Chapter 2 - THE BOY WHO HAD NICHOLAS’S EYES
Matthew opened the apartment door holding a baseball bat.
He was seven.
The bat was plastic.
But he held it like he meant business.
A woman in her sixties immediately pulled him backward.
“Matthew!”
I stood outside Rose’s neighbor’s apartment in Bridgeport with one security officer several steps behind me.
“I’m Alex.”
The boy stared.
“I know.”
That surprised me.
“How?”
“Mom has pictures.”
My chest tightened.
Mrs. Alvarez, Rose’s neighbor, invited me inside.
Matthew wore dinosaur pajamas and mismatched socks.
Then he looked up at me.
And my brother stared back.
Not exactly.
His hair was darker.
His face narrower.
But the eyes?
Nicholas.
Same gray-blue.
Same way his left eyebrow lifted when he was suspicious.
I had seen that expression across breakfast tables for thirty-one years.
Matthew crossed his arms.
“Is my mom okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is Camila going to hurt her again?”
The directness hit me.
“No.”
That was not a promise I intended to break.
Mrs. Alvarez brought out a large brown envelope.
“Rose told me if anything happened, this goes only to you.”
My name was written across the front.
ALEX.
Beneath it:
IF ROSE CANNOT GIVE THIS TO HIM HERSELF.
Inside was a photograph.
Nicholas and Rose standing beside a food truck in Manhattan.
Nicholas was laughing.
His arm around her.
I had never seen him look happier.
The next item was a brass key taped to a folded note.
Alex,
If Rose ever gives you this, something went wrong.
That was Nicholas’s handwriting.
My hands started shaking.
He continued:
I don’t know whether I’ll have a son or daughter. Rose is only nine weeks pregnant.
If I’m not here when the baby is born, believe her.
Do the test if you need certainty.
But protect the child first.
My vision blurred.
Matthew was watching me.
“Did my dad write that?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Did he know about me?”
“He knew you were coming.”
Matthew looked down.
That mattered to him.
More than money.
More than Vance Global.
Then I reached the final lines.
There are things happening at Vance that I don’t understand yet.
Do not bring this to Victor.
Do not use company security.
The key opens a box at Hartford Federal Trust.
Everything I have is there.
I closed my eyes.
Nicholas had written this before his crash.
Then Matthew asked:
“Was my dad scared?”
I looked at him.
“I think he was careful.”
That sounded better.
Maybe even true.
Mrs. Alvarez gave me another object.
A small silver watch.
Nicholas’s.
“Rose kept it for Matthew.”
The back was engraved:
N.V.
I remembered buying it for Nicholas’s twenty-fifth birthday.
Matthew touched it gently.
“Can I keep it?”
“It’s yours.”
His face changed.
The first thing from his father that belonged only to him.
Then my phone rang.
My head of household security.
“Mr. Vance, we reviewed the estate camera system.”
“What did you find?”
“Someone manually disabled the second-floor cameras at 11:58 p.m.”
“Camila?”
“Not directly.”
My stomach tightened.
“The override used an executive security authorization.”
Only four people possessed one.
Me.
My security chief.
Victor.
And Camila, temporarily, because our wedding had created constant guest access.
“Whose code?”
Silence.
“Tell me.”
“Victor Vance.”
I looked at Nicholas’s note again.
May you like
DON’T TRUST VICTOR.
My uncle’s code had been used seventeen minutes before Rose hit the mirror.
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