Chapter 4 - The Brother Who Was Buried
Adrian had watched Elias Vale’s coffin lowered into the ground seventeen years earlier.
There had been no body inside.
Harper learned that ten minutes later.
Adrian stood in his office staring at the frozen security image while Marcus dispatched men through the building.
Julian and the stranger had already vanished.
“You said your brother died,” Harper said.
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“When I was seventeen. Elias was twenty-one.”
“Why was there a funeral?”
“My father said Elias had been killed.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I was seventeen.”
Adrian's voice was harder now.
“My father showed me a burned car. Police reports. A watch Elias always wore.”
“But no body.”
“No.”
Marcus returned.
“They left through the service garage.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Find them.”
“I have teams moving.”
Harper sat.
The baby pressed painfully beneath her ribs.
Adrian immediately noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Harper.”
“The baby is moving.”
He looked helpless.
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
“That's normal.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Should we call someone?”
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
Marcus turned away, hiding what might have been amusement.
Harper took Adrian’s hand.
He froze.
She placed it against the side of her stomach.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the baby kicked.
Adrian's entire face changed.
The hardened man vanished.
His eyes widened.
Another kick.
A breath escaped him.
Harper watched him rather than her stomach.
“That's your daughter.”
His eyes snapped toward hers.
“Daughter?”
She nodded.
“You know?”
“Twenty weeks.”
“You knew I had a daughter for four months.”
Pain entered his voice before he could hide it.
Harper released his hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Adrian looked at his palm as if something remained there.
“No. We survive tonight first. We deal with everything else afterward.”
Marcus cleared his throat.
“I found Elias.”
They turned.
“A traffic camera caught Julian's car heading south.”
“Toward Quarry Holdings?” Harper asked.
“Yes.”
Adrian picked up his jacket.
This time Harper didn't argue when he told her to stay.
She simply said, “Then I’ll go home.”
He stopped.
“You don't have a home here.”
“Hotel.”
“No.”
“You don't own Chicago.”
“Tonight I’m willing to test that theory.”
Harper folded her arms.
“Where am I supposed to stay?”
“My apartment.”
She stared.
“Absolutely not.”
“It has private security.”
“So does this building, and your supposedly dead brother just walked through it.”
Fair point.
Marcus suggested a secure residence Adrian owned outside downtown.
Harper agreed only after learning it had a separate guest wing.
Adrian drove her himself.
Neither spoke much.
At the residence, he walked her inside.
“You're leaving?” she asked.
“I need to find Elias.”
“And if this is exactly what he wants?”
Adrian stopped.
Harper continued.
“He waited until I returned. He showed himself deliberately. Why?”
“To make me chase him.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian looked toward the door.
Harper saw him understand.
“Then what does he want me away from?”
They both thought of the same place.
Headquarters.
Adrian called Marcus.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Harper's old phone rang.
She stared.
Only one person should have had that number.
Evelyn.
Harper answered.
No voice.
Just audio.
Marcus.
“Adrian, don't—”
A blow.
Static.
Then Elias spoke.
“Hello, little brother.”
Adrian took the phone.
“Where is Marcus?”
“Alive.”
“For now?”
Elias laughed softly.
“You really did become Father.”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“What do you want?”
“What should have been mine.”
“The organization?”
“No.”
A pause.
“The truth.”
Harper watched Adrian.
Elias continued.
“Father didn't choose you because you were stronger. He chose you because you were easier to control.”
“You've had seventeen years to complain.”
“I've had seventeen years to build.”
“Blue Harbor.”
“Yes.”
“QH-27.”
“Yes.”
“The threats against Harper.”
Silence.
Adrian's voice changed.
“If you touched her—”
“I saved her.”
Harper stepped closer.
Adrian looked at her.
Elias continued.
“Julian wanted her eliminated the night she found page 317. I told him no.”
Harper's blood chilled.
“Why?”
“Because she was useful.”
Adrian's grip tightened.
“And when you learned she was pregnant?”
“She became invaluable.”
Adrian nearly crushed the phone.
“You threatened my child.”
“I ensured Harper ran.”
“You made her believe I wanted her dead.”
“And it worked beautifully.”
Harper felt sick.
Eight months.
Eight months of fear.
Eight months of waking at every sound.
Eight months of believing Adrian had chosen his empire over her.
Elias continued.
“Father built a system designed around one principle. A Vale without attachments cannot be controlled.”
Adrian looked at Harper.
“So you created one.”
“No, Adrian. You did.”
The call ended.
Harper sank into a chair.
Adrian stood motionless.
Then the phone buzzed.
A location.
Quarry Holdings.
Below it:
COME ALONE OR MARCUS DIES.
Adrian headed for the door.
Harper caught his wrist.
“No.”
“I have to.”
“That's what he wants.”
“Marcus would come for me.”
“So think before you go.”
Adrian looked at her hand.
Harper released him.
“There has to be another reason Elias wants you there.”
Adrian stared toward the dark windows.
“My mother.”
“What about her?”
“She lived at that house before she died.”
“Elias said he wanted the truth.”
Adrian looked at Harper.
Then he understood.
“My father kept records.”
They searched the digital copies Harper had brought.
Quarry Holdings appeared repeatedly.
Not payments.
Medical expenses.
Private investigators.
Legal settlements.
One recurring name.
Dr. Samuel Renn.
Harper searched him.
Psychiatrist.
Deceased.
A second name appeared beside several transactions.
Elena Vale.
Adrian’s mother.
Then another.
Elias Vale.
Harper looked up.
“Your father was paying the same doctor for both of them.”
Adrian read the dates.
The last payment came two days before Elias disappeared.
“This isn't about money.”
“No.”
Harper turned the page.
A note had been written in Dominic Vale’s hand.
E.V. UNSTABLE. REMOVE FROM SUCCESSION.
Adrian stared.
“E.V. could mean Elias.”
“Or Elena.”
His mother.
Another notation appeared below.
A.V. MUST NEVER KNOW.
Adrian's phone rang.
Marcus.
He answered.
Only breathing.
Then Marcus whispered, “Don't come.”
“Where are you?”
“Quarry house.”
“Elias?”
“It's not Elias running this.”
Adrian went still.
“Who?”
Marcus struggled to breathe.
“Julian.”
Harper heard it.
Then a gunshot cracked through the speaker.
The line died.
Adrian moved.
Harper stepped in front of the door.
“You can't stop me.”
“I know.”
She handed him the seventh ledger’s backup key.
“What is this?”
“Evelyn gave it to me.”
“You said she had the ledger.”
“She does. But this accesses the encrypted copy.”
“Where?”
Harper swallowed.
“Inside Quarry Holdings.”
Adrian stared.
“You knew?”
“Evelyn told me never to go there unless everything collapsed.”
Adrian looked toward the door.
“Everything collapsed.”
Harper nodded.
They went together.
The Quarry house stood dark behind iron gates.
Adrian's men surrounded the property from a distance.
He had ordered them not to enter until Marcus was located.
Harper stayed in the armored vehicle.
For three minutes.
Then the security radio crackled.
“We found Dain.”
Harper exhaled.
“Alive?”
“Alive.”
Then another voice.
“Mr. Vale entered the basement.”
Harper looked at the house.
Something was wrong.
A light appeared upstairs.
A silhouette stood behind a curtain.
Not Elias.
A woman.
Harper got out.
The guards protested.
She ignored them.
Inside, she found Marcus conscious but injured.
“Where’s Adrian?”
“Basement.”
“Who is upstairs?”
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Harper pointed.
“I saw a woman.”
Marcus went pale.
“There shouldn't be anyone upstairs.”
They climbed.
At the end of the corridor stood a locked bedroom.
Harper heard movement inside.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
“Harper?”
Harper froze.
The woman knew her name.
Marcus reached for the handle.
Locked.
He forced it.
The door opened.
An older woman stood beside the window.
Silver threaded through her dark hair.
Her face was thin.
Her eyes were unmistakable.
Adrian’s eyes.
Harper stared.
The woman looked at Harper’s pregnant belly.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“My granddaughter.”
Harper couldn't speak.
Marcus whispered, “Impossible.”
The woman looked toward the basement.
“Where is Adrian?”
Harper’s heart hammered.
“Who are you?”
The woman stepped into the light.
“My name is Elena Vale.”
May you like
Adrian’s mother had been dead for nineteen years.
And she had just called Harper’s unborn baby her granddaughter.
