Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEADThe fire destroyed half the building.
Investigators later found an accelerant in the second-floor records room.
Someone had wanted the past erased.
Julian Locke had waited eleven years to return, and his first message to his brother was fire.
Gideon moved me to a penthouse apartment above one of his hotels.
I objected.
He ignored me.
“I have my own apartment.”
“With bullet holes.”
“I can stay with a friend.”
“Which friend?”
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
Tyler had slowly isolated me from most of them.
That realization hurt.
Gideon didn’t use it against me.
“You can leave whenever you want,” he said. “But until we understand what Julian is doing, this is secure.”
The penthouse had floor-to-ceiling windows, three bedrooms, a kitchen bigger than my old apartment, and security guards stationed outside.
I hated how safe it made me feel.
I hated even more that Gideon understood that.
He gave me space.
No demands.
No questions.
When nightmares woke me at three in the morning, I found him sitting in the kitchen with coffee.
“You live here?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
He looked toward my cast.
“Security.”
“You have twelve men downstairs.”
“Thirteen.”
“Of course.”
I poured water.
“Can’t sleep?”
“No.”
“Brother?”
He nodded.
I sat across from him.
“Tell me about him.”
Gideon stared into his cup.
“Julian could walk into a room full of enemies and leave with three friends and somebody’s girlfriend.”
I smiled.
“You sound jealous.”
“I was.”
“He was charming?”
“Infuriatingly.”
“And you were?”
“Responsible.”
“That sounds boring.”
“It was.”
“Were you close?”
Gideon took a long breath.
“Before our father died.”
“What changed?”
“Power.”
His father had pitted the brothers against each other for years.
Dominic believed rivalry created strength.
He gave Gideon responsibility.
Gave Julian freedom.
Then punished them both for wanting what the other had.
“When the old man died,” Gideon said, “Julian believed we should sell everything and disappear.”
“And you?”
“I believed disappearing meant leaving dangerous men in control.”
“So you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“And Julian thought you wanted the empire.”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
Gideon looked at me.
“Part of me did.”
That honesty surprised me.
“Power is difficult to give back once people start obeying you.”
Before I could answer, his phone rang.
Unknown caller.
He put it on speaker.
A familiar voice filled the kitchen.
“Hello, brother.”
Gideon froze.
Julian.
“You should be dead.”
“I’ve heard.”
“Where are you?”
“Always impatient.”
“You tried to burn Lena alive.”
“No.”
Julian sounded almost offended.
“I tried to destroy records. You arrived sooner than expected.”
“Comforting distinction.”
I leaned toward the phone.
“Why did Tyler use my identity?”
Silence.
Then Julian laughed softly.
“So that’s Lena.”
“You already know who I am.”
“I know your paperwork. Tyler didn’t mention the attitude.”
“Tyler also forgot to mention he breaks women’s legs.”
Julian’s tone changed.
“I didn’t order that.”
“Everyone keeps saying that like it matters.”
Gideon glanced at me.
Julian exhaled.
“Tyler became unstable.”
“He was working for you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was useful.”
I felt disgust.
“You arranged for him to meet me?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
The word hit harder than I expected.
I had known.
Still, hearing confirmation broke something.
“You manufactured two years of my life.”
“No. I manufactured an introduction. Tyler handled the rest.”
“Stop talking like that makes it better.”
“It doesn’t.”
Gideon’s voice became ice.
“What do you want, Julian?”
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“Don’t insult me.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Victor said otherwise before he became inconvenient.”
The room went quiet.
Gideon asked, “You killed Victor?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Julian laughed.
“You’ve become very moral in your old age.”
“And you became a coward.”
That landed.
“Careful, Gideon.”
“Eleven years hiding while other men take the risks. Using Tyler. Using Lena. Burning offices.”
Julian’s voice hardened.
“I survived.”
“No. You disappeared.”
The line went dead.
Gideon stared at the phone.
Then he slammed his fist onto the counter.
It was the first time I saw him lose control.
I flinched.
He immediately stepped back.
“Sorry.”
I hated that he noticed.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should never have to decide that quickly.”
His voice was quiet.
He turned away.
I reached across the counter and touched his hand.
He stopped.
“I flinched because of Tyler.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t make his actions yours.”
The words echoed what he had told me in the hospital.
His gaze softened.
Then one of his security men entered.
“We found something in Tyler’s storage unit.”
A metal box.
Inside were fake IDs, cash, photographs of me, and handwritten notes documenting my routines.
Work hours.
Favorite coffee shop.
Gym schedule.
Friends.
Family.
Every date Tyler had planned during the first six months of our relationship had been designed from surveillance.
I couldn’t breathe.
Then we found the letters.
Dozens.
Written by Tyler.
Never sent.
Some were reports to Julian.
LENA TRUST LEVEL: HIGH.
LENA SUSPECTS NOTHING.
LENA HAS ACCESS TO WHITAKER BUILDING.
But later entries changed.
I CAN’T KEEP DOING THIS.
SHE THINKS I LOVE HER.
I THINK I DO.
JULIAN WILL KILL US BOTH IF I WALK AWAY.
I stared at the page for a long time.
Gideon stood beside me.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
“It means Tyler was conflicted.”
“Does it mean he loved me?”
Gideon didn’t answer.
Good.
Because there was no answer that could make it matter.
Love that ends with broken bones is not love worth defending.
At the bottom of the box was an old photograph.
Julian standing beside Victor Salerno.
Behind them, a bank building in Geneva.
On the back:
ACCOUNT FOUR — KEY SPLIT BETWEEN BROTHERS.
Gideon read it twice.
“What key?”
His security chief, Marcus, looked confused.
Then Gideon’s hand moved to his neck.
Beneath his shirt hung a small silver pendant.
I had seen it before.
Simple rectangle.
He removed it.
“My father gave this to me the night he died.”
Marcus stared.
“You never opened it?”
“There’s no opening.”
I examined the edges.
“Maybe it’s not jewelry.”
We took it to an electronics specialist.
Inside was half of an encryption key.
The other half had belonged to Julian.
Together, they could access the final account.
Account Four.
Estimated value after eleven years of investments:
$94 million.
Julian hadn’t returned for revenge.
He had returned for money.
And he needed Gideon alive long enough to unlock it.
That gave us leverage.
Until Gideon’s phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
Rachel Grant tied to a chair.
Tyler’s sister.
Below it:
MIDNIGHT.
BRING YOUR HALF.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR SHE DIES.
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