Chapter 6 - BLOOD BROTHER
My younger brother, Adrian Hale, lived six miles away.
He arrived at my house at 3:12 a.m., furious.
“You dragged me out of bed for what?”
I threw Aaron’s letter onto the table.
His anger disappeared.
“What is this?”
“You tell me.”
He read it.
Then laughed.
It sounded forced.
“You believe this?”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“Some dead mechanic writes my name into a conspiracy and suddenly I killed your wife?”
“It doesn’t say you killed her.”
“You’re thinking it.”
I stared at him.
“Why were you named in Elena’s trust?”
His face hardened.
“I wasn’t.”
Marcus placed a document on the table.
“Yes, you were.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You searched me?”
“I searched the trust.”
The documents showed something none of us had known.
If Elena and I both died, control of Sophia’s family trust transferred temporarily to Adrian.
But if Sophia died too?
Millions moved into a foundation.
A foundation Adrian controlled.
He sat down slowly.
“I didn’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because Elena changed it without telling either of us.”
My heart tightened.
“You knew?”
“She came to see me two weeks before she died.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked toward Grace and Amara.
“Not in front of them.”
Grace stood.
“I’ll take Amara upstairs.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
“She deserves to hear whatever affects her.”
Adrian exhaled.
“Elena thought someone was stealing from you.”
My pulse jumped.
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
“She went to you instead of me?”
“She was afraid you’d react exactly like this.”
I almost hit him.
Maybe he saw it.
“She loved you, Julian. But she knew what rage did to you.”
I looked away.
That hurt because it was true.
“What was being stolen?”
“Money. Shipments. Information.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“How much?”
“Millions.”
Adrian continued.
“She believed somebody in Julian’s inner circle was building a second organization.”
“Vince?”
“She didn’t think so.”
“Then who?”
Adrian stared at Marcus.
Marcus stared back.
Then Adrian said quietly,
“She thought it was your security chief.”
Marcus drew his gun.
So did I.
In one second, we were aiming at each other.
“Boss,” Marcus said carefully, “don’t.”
Adrian stood.
“Elena gave me documents.”
Marcus’s eyes moved.
Too quickly.
I noticed.
“Where?”
Adrian swallowed.
“I hid them.”
“Where?”
He looked at Marcus again.
“They’re gone.”
Marcus’s voice changed.
“How do you know?”
“Because someone broke into my house last week.”
Silence.
Then my phone rang.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Adrian’s house.
Taken ten minutes earlier.
His wife was tied to a chair.
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Beneath the photograph were five words:
BRING MARCUS OR SHE DIES.
