Chapter 14: The Brother Who Was Never Buried
Nobody moved.
I lay on the chapel floor, pressing my hand against my shoulder.
Jordan was still holding Charles down.
Andrew stood near the fallen gun.
Samuel had Denise behind him.
And Richard stood in the doorway, looking as if he had just returned from a business trip.
“Impossible,” I whispered.
Richard tilted his head.
“That's what everyone keeps saying.””
I struggled to sit up.
“You're dead.””
He smiled.
“So I keep hearing.””
Charles began laughing.
“Richard, you should have stayed away.””
Richard walked toward him.
“You should have stopped pretending to be my father.””
The words struck the room like another gunshot.
I stared at them.
“What does that mean?””
Richard opened his briefcase.
Inside were several documents, a passport, and a small digital recorder.
He placed everything on a nearby pew.
“Michael, the man standing beside you is not your father.””
I looked at Charles.
His face had gone pale.
Richard continued.
“My father died twenty-five years ago. The man you buried was Charles Hayes.””
I shook my head.
“Then who is this?””
Richard looked at the elderly man beneath Jordan.
“His name is Victor Hayes. Our father's younger brother.””
I felt my stomach tighten.
“My uncle?””
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Your father was always better at making people believe what he wanted.””
Richard removed an old photograph.
It showed two young men standing beside each other.
One was my father.
The other was Victor.
They looked almost identical.
“Victor was born eleven months after Dad,” Richard explained.
“He was raised away from the family because of a scandal involving their mother.””
I stared at him.
“Why did everyone believe he was dead?””
“Because our father arranged it. He wanted to keep the family fortune under one name. Victor was given a new identity and sent away.””
Victor struggled beneath Jordan.
“Richard, stop talking.””
Richard ignored him.
“When Dad discovered what Victor was doing with the children, he tried to expose him. But Victor got to him first.””
I looked at Victor.
“You killed your own brother?””
Victor's expression hardened.
“He was weak.””
Richard nodded slowly.
“That's what he said about everyone.””
I looked at my brother.
“Then who was buried in your grave?””
Richard sighed.
“A man who worked for Victor. He died in a car accident. Victor used his body to fake my death.””
“Why?””
“Because I discovered the original records.””
He turned toward Andrew.
“And because I knew the truth about the children.””
Andrew stared at him.
“You let me believe you were dead.””
“I had to disappear.””
“You could have found me!””
Richard lowered his eyes.
“I tried.””
Andrew laughed bitterly.
“You tried? You had money, lawyers, and people working for you. I grew up believing I was unwanted.””
Richard took a step toward him.
“I know.””
“No, you don't.””
Andrew's voice cracked.
“You don't know what it feels like to spend your entire life wondering why your mother never came back.””
Denise began crying.
Andrew looked at her.
“Don't.””
She lowered her head.
Richard approached him.
“Andrew, your mother never stopped loving you.””
“Then why did she never find me?””
Richard looked toward Denise.
“Because Victor threatened her.””
Victor began struggling again.
“Enough!””
Jordan pressed his shoulder harder into the floor.
Richard continued.
“Victor controlled the money, the hospital records, and the family company. He threatened to have Denise arrested for kidnapping if she ever tried to reclaim Andrew.””
Denise nodded through her tears.
“He told me he'd destroy Michael's life.””
I looked at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
She met my eyes.
“Because I was pregnant with Jordan. I was afraid I'd lose him, too.””
I couldn't answer.
Richard opened another folder.
“This is why I came.””
He removed a medical report.
It was dated twenty-five years earlier.
The cause of death listed for Charles Hayes was poisoning.
I stared at the document.
“Who killed him?””
Richard looked at Victor.
“He did.””
Victor laughed.
“Prove it.””
Richard placed the recorder on the pew.
“Your voice is on this.””
He pressed play.
Victor's voice filled the chapel.
Charles thinks he can leave everything to those children. He doesn't understand that the company belongs to me.
Then another voice.
A woman.
Denise.
What if Michael finds out?
Victor answered.
Michael will never find out. And if he does, he'll have nobody left to believe him.
The recording continued.
What about Richard?
Victor laughed.
Richard is already dead.
The recording stopped.
Denise covered her mouth.
I looked at her.
“You knew?””
She shook her head.
“I didn't know he was going to kill Charles. I swear.””
Victor suddenly twisted free from Jordan.
He grabbed the gun from the floor.
“Everyone down!””
Jordan lunged again.
A struggle erupted.
The gun fired.
A stained-glass window shattered.
Samuel tackled Victor from the side.
The weapon slid beneath a pew.
Andrew grabbed Victor's arm and twisted it behind his back.
For a moment, I thought he would strike him.
Instead, Andrew looked at the man who had stolen his childhood.
“You don't get to hurt anyone else.””
Victor struggled.
“You owe me your life!””
Andrew shook his head.
“No. I owe my life to the people who loved me when you abandoned me.””
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Jordan had managed to call the police before the shooting.
Within minutes, officers entered the chapel.
They separated everyone, secured the weapon, and arrested Victor.
As paramedics treated my shoulder, I watched Richard standing near the altar.
He looked exhausted.
“Why didn't you come back sooner?”” I asked.
Richard stared at the floor.
“Because I was afraid.””
I almost laughed.
“That's the excuse everyone in this family uses.””
He nodded.
“I know.””
He sat beside me.
“I spent twenty-five years trying to prove Victor had killed our father. I couldn't come forward without exposing everything about the children. I thought I could protect them by staying away.””
“You protected nobody.””
“I know.””
He handed me a final envelope.
“There's something else. The original will.””
I looked at him.
“Another will?””
“This one was written by our actual father. Not Victor.””
I opened it.
The document named all four children as equal beneficiaries.
Jordan.
Aaliyah.
Samuel.
Andrew.
But there was a handwritten note beneath their names.
The children must receive the truth before they receive the inheritance.
I looked up.
“Why did Dad write that?””
Richard smiled sadly.
“Because he knew money wasn't what this family needed.””
He pointed toward the chapel entrance.
“Look.””
Four people stood together outside.
Jordan.
Aaliyah.
Samuel.
Andrew.
For the first time, they were standing beside one another without someone trying to separate them.
Richard continued.
“Your father wanted them to have something he never had.””
“What?””
“A family without secrets.””
I looked at Denise.
She was sitting in an ambulance, wrapped in a blanket.
Her eyes met mine.
There was so much I wanted to say.
But before I could speak, an officer approached.
“Mr. Hayes, we found something in Victor's briefcase.””
He handed me a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front.
I opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Victor standing beside a young woman.
The woman was holding a newborn baby.
On the back were three words.
Your mother's child.
I looked at Richard.
“What is this?””
His face changed.
He stared at the photograph.
Then he whispered:
“Michael, that's impossible.””
“Why?””
Richard pointed to the woman.
“That's our mother.””
He turned the photograph over again.
And beneath the three words was a date.
A date from only six months earlier.
Our mother had supposedly died thirty years ago.
But the photograph proved she had been alive recently.
And the baby in her arms had the same distinctive birthmark as Victor.
Richard slowly looked at me.
“There's another generation of Hayes secrets.””
I closed the envelope.
“No more.””
For the first time in my life, I meant it.
May you like
Whatever the next truth was, I would face it without allowing another child to be sacrificed for this family's reputation.
But I had no idea that the final secret would come from the woman who had spent twenty-seven years sleeping beside me.
