Chapter 2 - The Voice That Should Have Been Dead
I played the message three times.
Then five.
Then I stopped counting.
Because every time I heard it, the same impossible truth remained.
Julian was alive.
Or someone wanted me to believe he was.
I stood frozen behind my desk, still holding Lily in my arms, staring at the computer screen where those three words remained.
I'M STILL ALIVE.
The message looked simple.
Too simple.
That was what frightened me.
A person who wanted to convince me of something would have written more.
They would have explained.
They would have begged.
They would have given me proof.
But Julian had always been different.
He never wasted words.
When we were children, he used to hide notes around our house whenever we played games.
Never long messages.
Never obvious clues.
Just enough information for me to figure things out.
A symbol.
A number.
A single sentence.
Because Julian believed the truth meant more when you discovered it yourself.
I looked at Clara.
She looked like she was about to collapse.
"You heard him," I said.
She didn't answer.
"Clara."
Her eyes moved toward mine.
"Yes."
The calm in her voice made my stomach tighten.
"You knew?"
She looked down.
"I knew he was trying to contact you."
The room went silent.
I placed Lily carefully on the leather sofa near my desk.
The baby watched me with those gray eyes.
Julian's eyes.
Every time I looked at her, it felt like I was looking at a piece of my brother that the world had tried to erase.
"You knew my brother might be alive," I said slowly.
Clara closed her eyes.
"I knew there was a possibility."
"A possibility?"
My voice became louder.
"For eighteen months, I buried him."
Clara flinched.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
I stepped closer.
"You don't know what it was like standing at that funeral. You don't know what it was like watching everyone tell me to accept something that never made sense."
Clara remained quiet.
And somehow, her silence hurt more.
"Tell me everything."
She looked toward the office door.
Then toward the security cameras in the corner.
That small movement told me everything.
She wasn't afraid of me.
She was afraid of someone watching us.
I walked to the control panel near my desk and shut down every camera.
The screens went black.
"Now."
Clara slowly sat down.
For the first time since she entered my office, she looked exhausted.
"Julian knew someone inside the company was betraying him."
I stared at her.
"Who?"
"He didn't know."
"That makes no sense."
"He knew someone was leaking information. Financial records. Private contracts. Investor data."
I remembered the months before Julian's accident.
The arguments.
The late nights.
The meetings he suddenly canceled.
The way he started checking his phone every few minutes.
At the time, I thought he was stressed.
I thought he was worried about the company.
Now I wondered if he was afraid.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
Clara hesitated.
"Because he thought you were being watched."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"By who?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
She looked directly at me.
"Julian trusted very few people."
The words hit me.
Because they were true.
Julian was friendly.
Funny.
Easy to talk to.
But trust?
That was something he gave carefully.
Even to me.
Especially to me.
"Then why did he trust you?"
Clara looked at Lily.
"Because I saved her."
My eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"Not long after Julian disappeared, I found out about Lily."
The world seemed to slow.
"You knew about her before today?"
Clara nodded.
"Julian contacted me."
"When?"
"Two weeks after the accident."
I stared at her.
Two weeks.
Two weeks after everyone told me he was dead.
"What did he say?"
Clara's hands trembled.
"He told me he couldn't come back yet."
"Why?"
"Because if people believed he was dead, they would stop looking for him."
I walked back toward my desk.
My mind was racing.
A fake death.
A hidden child.
A brother who was alive but hiding.
None of it made sense.
"Where is he?"
Clara looked away.
"I don't know."
"You just said he contacted you."
"That doesn't mean I know where he is."
I slammed my hand against the desk.
"Clara, my brother has been alive for eighteen months and you kept this from me."
"I was protecting Lily."
The anger stopped.
For a second.
Because I looked at the baby.
She wasn't part of this.
She was innocent.
A child caught in something bigger than her.
"From who?"
Clara's voice became quiet.
"From the people who wanted Julian gone."
I stared at her.
"Who wanted him gone?"
She reached into her bag.
This time, she pulled out a small envelope.
Old.
Worn.
The edges were damaged.
"Julian gave me this the last time I saw him."
I took it.
There was no name.
No address.
Only one word written on the front.
VALE.
My fingers tightened.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A picture of Julian standing outside a building I recognized.
My company headquarters.
But something was wrong.
Julian wasn't alone.
There was another man standing beside him.
Someone I knew.
Someone I had trusted for years.
My stomach dropped.
"What is this?"
Clara looked at the photograph.
"Julian wanted you to find him."
I looked closer.
On the back of the photograph, there was writing.
My brother's handwriting.
Only four words.
DON'T TRUST YOUR FATHER.
I stopped breathing.
My father had been dead for seven years.
But Julian had written those words after his death.
Or after he disappeared.
Neither possibility made sense.
I looked at Clara.
"What does this mean?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
"There is something else."
She unlocked the screen.
A video file appeared.
Created yesterday.
My heart started beating faster.
"Yesterday?"
Clara nodded.
"Julian sent this to me before he contacted you."
I pressed play.
The screen showed darkness.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a man's face appeared.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
Julian.
My brother looked directly into the camera.
And for the first time in eighteen months, I saw him alive.
"Adrian..."
His voice broke slightly.
"If you're watching this, it means I failed."
I felt my throat tighten.
Julian looked over his shoulder.
Like he was afraid someone was nearby.
"There are things about our family you were never told."
The video shook.
He moved closer to the camera.
"Your father wasn't the man you thought he was."
I stepped backward.
No.
I couldn't accept it.
Not from Julian.
Not from anyone.
Then Julian said something that made every hair on my body stand.
"The person who caused my accident is still inside Vale International."
The video suddenly glitched.
Julian looked terrified.
Someone had entered the room where he was recording.
A shadow moved behind him.
Julian turned.
The screen went black.
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Clara.
She looked at me.
Then my phone vibrated.
A new message.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
One sentence.
I KNOW YOU FOUND THE BABY.
My blood ran cold.
Another message appeared immediately.
NOW THEY KNOW TOO.
May you like
The lights inside my office suddenly went out.
And from the hallway outside my locked door, someone whispered my name.
