man stepped into the room.
“My name is Charles Bennett.”
May you like
He looked at Jason.
“And I'm the reason your mother burned that dress.”
