Chapter 4 - THE MAN RYAN CALLED A BROTHERDerek Lawson came to the hospital carrying flowers.
That was his first mistake.
His second was pretending he didn’t know Brianna had been arrested.
He walked into my room at eleven the following morning wearing a charcoal suit and the concerned expression of a man auditioning for the role of loyal friend.
“Claire.”
He placed white lilies on the table.
“I heard there was an accident.”
Ryan stood beside the window.
“Who told you?”
Derek paused.
“Patricia.”
Ryan’s mother.
Of course.
Derek looked at me.
“How are the babies?”
“In the NICU.”
His face softened convincingly.
“I’m so sorry.”
I watched him.
For years, Derek had been part of our lives.
He gave the toast at our wedding.
He helped Ryan launch Brooks-Lawson Development when they were twenty-nine.
He attended Christmas dinners.
He bought the twins matching Boston Red Sox onesies the week we announced the pregnancy.
I had trusted him.
Now there was a USB drive labeled with confidential company information sitting in police evidence because it had been found inside Brianna’s purse.
“How is Brianna?” Derek asked.
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“You tell me.”
Derek frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Have you spoken to her recently?”
“Not really.”
“How recently?”
“A few months ago.”
I saw it.
A tiny hesitation.
Ryan did too.
“Try again.”
Derek laughed uneasily.
“Ryan, what’s going on?”
“You were at her apartment Thursday.”
Silence.
That was a bluff.
I knew because Ryan had invented it.
Derek didn’t.
His eyes shifted.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But it was enough.
Ryan stepped closer.
“You were.”
“Okay.”
Derek exhaled.
“Yes. I stopped by.”
“Why?”
“She called me.”
“For what?”
“Money.”
I nearly laughed.
Everyone needed Ryan’s money.
Derek continued.
“She said she was behind on payments. I told her I couldn’t help.”
“And then?”
“That was it.”
Ryan studied him.
“Did you give her access to company files?”
Derek’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“Did you give her a drive from your safe?”
“What drive?”
Ryan smiled without humor.
“That’s interesting.”
“What?”
“I never said the drive came from your safe.”
Derek went still.
The door opened.
Detective Reynolds entered with another officer.
Derek looked toward them.
Then back at Ryan.
His expression changed again.
“I should go.”
The detective stepped between him and the exit.
“Mr. Lawson?”
“Yes?”
“I’d like to speak with you.”
“About what?”
“The investigation.”
“I’ll have my attorney contact you.”
“That’s your right.”
He turned toward Ryan.
“This is ridiculous.”
Ryan said nothing.
Derek left.
The moment the door closed, I whispered, “He knew.”
“Yes.”
“You think he gave Brianna the drive?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
Ryan sat beside me.
“The Singapore leak cost us nearly twelve million dollars in revised bids.”
I stared at him.
“Twelve million?”
“If we lose the contract, potentially much more.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were pregnant. Your blood pressure was already—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“Don’t decide what I’m strong enough to hear.”
“You’re right.”
“Does Derek benefit if the company loses the contract?”
“Not directly.”
“Indirectly?”
He hesitated.
I sighed.
“Ryan.”
“He’s been pushing to sell.”
“Sell what?”
“The company.”
“To whom?”
“A private equity group called Vantage Harbor.”
“And you said no?”
“Repeatedly.”
The pieces began moving into place.
“Would the Singapore problem make you more likely to sell?”
“Yes.”
“And who introduced Vantage Harbor?”
“Derek.”
There it was.
Not proof.
But motive.
I looked toward the NICU camera feed on Ryan’s phone.
Lucas slept beneath a blue blanket.
Sophie had one tiny hand beside her cheek.
All of this had begun because Brianna wanted $150,000.
Or that was what I had believed.
Maybe the money was only one part of it.
Maybe someone had promised her more.
Later that afternoon, Ryan went to the NICU while Detective Reynolds sat with me.
“There’s something I haven’t told your husband yet,” she said.
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“We obtained a warrant for your sister-in-law’s phone.”
“And?”
“She deleted a number of messages.”
“Can you recover them?”
“Some.”
She opened a folder.
“Do you recognize this phone number?”
I didn’t.
“Who is it?”
“We’re working on attribution.”
“What did the messages say?”
She showed me.
The first recovered message was from an unknown sender.
Did she sign?
Brianna:
Not yet. She’s being difficult.
Unknown:
Don’t push too hard. Ryan gets back Friday.
Brianna:
I know.
Unknown:
Get the authorization and the copies. Nothing else matters.
Authorization?
“What authorization?”
Detective Reynolds swiped to another image.
It was a photograph Brianna had taken of our trust paperwork.
One section was circled.
A clause allowing me, as co-trustee, to authorize temporary transfers under limited medical and investment circumstances.
“She wanted my signature.”
“Yes.”
“But she never asked me to sign anything.”
“Maybe she planned to.”
“Before she hit me?”
“We don’t know.”
The next message was worse.
Sent forty minutes before Brianna arrived at my house.
Unknown:
Camera jammer works for 30 mins. Plug into router and don’t touch anything else.
Brianna:
I’m not an idiot.
Unknown:
Then prove it.
I felt sick.
“She didn’t do this alone.”
“No.”
“Is that Derek?”
“We don’t know yet.”
But I remembered Derek’s face when Ryan mentioned the drive.
I thought we did know.
That evening, Patricia Brooks arrived.
Ryan’s mother entered my room without knocking.
She had been crying.
At first, I thought she had come to see me.
I was wrong.
“We need to fix this.”
I stared at her.
“Fix what?”
“Brianna.”
Ryan stood.
“Mom.”
“She made a terrible mistake.”
“She attacked Claire.”
“I know.”
“She caused premature labor.”
“I know!”
Patricia’s voice cracked.
Then she looked at me.
“Claire, please.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Please what?”
“Tell the police you don’t want charges.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“No.”
Patricia ignored him.
“She’s terrified.”
“So was I.”
“She could go to prison.”
“So could my children have died.”
Patricia flinched.
I hated that part of me felt guilty for saying it.
But it was true.
“Claire,” she whispered, “she’s family.”
I looked through the glass toward the NICU hallway.
“No.”
Patricia frowned.
I pointed in the direction of our babies.
“They are family.”
Her face crumpled.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
She sat.
For several seconds, she twisted a tissue between her fingers.
Then she said something that stunned both of us.
“Brianna owes Derek money.”
Ryan stared at her.
“What?”
Patricia began crying harder.
“She borrowed from him.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“How much, Mom?”
“Almost four hundred thousand dollars.”
I felt the room tilt.
Ryan stepped backward.
“Why would Derek loan Brianna four hundred thousand dollars?”
Patricia looked terrified.
“Because it wasn’t a loan.”
Nobody spoke.
“What was it?” Ryan asked.
Patricia whispered:
“He paid her.”
Ryan’s face went blank.
“For what?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“Mom.”
“She was getting information for him.”
My husband sat down as if his legs had stopped working.
“Information about me?”
Patricia nodded.
“Your schedule. Your meetings. Things you said at family dinners.”
“How long?”
“Maybe a year.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
A year.
Every holiday.
Every conversation.
Every time Ryan complained about work.
His own sister had been taking notes.
Selling him.
“Why would she need another $150,000?” I asked.
Patricia looked at me.
“Because Derek stopped paying.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
But I did.
Maybe Brianna had become a liability.
Maybe the company leak was finished.
Maybe Derek no longer needed her.
Ryan looked at his mother.
“How long have you known?”
Patricia hesitated.
That hesitation destroyed something in him.
“How long?”
“Two months.”
He stared at her.
“You knew my sister was selling information about me for two months?”
“I thought it was harmless.”
“Harmless?”
“I told her to stop.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I was trying to keep the family together.”
Ryan laughed.
It was the saddest sound I had ever heard.
“You keep saying family like it means we have to survive whatever she does to us.”
Patricia covered her face.
“I made mistakes.”
“No.”
Ryan stood.
“You made choices.”
He opened the door.
“Go home.”
“Ryan.”
“Go.”
She left crying.
He didn’t follow her.
That night, he held Sophie for the first time.
She looked impossibly small against his chest.
I watched through the NICU glass as he whispered something to her.
Later, I asked what he had said.
He told me.
“I promised her she would never grow up believing love means allowing people to hurt you.”
That was the moment I knew our lives had changed.
Not just because Brianna had attacked me.
Because Ryan had finally stopped trying to save everyone.
May you like
Now he was going to protect us.
And Derek Lawson was about to discover what happened when the quietest man in the room stopped forgiving.
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