Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Claire knew Adrian had once had an older brother.
Everyone who had ever read a profile of the Vale family knew.
Lucas Vale had disappeared eleven years earlier.
His car had been recovered near Lake Michigan.
His body had never been found.
Adrian had inherited control of the family businesses afterward.
Now Lucas was alive on a twelve-year-old recording taken hours before their father died.
Adrian replayed the footage.
Again.
Again.
Claire eventually touched his hand.
“Stop.”
He looked at her.
“I buried an empty coffin.”
“I know.”
“I spent eleven years believing he was dead.”
Claire said nothing.
There was nothing useful to say.
The flash drive contained more.
Lucas and Mercer had been working together.
But the records suggested they eventually turned against each other.
One account showed payments continuing long after Lucas disappeared.
Claire traced them through shell companies.
Finally she reached a property.
An abandoned manufacturing warehouse near the Chicago River.
Adrian recognized it.
“My father owned that building.”
Claire looked at him.
“Then maybe Lucas never left Chicago.”
They didn't go immediately.
Adrian wanted surveillance first.
Claire agreed only because Emily and her parents were moved to a secure location.
That evening, she returned with Adrian to his apartment.
For the first time in twenty-four hours, they were alone.
Claire stood near the windows overlooking Chicago.
“Yesterday morning my biggest problem was a fraudulent invoice.”
Adrian handed her a glass of water.
“You have terrible luck.”
“I met you.”
“That supports my argument.”
She smiled.
Then silence settled between them.
Not uncomfortable.
Different.
Claire turned toward him.
“Why me?”
“For what?”
“The kiss.”
“I told you.”
“Protection.”
“Yes.”
“You could have simply announced that.”
“Wouldn't have worked.”
“Why?”
“Because people in that room understand possession better than kindness.”
Claire's expression changed.
Adrian noticed.
“I chose the wrong word.”
“Yes.”
“I don't own you.”
“Good.”
“I know.”
“Then what did that kiss mean to you?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Claire stepped closer.
“You've spent two years watching me buy coffee.”
“That sounds worse when you say it.”
“It should.”
He smiled.
Then it vanished.
“I noticed you the first week you joined Vale.”
“Why?”
“You corrected me.”
Claire laughed.
“I did not.”
“You sent back my expense report.”
She remembered.
A ridiculous $11 discrepancy.
“I thought it was automated.”
“It wasn't.”
“You remembered that?”
“I remembered you.”
The words changed the room.
Claire's breathing slowed.
Adrian approached.
This time he didn't touch her.
“If I kiss you again,” he said quietly, “it won't be because anyone is watching.”
Claire looked at his mouth.
“That's probably a better policy.”
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me to stop.”
She didn't.
This kiss was nothing like the first.
No audience.
No danger being performed for strangers.
Only two people who had spent a day discovering that everything around them might be a lie.
Claire touched his face.
Adrian held her carefully.
When they separated, their foreheads remained together.
“Still terrible luck?” he whispered.
“Ask me tomorrow.”
His phone rang.
Reality returned.
Surveillance had movement at the warehouse.
One vehicle.
One man.
Thomas Mercer.
Adrian's team followed.
Mercer entered through a side door.
Thirty minutes later another vehicle arrived.
The passenger stepped out.
Older.
Gray at the temples.
But unmistakable.
Lucas Vale.
Alive.
Adrian watched the footage without blinking.
“We bring them both in.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not yet.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because Mercer didn't know we found the flash drive.”
“So?”
“So why would he meet Lucas tonight?”
Adrian understood.
“Someone told him.”
Claire nodded.
“Someone inside your security team.”
They changed the plan.
Only Adrian, Claire, and Daniel Ross knew.
They drove to the warehouse without the larger team.
Inside, voices echoed.
Mercer.
Lucas.
Arguing.
Claire and Adrian moved closer.
Then Lucas said something that stopped them.
“You were supposed to kill Adrian twelve years ago.”
Claire looked at Adrian.
His face hardened.
Mercer answered:
“I couldn't.”
“Then I'll finish it.”
Adrian stepped into the open.
“You can try.”
Lucas turned.
For eleven years, Adrian had imagined this reunion.
Claire could see it.
Anger.
Grief.
Disbelief.
Love that had somehow survived betrayal.
Lucas smiled.
“Little brother.”
Adrian said nothing.
Mercer backed away.
Claire noticed.
“Don't.”
Mercer stopped.
Lucas looked at her.
“So you're Claire Bennett.”
“How do you know me?”
“Everyone knows you now.”
His smile widened.
“Adrian made sure of that.”
Adrian moved slightly in front of Claire.
Lucas laughed.
“You finally found someone.”
“This isn't about her.”
“It became about her the moment she opened the accounts.”
Claire lifted the flash drive.
“Then tell me what they mean.”
Lucas's smile disappeared.
“The thirty-seven?”
“Yes.”
“They aren't Mercer's network.”
Mercer suddenly moved toward a side door.
Daniel blocked him.
Claire looked at Lucas.
“Whose network is it?”
Lucas stared at Adrian.
“Father's.”
Adrian frowned.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Why would he pay people who helped kill him?”
“He didn't.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“He paid them to protect you.”
The warehouse went silent.
Adrian's phone vibrated.
A message appeared from his security system.
PENTHOUSE BREACH DETECTED.
Then another.
May you like
EMILY BENNETT — LOCATION UNKNOWN.
Claire's blood turned cold.
