Chapter 8 - The Night His Brother Saved His Life
Roman didn't move.
He stared at the photograph of Daniel standing on a train platform.
His brother was wearing a dark coat.
His hair was longer than Roman remembered.
But the scar above his eyebrow was unmistakable.
Daniel.
Alive.
Or at least alive two days after Roman had buried him.
Roman looked at Calvin Price.
“Explain.”
Price swallowed.
“Daniel discovered that someone was planning to kill you during a trip to Lake Erie.”
Roman remembered the trip.
Daniel had invited him fishing.
It was supposed to be a rare weekend away from business.
Roman had canceled at the last minute because Natalie wasn't feeling well.
Daniel had gone alone.
Three days later, his boat was found overturned.
Roman had identified the body.
“Who planned it?” Roman demanded.
Price lowered his eyes.
“A man who worked with your father.”
“Name.”
Price hesitated.
Roman moved closer.
“Name.”
“Edmund Vale.”
Roman knew the name.
Vale had been Victor Castellano's financial adviser for twenty-seven years.
A quiet, polished man who attended charity events and sent flowers to Roman's household every Christmas.
He had helped manage the family's charitable trusts after Victor died.
Roman felt sick.
“Vale?”
Price nodded.
“He knew Daniel was investigating the hospital records.”
“Why would he want me dead?”
“Because you were about to inherit direct control of the trust accounts.”
Roman remembered signing papers after his father's death.
He had allowed Vale to continue managing the foundations.
Daniel had urged him to review the records.
Roman had been too busy.
Too trusting.
“He knew I'd find out?”
Price looked at him.
“Daniel believed you would. Eventually.”
Roman glanced at the photograph.
“Then why did I identify my brother's body?”
Price's face tightened.
“The recovered man was wearing Daniel's watch and jacket. There was severe facial trauma. I told you the injuries had altered his appearance.”
Roman remembered the cold examination room.
The harsh fluorescent lights.
His brother's face beneath a white sheet.
The scar.
He had touched it.
“I saw his scar.”
Price closed his eyes.
“A small surgical mark can be reproduced.”
Roman stepped back.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Then he grabbed the edge of the table.
“Who was in that coffin?”
Price whispered, “A maintenance contractor who disappeared around the same time.”
Roman stared at him.
“You let me bury a stranger.”
Price began to cry.
“I was afraid.”
Roman's voice shook.
“A man lost his life. My brother disappeared. And you let me stand beside that coffin thinking I was saying goodbye.”
Price bowed his head.
“I know.”
Roman wanted to strike him.
Instead, he turned away.
He thought of Claire.
Of Patrick.
Of Sophie.
People who had suffered because powerful men were too afraid to tell the truth.
He would not become one of them.
“Where is Daniel?”
Price swallowed.
“I don't know his current location.”
Roman faced him.
“Then give me something useful.”
Price reached into his pocket and produced an old train ticket.
It was dated six months earlier.
Pittsburgh to Harrisburg.
On the back was a handwritten message.
The truth belongs to the living.
Roman recognized Daniel's handwriting.
Beneath it were three small stars.
Roman stared.
“Why keep this?”
“Daniel gave it to me. He said if I ever found the courage to tell you the truth, I'd know where to start.”
Roman looked at the ticket.
“Harrisburg?”
Price shook his head.
“Not the city. The station.”
Roman turned to Aaron.
“Find out what happened at that station.”
Aaron nodded.
Then Claire appeared at the doorway.
She had heard enough to understand.
“Your brother's alive?”
Roman looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“But you think he is.”
Roman stared at the photograph.
“Yes.”
Claire moved beside him.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she said, “My dad says he kept silent because he was afraid.”
Roman nodded.
“He wasn't the only one.”
Claire looked toward the room where Patrick and Sophie were talking.
“I've been angry with him all day.”
“You have every right.”
“I know. But he's still my dad.”
Roman turned toward her.
Claire's eyes filled.
“I don't want to waste more time punishing him for being scared when he's finally trying to tell the truth.”
Roman looked at the photograph again.
Daniel had tried to warn him.
He had spent six months angry at a dead brother for leaving him.
Now he didn't know what to feel.
“Roman,” Claire said softly.
He looked at her.
“If Daniel is alive, maybe he stayed away because coming home would put you in danger.”
Roman swallowed.
“That sounds like something he'd do.”
Later that evening, Aaron uncovered the next clue.
Security footage from the Harrisburg station showed Daniel entering a small waiting room.
Twenty minutes later, a woman joined him.
She wore a navy coat.
Her hair was gray.
Roman stared at the image.
Margaret Ellis.
Aaron enlarged the footage.
Daniel handed her an envelope.
Then another woman appeared.
Older.
Thin.
With dark eyes.
Roman leaned forward.
He recognized the face.
The woman from the photograph.
Anna Mercer.
His birth mother.
Roman gripped the desk.
“She was alive six months ago.”
Aaron nodded.
“And Margaret met both of them.”
Roman stood.
“Bring Margaret here.”
But before he could give another instruction, Natalie entered the library.
She was carrying a small wooden box.
The same box Claire had seen her steal from the archive.
Roman stared.
“Where did you get that?”
Natalie held it against her chest.
“I've been hiding it.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought it contained proof that Sophie wasn't entitled to treatment.”
Roman frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Natalie's eyes filled.
“Vale told me that if the contents became public, Sophie would lose the trust paying for her care.”
Roman stepped closer.
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to believe there was a reason for everything. I wanted to believe I was protecting my sister.”
She placed the box on the table.
“I was wrong.”
Roman looked at her.
“Why give it to me now?”
Natalie swallowed.
“Because Sophie called me.”
Roman waited.
“She told me she's met Claire. And she said she doesn't want me hurting anyone else to protect her.”
Natalie's voice broke.
“She said she'd rather be sick and loved than healthy because someone else suffered.”
Roman remained silent.
Natalie opened the box.
Inside lay a silver necklace.
A faded photograph.
And a handwritten letter.
Roman reached for the photograph.
It showed a young Anna Mercer holding two little boys.
One was Roman.
The other was Daniel.
On the back, in Eleanor's handwriting, were the words:
The children deserve to know they have the same mother.
Roman stared.
He and Daniel were brothers by blood.
Not merely through their father.
Natalie unfolded the letter.
It was addressed to Roman.
But before she could read it, Aaron's phone vibrated.
A message had arrived from the private security team monitoring Edmund Vale's office.
Aaron read it.
Then his face drained of color.
“Boss, Vale is moving the trust's remaining assets tonight.”
Roman clenched his jaw.
“Freeze what we legally can. Alert the investigators.”
Aaron continued.
“There's more.”
“What?”
“Vale's office received a visitor an hour ago.”
Roman looked up.
“Who?”
Aaron turned the phone around.
A security image showed a man entering the building.
Dark hair.
A familiar scar.
A face Roman had mourned for six months.
Daniel Castellano.
And beneath the photograph was a timestamp.
8:14 p.m.
Roman checked his watch.
It was 8:19.
May you like
His brother was inside the building right now.
Alone with the man who had tried to kill them both.
