Chapter 5 - The Brother I Never Knew I Had
Gabriel Laurent was thirty-seven.
He was also the man who had knelt beside Genevieve’s hospital bed the day she first regained consciousness.
Up close, she saw something she had missed through medication and confusion.
Her mother’s eyes.
The same gray-green color.
The same slight downward angle at the corners.
Gabriel looked at Genevieve for several seconds.
Then he removed the St. Christopher medal.
“This belonged to Charles.”
“My father.”
“He was my father too.”
The room went silent.
Genevieve stared at him.
“No.”
Gabriel nodded once.
“Not biologically.”
He sat down.
“Your mother was my aunt.”
Genevieve remembered the letter.
Her mother had been guardian to a child.
Gabriel explained.
His mother—Genevieve’s maternal aunt—had died when he was nine. His father had been violent, unstable, and legally barred from contact.
Genevieve’s mother became his guardian quietly to protect him from extended-family litigation.
Then Charles Laurent entered their lives.
“He paid for my school,” Gabriel said. “He taught me business. He treated me like a son.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because your mother wanted me protected from my biological father.”
“He’s alive?”
“No.”
“Then why keep it secret?”
Gabriel looked down.
“Because later the secret protected you.”
Genevieve frowned.
“From what?”
“People who believed Charles’s company could be controlled by controlling you.”
Adrian.
Gabriel continued.
“Charles gave me emergency voting authority five years ago.”
“Why?”
“In case someone compromised you.”
“Did he think I was incompetent?”
“No.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“He thought you were worth protecting.”
Genevieve hated how much that sentence hurt.
“Did you know about Adrian?”
“Not at first.”
“When did you?”
“Three months before Charles died.”
“What did Dad find?”
“Adrian wasn’t Adrian.”
Arthur stood nearby.
Gabriel handed him a folder.
“His real name was Andrew Colson.”
Arthur flipped through documents.
“Fraud?”
“Financial manipulation. Identity theft. Two sealed civil cases.”
Genevieve whispered, “Why was nothing public?”
“Settlements.”
Gabriel continued.
“He entered companies through relationships. Usually with executives or heirs. He gained access, moved money, disappeared.”
Genevieve thought of three years with Adrian.
Breakfasts.
Vacations.
His proposal beneath the oak trees at her father’s estate.
Every memory now looked staged.
“Why stay with me for three years?”
Gabriel answered carefully.
“Laurent was harder to penetrate.”
“Because of Dad?”
“Yes.”
“And when Dad discovered him…”
Gabriel stopped.
Genevieve said, “Finish it.”
“We believe Adrian arranged unauthorized maintenance on Charles’s aircraft.”
“Believe?”
“We need Voss.”
“Peter Voss?”
Gabriel nodded.
“He performed the work.”
“Did he sabotage the plane?”
“I don’t know.”
Genevieve’s voice sharpened.
“Then find out.”
Gabriel did not react.
“I already have someone bringing him back.”
Arthur looked impressed.
“Who are you?”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“The man Charles kept off every organization chart.”
By afternoon, Genevieve had enough information to destroy Adrian publicly.
She refused.
“Not yet.”
Julian stared at her.
“He arranged your attack.”
“Allegedly.”
“He forged documents.”
“We can show that.”
“He may have been involved in Charles’s death.”
“That’s why we wait.”
“For what?”
“For him to try to take the company.”
Julian understood.
“You want the conspiracy in motion.”
“I want every accomplice identified.”
Gabriel said, “That is dangerous.”
Genevieve looked at him.
“You don’t get to appear after thirty years and start giving me sibling advice.”
To his credit, Gabriel smiled.
“Fair.”
The hospital wedding remained scheduled for the following morning.
Adrian believed Genevieve had escaped the warehouse but had been returned to medical care under heavy sedation.
Sabrina had disappeared.
He believed she had fled.
He did not know she was cooperating.
At 10:00 a.m., Adrian arrived with an officiant.
Two witnesses accompanied him.
One was Martin Shaw.
Julian’s former associate.
Genevieve nearly smiled when she saw him through a hidden camera.
Martin had returned from “Lisbon.”
Perfect.
The second witness was a Laurent board member named Richard Hale.
That hurt more.
Richard had been at Genevieve’s tenth birthday.
He had spoken at her father’s memorial.
He had called her “like a daughter.”
Now he stood beside Adrian carrying documents designed to steal her company.
Genevieve remained behind a privacy screen in an adjacent monitoring room, watching through cameras.
A nurse had placed a mannequin shape beneath the hospital sheets.
Adrian approached the bed.
Martin checked his watch.
Richard asked, “Is this legally enough?”
Martin replied, “The medical consent is documented.”
Forged.
“Does she need to speak?”
“No.”
“Open her eyes?”
“No.”
Adrian said impatiently, “Can we proceed?”
Genevieve watched him.
The officiant was not a real officiant.
Arthur had already identified him.
Licensed notary.
Suspended.
Another accomplice.
Gabriel whispered, “We have enough.”
“Not yet.”
The ceremony began.
Adrian recited vows to an unconscious shape beneath a blanket.
Genevieve felt nothing.
That surprised her.
She had expected heartbreak.
Instead, she felt embarrassed that she had once loved this man.
When the officiant asked for confirmation of Genevieve’s consent, Martin produced a document.
“There.”
Richard read it.
“Signed yesterday?”
“Yes.”
Genevieve had been unconscious yesterday.
Richard knew it.
He signed anyway.
That was the moment she stopped considering him family.
After the false ceremony, Adrian placed a ring on the mannequin’s hand.
Then Martin opened a second folder.
“Once this is filed, the proxy activates.”
Adrian said, “How long?”
“Two hours.”
Richard asked, “And the board vote?”
“Four o’clock.”
“What if Mercer objects?”
“He won’t have standing.”
“What about the secondary trustee?”
The room changed.
Adrian looked at Martin.
“What secondary trustee?”
Martin froze.
Richard looked confused.
Genevieve leaned closer to the monitor.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“What secondary trustee?”
Martin swallowed.
“There was language in Charles Laurent’s trust.”
“You told me everything was clear.”
“It was supposed to be.”
“Who is the trustee?”
Martin hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You had one job.”
Martin lowered his voice.
“There’s another problem.”
“What?”
“The emergency provision activates if coercion is detected.”
Adrian stared.
“How would it detect coercion?”
“It’s not automatic. Someone has to invoke it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Genevieve smiled.
Gabriel said quietly, “Now?”
“Almost.”
Richard paced.
“This is getting dangerous.”
Adrian turned on him.
“You’re thirty million dollars into this transaction.”
Richard went pale.
Genevieve’s eyes narrowed.
Thirty million.
There.
Financial motive.
Adrian continued.
“You don’t get nervous now.”
Richard whispered, “If Genevieve wakes—”
“She won’t matter.”
Genevieve stepped from behind the privacy screen.
“I disagree.”
Nobody moved.
Adrian’s face became empty.
Martin dropped his pen.
Richard grabbed the chair behind him.
Genevieve stood beneath the doorway in simple clothes, bandages still protecting her face.
Behind her were Julian, Arthur, Gabriel, two federal investigators, and Dr. Moore.
Adrian recovered first.
“Genevieve.”
She walked inside.
“Hello, darling.”
Richard whispered, “You’re awake.”
“For quite some time.”
Adrian glanced at the exits.
Federal agents stepped forward.
Genevieve held up a hand.
“Not yet.”
One investigator frowned.
She looked at Adrian.
“I want him to talk.”
Adrian smiled slowly.
“You think this is over?”
“No.”
“You think because you caught a fake ceremony, you understand anything?”
“I understand enough.”
“No, Genevieve.”
His confidence returned.
“You understand what I let you see.”
Gabriel entered.
Adrian saw him.
His face changed.
For the first time, real fear appeared.
“You.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Adrian took one step backward.
Genevieve noticed.
“You know Gabriel.”
Adrian stared at him.
Gabriel removed Charles’s medal.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Then he laughed.
“This is almost perfect.”
Genevieve frowned.
“What?”
Adrian looked directly at her.
“Ask your new brother why your father’s plane left early that morning.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
Adrian continued.
“Ask who changed the flight schedule.”
Genevieve turned to Gabriel.
He said nothing.
Her stomach tightened.
“Gabriel?”
Adrian smiled.
“Go ahead.”
Genevieve stared at the man she had just learned to call family.
“Did you change my father’s flight?”
Gabriel’s silence lasted too long.
May you like
Then he said one word.
“Yes.”
