Chapter 10 - THE BROTHER BURIED IN THE FAMILY RECORDS
His name was Sebastian Moretti.
He had been born three years before Adrian.
And according to the public records, he'd died in a boating accident at eighteen.
Adrian had never mentioned him.
Not once.
When I called Adrian that night, he sounded exhausted.
"Sebastian?" he repeated.
"Yes."
A long silence.
Then he whispered, "That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because I watched them bury him."
My skin prickled.
"Rebecca says he may be alive."
Adrian cursed softly.
Then said, "When I was fifteen, Sebastian discovered something about our father's business. They argued for weeks."
"What did he discover?"
"I never knew."
"Then what happened?"
"He disappeared during a storm near Lake Michigan. They found the boat, but not his body."
I closed my eyes.
Another empty grave.
Another missing man.
Another truth buried beneath the Moretti name.
"Adrian, did your father ever tell you what Sebastian knew?"
"No. He refused to speak about him."
I thought about my father's recording.
About the financial fraud.
The ambush.
The secret trust.
And the impossible number of lives destroyed by the same hidden operation.
"Maybe Sebastian discovered the same thing my father did."
Adrian was silent.
Then he said, "Claire, there's something else you should know."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"Daniel contacted me."
"Where is he?"
"He offered to surrender."
"Did he?"
"No. He sent a recording."
Adrian forwarded the file.
I opened it.
Daniel appeared in a dimly lit room.
His face was bruised.
He looked frightened.
"Adrian, if you're watching this, I'm sorry."
He swallowed.
"I helped manipulate the rescue operation. I told myself Claire would survive because the kidnappers promised they wouldn't hurt her."
My hands began shaking.
"I knew she was injured. I knew the medical feed was false."
Tears burned behind my eyes.
Daniel continued.
"I thought if you chose Lily, Claire would leave you. Then Sebastian could force you to surrender control of the shipping companies."
He looked away.
"But Sebastian never intended to release Claire."
The room went cold.
"I didn't know that until the transport team moved her. By then, I'd lost control."
Daniel leaned closer.
"There's one more thing, Adrian. Sebastian has spent years planning this because he believes your father stole everything from him."
The video flickered.
Then Daniel spoke the sentence that changed the investigation.
"Sebastian didn't die in that boating accident."
A pause.
"He changed his name."
The final image displayed a recent photograph.
A man standing outside a Chicago financial office.
I recognized him instantly.
Not because I'd seen him on television.
Not because he'd appeared in a family photograph.
But because he'd introduced himself to me at a charity dinner three years earlier.
May you like
His name was Nicholas Vale.
And he'd been my attorney's business partner.
