Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO WANTED EVERYTHINGJulian watched the recording three times.
Not because he failed to understand it.
Because he desperately wanted to find some explanation that didn't involve his own brother helping plan his destruction.
The video showed a small office.
Sloane sat behind a desk with her legs crossed.
Her stomach was completely flat.
Nathan Cross stood beside a bookcase.
Ethan Mercer paced near the window.
A date stamp indicated the footage had been recorded seventeen days earlier.
Ethan was visibly agitated.
“You said nobody would get hurt.”
Sloane rolled her eyes.
“Nobody has to get hurt.”
“You just said we'd keep him unconscious.”
“Temporary medical incapacity, Ethan. Stop being dramatic.”
Nathan interrupted.
“The documents will establish emergency control. Julian has already signed enough related agreements that the changes won't immediately appear suspicious.”
Ethan stopped pacing.
“And the baby?”
Sloane smiled.
“We handle that after the wedding.”
“How?”
“That isn't your concern.”
“It becomes my concern if police start asking questions.”
Nathan leaned against the desk.
“Your concern is collecting the forty million dollars you've been promised.”
Ethan said nothing.
Sloane stood.
“And don't forget what happens if you back out.”
Ethan's face changed.
“You wouldn't.”
“Try me.”
The recording ended.
Julian remained motionless.
Forty million dollars.
That was the price his brother had placed on his life.
Marcus paused the video.
“We need the original recording and its metadata authenticated. This alone doesn't tell us how they intend to carry out the plan.”
Julian nodded.
His voice sounded distant.
“Can you get the police involved?”
“We can make a report now. But if we're going to stop the entire operation, we need to preserve evidence before they destroy it.”
Julian looked at Tess.
“Where did Hannah get this?”
“She worked in Nathan Cross's office for two weeks. They needed someone to organize patient files and travel arrangements.”
“And she recorded them?”
“Yes. After she realized Alexander Reed wasn't the only victim.”
Julian looked up sharply.
“There were others?”
Tess nodded.
“She found records involving three wealthy men.”
“Three?”
“Alexander Reed. A businessman named Douglas Hartley. And a retired technology executive named Philip Crane.”
Marcus was already typing names into his phone.
Julian stood.
“Find everything.”
Tess hesitated.
“There was something else Hannah said.”
“What?”
“She said Sloane wasn't the woman in charge.”
Julian stopped.
“Who was?”
“Hannah didn't know. But she heard Nathan mention someone they called the Beneficiary.”
The title meant nothing to him.
Yet something about it made his skin crawl.
Marcus closed his laptop.
“We should get you out of here.”
Julian shook his head.
“If I leave suddenly, they'll know.”
“Your safety comes first.”
“Then protect me without warning them.”
Marcus considered that.
“We can establish twenty-four-hour close protection and control food, drinks, transportation, and access to your residences. You should avoid taking anything provided privately by Sloane or her associates.”
“Do it.”
Julian turned to Tess.
“You're coming with us.”
She shook her head immediately.
“No. If I disappear, they'll know I talked.”
“If you stay, you could be killed.”
“My sister is already missing.”
Julian crouched beside her chair.
“Tess, listen carefully. I have the resources to help find Hannah. But I need you alive.”
Her eyes filled.
“Do you promise?”
“I promise I'll do everything I can.”
Something in his voice convinced her.
For the first time that evening, she relaxed.
A sharp knock interrupted them.
Marcus opened the door.
One of his officers stood outside.
“Sir, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone accessed the hotel's employee database six minutes ago and pulled Miss Callahan's home address.”
Tess went white.
“My nephew is there.”
Julian turned.
“Your nephew?”
“Hannah's little boy. Oliver. He's eight. He's staying with our neighbor tonight.”
Marcus was already moving.
“Get a protective team to the address. Now.”
Tess stood so quickly that her chair fell backward.
“I have to go!”
Julian caught her arm.
“Not alone.”
They left through a private service exit.
Two SUVs waited in the underground garage.
Marcus ushered Tess into the first.
Julian climbed beside her.
The vehicles pulled into traffic.
Manhattan flashed past the tinted windows.
Tess tried calling her neighbor.
No answer.
She called again.
And again.
On the fourth attempt, someone answered.
“Mrs. Delgado?”
There was breathing.
Then a small voice.
“Aunt Tess?”
Tess nearly collapsed with relief.
“Oliver! Sweetheart, where's Mrs. Delgado?”
The boy's voice trembled.
“She went downstairs because somebody rang the buzzer.”
Tess closed her eyes.
“Listen carefully. Lock the apartment door.”
“Aunt Tess?”
“Do it now.”
“I already did.”
“Good boy. Stay away from the windows.”
A loud crash sounded through the phone.
Oliver gasped.
Tess screamed his name.
Then the connection ended.
Marcus spoke into his radio.
“Priority emergency. Possible forced entry. Child inside. Local police notified?”
“Confirmed,” an officer answered.
Julian leaned forward.
“How far?”
“Six minutes.”
“Get us there.”
The driver accelerated.
For the longest six minutes of Julian's life, Tess sat beside him whispering her nephew's name.
When they reached the apartment building, two patrol cars were already outside.
A police officer stood in the lobby.
Marcus showed his credentials and explained the situation.
The officer led them upstairs.
The fifth-floor hallway smelled of broken plaster.
An apartment door hung crookedly from its frame.
Tess tried to rush forward.
An officer stopped her.
“Ma'am, please wait.”
Julian's heart pounded.
Then he heard a child's voice.
“Aunt Tess?”
Oliver appeared behind a policewoman.
He was wearing blue pajamas and clutching a stuffed dinosaur.
Tess fell to her knees.
The little boy ran into her arms.
They held each other while she sobbed into his hair.
Mrs. Delgado was safe too.
She had heard someone breaking into the building and called police before returning to a neighboring apartment.
Oliver had hidden behind a locked bathroom door.
The intruder had fled when patrol officers arrived.
Marcus returned after speaking to the responding officers.
“Security cameras caught a man entering through the rear door.”
“Can we identify him?” Julian asked.
“Possibly. But there's another problem.”
Marcus showed him a grainy surveillance still.
A man in a dark jacket stood near the building entrance.
A narrow scar ran beneath his left ear.
Julian recognized him immediately.
The man from the engagement party.
“He was watching me tonight.”
Marcus nodded.
“He's working for someone close to Sloane.”
Julian looked toward Tess and Oliver.
He thought about Hannah, who had vanished after discovering the truth.
About Alexander Reed, who had died twelve days after marrying Sloane.
And about the woman waiting for him at the hotel, wearing a fake pregnancy belly while imagining herself as his widow.
Something inside Julian hardened.
“Get Tess and Oliver somewhere secure.”
“Already arranged.”
“Find Hannah.”
“We will.”
“And Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“I want Ethan brought to me.”
Marcus frowned.
“You want to confront him?”
“Not yet.”
“Then why?”
Julian watched Oliver cling to his aunt.
“Because I need to find out whether my brother is a frightened idiot who's been manipulated…”
He paused.
“Or whether he's been planning to murder me from the beginning.”
By 2:30 a.m., Julian was back at his penthouse.
Sloane sat on the enormous white sofa wearing a silk robe.
Her fake belly was concealed beneath the fabric.
She looked up when he entered.
“Where have you been?”
“Business emergency.”
She stood.
“At two in the morning?”
“You know how it is.”
She approached him.
“You smell like another woman's perfume.”
Julian almost laughed.
He had spent the night helping save a child.
Yet his fiancée was accusing him of infidelity.
“Long night, Sloane.”
Her expression softened instantly.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
She reached for him.
He forced himself not to recoil.
“Come to bed,” she whispered. “Our little girl has been kicking all evening.”
Julian looked at the curve beneath her robe.
He remembered the photograph.
The silicone prosthetic.
The recording.
The three men whose lives had apparently been ruined.
Then he smiled.
“I'll be there in a minute.”
Sloane kissed his cheek and walked toward the bedroom.
At the hallway entrance, she stopped.
“Oh, Julian?”
“Yes?”
“Your brother called.”
Julian felt his muscles tighten.
“Ethan?”
“He sounded upset.”
“What did he want?”
She smiled.
“He said you should stop asking questions about my past.”
The penthouse fell silent.
Julian stared at her.
“How would he know I was asking questions?”
Sloane tilted her head.
“That's what I'd like to know.”
Then she turned and walked away.
For the first time, Julian understood something terrifying.
The conspiracy wasn't simply waiting for the wedding.
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Someone had already told Sloane that he was investigating her.
And somewhere inside his own home, there was a person feeding his enemies information.
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