Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
The old church was almost empty when we arrived.
My mother was sitting in the back pew.
She looked exhausted.
When she saw me, she stood immediately.
“Mark.”
I hugged her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“Richard came to my house.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Why?”
“To ask about Lucas.”
I pulled away.
“You told him?”
“No.”
“Then how does he know?”
She looked at Lily.
“Because your father left a trail.”
I frowned.
“What trail?”
She sat down.
“Letters.”
“What letters?”
“Your father wrote one every year.”
“To Lucas?”
“Yes.”
“Did Lucas receive them?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Richard intercepted them.”
I closed my eyes.
The same thing had happened to my family before.
Letters stolen.
People separated.
Truth buried.
My mother reached into her purse.
She pulled out an old envelope.
“This was never delivered.”
I opened it.
The handwriting was my father's.
To my son Lucas.
The letter was dated twenty-one years earlier.
My father wrote about me.
About Daniel.
About how he hoped one day his children would meet.
At the bottom he wrote:
If you're reading this, Richard has finally been exposed.
I looked at my mother.
“When did you get this?”
“Yesterday.”
“From whom?”
She hesitated.
“Lucas.”
I stopped breathing.
“He's here?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
My mother looked toward the church doors.
A man stood there.
He was tall.
Dark-haired.
His eyes were exactly like my father's.
He slowly walked toward us.
My mother whispered:
“Mark, this is your brother.”
Lucas stopped in front of me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
He looked at Lily.
Then back at me.
“You look like Dad.”
I laughed nervously.
“So do you.”
He smiled.
“I've waited a long time to meet you.”
I couldn't explain the feeling.
He was a stranger.
But he wasn't.
Something about him felt familiar.
Like seeing a missing piece of a photograph.
I shook his hand.
He pulled me into a hug.
I closed my eyes.
For the first time in years, I understood that grief could have more than one shape.
I hadn't only lost my father.
I had lost a brother I never knew existed.
Lucas sat beside us.
“Richard has been searching for me.”
“Why?”
“Because I have the original trust.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Lucas opened his coat.
He removed a sealed envelope.
“This is what Dad gave me.”
I stared.
“What is it?”
“The original family trust.”
I opened it.
The document was signed by my father.
And my grandfather.
But the beneficiary wasn't Lily.
It was something much larger.
The trust was designed to protect the entire family from one person.
Richard Hale.
I read the final clause.
If Richard Hale attempts to gain control of any family asset, the entire trust shall be transferred to an independent foundation controlled by the surviving heirs.
I looked at Lucas.
“He can't get anything.”
“Not legally.”
“Then why is he doing this?”
Lucas looked at me.
“Because he has another weapon.”
“What?”
“Your daughter.”
My blood froze.
“How?”
“He doesn't need to own the trust.”
Lucas pointed to another paragraph.
“He only needs legal guardianship.”
I remembered the document.
Transfer guardianship tomorrow.
“If he controls Lily…”
“He controls the trust.”
I stood.
“Where is Claire?”
Lucas's expression changed.
“She found out.”
“And Richard took her.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Lucas hesitated.
“Under the old estate.”
I stared.
“My father's house?”
“No.”
“My grandfather's property.”
I knew the place.
A huge abandoned estate outside the city.
It had been empty for decades.
We drove there immediately.
The house was dark.
The police surrounded the property.
Mason entered first.
We searched the rooms.
Nothing.
Then Lucas stopped in the hallway.
“There.”
He pointed toward a portrait.
My grandfather.
Behind the portrait was a hidden passage.
We entered.
The tunnel descended underground.
At the bottom was a steel door.
I heard something.
A voice.
Claire.
“Mark!”
I ran.
The door opened.
Claire was inside.
She was frightened but unharmed.
I pulled her into my arms.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where is Richard?”
She pointed toward the opposite wall.
“He left ten minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“He said he had one more person to collect.”
“Who?”
Claire looked at me.
“Your daughter.”
My heart stopped.
We ran upstairs.
Lily was gone.
The police officer assigned to protect her was unconscious in the hallway.
On the floor was Lily's small pink hair clip.
And beside it was a note.
I picked it up.
Three words were written across the paper.
BRING THE TRUST.
My hands began shaking.
Lucas looked at me.
“This ends tonight.”
I nodded.
But then another note fell from the paper.
It contained an address.
May you like
And beneath it was a sentence that made my blood run cold.
Your father is waiting there.
