Chapter 6 - The Person Behind The Camera
"Look behind you."
The words stared back at me from the screen.
For a moment, nobody moved.
The photograph showed all of us standing in the living room.
Me.
Adrian.
Marcus.
Sadie.
And someone else.
A shadow standing behind us.
A person who wasn't there.
I slowly turned around.
Nothing.
Only the empty hallway.
The old wooden staircase.
The darkness beyond the doorway.
But I knew better than anyone.
A person didn't have to be visible to be dangerous.
They just had to be close enough.
"Nobody move."
Adrian's voice was quiet.
Different from before.
Not the voice of my brother.
The voice of a survivor.
Marcus stepped toward the hallway.
Adrian grabbed his arm.
"No."
Marcus looked at him.
"What?"
"That's what they want."
I looked at Adrian.
"You know who did this."
He didn't answer.
That was becoming the most frustrating thing about everyone around me.
They all knew pieces of the truth.
And somehow I was always the last person to find out.
"Seven years."
My voice became colder.
"Seven years I thought you were dead."
Adrian looked at me.
"I know."
"I visited your grave."
"I know."
"I destroyed people because I thought they killed you."
His expression changed.
"I know."
I stepped closer.
"Then tell me why you let me do that."
Adrian looked away.
"Because the people who wanted you dead were watching everything."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the table and picked up the photograph.
"The person behind this isn't trying to kill you."
I looked at him.
"They broke into my office."
"They exposed my secrets."
"They attacked Sadie."
Adrian nodded.
"Because they want you angry."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means they need you to make mistakes."
The room went quiet.
Marcus understood before I did.
"You're saying this is a trap."
Adrian looked at him.
"Not just a trap."
He placed the photograph on the table.
"A war."
I hated that word.
Because wars were simple.
You knew who your enemies were.
You knew where they stood.
This was different.
This was someone standing behind me.
Someone smiling while holding a knife.
I looked at Sadie.
"How much do you know?"
She hesitated.
Then answered honestly.
"Not enough."
I believed her.
For the first time tonight, I believed someone.
"I found the accounts because I was checking suspicious payments."
"Why were you checking them?"
She looked at Marcus.
Then at Adrian.
"Because someone hired me to."
My eyes narrowed.
"Someone hired you?"
She nodded.
"Before I became your secretary."
That surprised me.
"What?"
"I wasn't randomly assigned to your company."
The room became silent.
"I was sent there."
I felt my jaw tighten.
"By who?"
Sadie looked at the floor.
"My father."
I stared at her.
"I didn't know you had a father involved."
"Nobody did."
Her voice became quieter.
"He disappeared twelve years ago."
Adrian suddenly looked at her.
"Your father's name."
Sadie looked at him.
"Thomas Collins."
Adrian froze.
That reaction told me everything.
"You know him."
Adrian didn't answer.
I stepped toward him.
"You know her father?"
He looked at me.
"Thomas Collins was the man who helped me disappear."
Sadie covered her mouth.
"No."
Adrian continued.
"He was the only person who knew the truth about our family."
The room shifted.
Another secret.
Another missing piece.
"Where is he?"
Adrian looked toward the old mansion walls.
"He was killed."
Sadie shook her head.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"My father disappeared. They never found his body."
Adrian looked at her.
"Because someone wanted you to believe he was missing."
I watched Sadie's face change.
She had spent years searching for answers.
Now she was getting them.
And they were worse than silence.
I walked toward Adrian.
"Start from the beginning."
He took a breath.
"Your father and mine built this empire together."
"My father?"
"Yes."
I frowned.
"My father hated outsiders."
Adrian gave a bitter smile.
"That's what everyone believed."
He opened the folder again.
Inside was another document.
A partnership agreement.
Two signatures.
One belonged to my father.
The other belonged to a man named William Collins.
Sadie's father.
"They built everything together."
I looked at the document.
"Then why hide it?"
"Because your father betrayed him."
Sadie looked up.
"Why?"
Adrian's face became serious.
"Because William discovered the truth about where the money came from."
"What truth?"
Adrian looked at me.
"The Hayes empire was not built with legal money."
I laughed.
"That's impossible."
"No."
He shook his head.
"Your father wasn't the mastermind."
"Then who was?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
That scared me more than anything.
Because Adrian was never afraid of giving answers.
Only afraid of giving the wrong one.
Finally, he said:
"The person who raised you."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
Adrian looked at me.
"Your mother knew."
I felt the room disappear.
My mother.
The woman who died when I was twenty.
The woman I believed was the only innocent person in my family.
"Don't."
Adrian continued.
"She tried to expose him."
I looked at the photograph of my mother again.
Standing beside my father.
Standing beside Adrian.
Standing beside a secret.
"Who is he?"
Adrian opened his mouth.
Then every light in the mansion went out.
Again.
The same darkness.
The same silence.
Then a sound.
A slow clap.
Coming from upstairs.
Someone was applauding.
One.
Two.
Three times.
Marcus immediately raised his weapon.
Adrian whispered:
"No."
I looked at him.
"You know who it is."
Adrian's face lost all color.
"Yes."
The footsteps began.
Slow.
Confident.
Coming down the staircase.
Nobody spoke.
The figure appeared at the top step.
An older man.
Wearing a dark suit.
Holding a cane.
I couldn't breathe.
Because I knew him.
Everyone in my life knew him.
The man who had attended my father's funeral.
The man who helped run the family business.
The man who had guided me after my parents died.
The man I called uncle.
He smiled.
"Hello, Declan."
My hand moved toward my weapon.
But I stopped.
Because the truth was standing in front of me.
Alive.
And impossible.
Adrian stepped between us.
"Don't listen to him."
The old man smiled.
"After all these years, you're still protecting your little brother."
I stared at him.
"Uncle Richard."
He smiled wider.
"That's the name you remember."
He took another step down.
"But it's not the name your father knew."
I felt my blood run cold.
Richard looked directly at me.
Then he said:
"Declan, your entire life has been built on a lie."
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out an old envelope.
And placed it on the staircase.
"The truth about who you really are is inside."
I looked at the envelope.
Then at him.
Richard smiled.
"Open it."
I took one step forward.
May you like
My hand touched the envelope.
And when I opened it, the first page revealed a name I had never seen before.
