Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Blood spread across Marcus’s shirt.
He was still breathing.
I pressed myself against the concrete barrier as another bullet struck the floor beside me.
The shooter had a clear view of the depot’s main entrance. My security team was three blocks away, monitoring the tracker as planned, but I had insisted they stay out of sight unless I triggered the alarm.
I pressed the emergency button beneath my sleeve.
“You don’t have the journal,” I called.
The voice answered from the darkness.
“But you know where it is.”
“Who are you?”
A man stepped into the weak light.
He was tall, gray-haired, and wearing an expensive overcoat. I recognized him from charity galas and newspaper photographs.
Senator Adrian Cole.
For twenty-five years, he had presented himself as a champion of urban renewal and affordable housing. Hale Development had donated millions to his campaigns.
“You helped my father,” I said.
Cole smiled.
“Your father helped me.”
Marcus groaned.
Cole glanced at him without concern.
“Your brother made the mistake of believing confession would purchase forgiveness.”
“What did he confess?”
“That Charles used Hale projects to move money for several political organizations. Illegal donations, foreign accounts, bribes disguised as consulting fees.”
“Why kill Grandpa?”
“William Mercer intended to expose everyone.”
The truth was larger than Dad.
Hale Development had not merely been stolen to enrich one man. It had become a machine for laundering money and buying influence.
Cole extended one hand.
“The journal.”
“It’s already with my attorneys.”
His smile disappeared.
“You’re lying.”
“Then shooting me solves nothing.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Cole turned toward the rear exit.
Security officers entered from both sides.
He fired once and ran.
An SUV crashed through a chain-link gate behind the depot and disappeared before police could block it.
I crawled to Marcus.
The bullet had struck below his shoulder.
He opened his eyes.
“I thought he would scare me,” he whispered. “I didn’t think he would shoot.”
“You trusted a man working with Dad?”
“I trusted money.”
Paramedics arrived.
Before they carried him away, Marcus gripped my wrist.
“There’s a ledger in Dad’s private vault.”
“What ledger?”
“Payments. Names. Dates. Everything.”
“Where is the vault?”
“In the old Hale mansion.”
The mansion had belonged to my grandfather before Dad demolished most of it and built a modern estate on the same land.
“There’s no vault there.”
Marcus shook his head weakly.
“Under the greenhouse.”
At the hospital, Dad arrived before Marcus left surgery.
He walked toward me in the waiting room with Elise and Grant behind him.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“You know what happened.”
“Marcus called me and said he wanted to speak to you.”
“He wanted to tell me about Senator Cole.”
Dad’s expression did not change, but Grant’s did.
Elise looked at him.
“You knew?”
Grant backed away.
“I knew Cole invested in some projects.”
Dad turned toward me.
“You are dragging your siblings into danger.”
“You put them there.”
“I built a life for all of you.”
“You built a prison and called it inheritance.”
His voice dropped.
“Where is your mother?”
I smiled coldly.
“Safe.”
“No one is safe once Cole believes they have evidence.”
“You sound frightened of him.”
Dad looked toward the operating room.
“For years, I made arrangements that protected this family.”
“You murdered Grandpa.”
His eyes hardened.
“William was already dying.”
“You poisoned him.”
“I gave him medicine.”
“In his whiskey.”
“He had a heart condition. He refused treatment.”
The admission came too easily.
Dad believed he could redefine murder as care.
Elise covered her mouth.
Grant stared at him.
“You killed Grandpa?”
Dad turned on them.
“Do not become sentimental now. Everything you own came from the choices I made.”
“No,” I said. “Everything they own came from stolen money.”
Dad looked back at me.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“That is a childish answer.”
“Then here is an adult one. I want control of every Hale asset frozen. I want you removed from the board. I want the company returned to its legal owner.”
“Your mother abandoned it.”
“You forced her out.”
“She was weak.”
I stepped closer.
“She survived you.”
For the first time, Dad’s confidence slipped.
Then Grant’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, and went pale.
“What?” Elise asked.
Grant lowered the phone.
“The old mansion is on fire.”
Dad turned immediately toward the exit.
I blocked him.
“The ledger is under the greenhouse, isn’t it?”
His eyes revealed the answer.
Dad pushed past me.
By the time we reached the estate, flames were consuming the greenhouse.
Firefighters fought to contain the blaze.
A detective approached.
“We found evidence of forced entry.”
“Did anyone get inside the underground room?” I asked.
“There is an underground room?”
Before I could answer, an explosion shattered the remaining glass.
The greenhouse roof collapsed.
Dad watched the flames with relief.
Then my phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared from an unknown number.
It showed the ledger lying open on a table.
Beneath it was a message.
I took it before the fire began.
Meet me if you want to know where Samuel Cross is buried.
May you like
The message was signed with one name.
Aunt Diane.
