Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER WHO WASN’T DEAD
Rhett Holloway was not dead.
Not legally.
There was no death certificate.
No burial record.
No obituary.
Only a family story.
Derek finally admitted what happened.
Ten years earlier, Rhett disappeared after accusing Patricia of taking money from their late father’s estate.
Patricia told relatives he had overdosed somewhere in Nevada.
No body.
No official documentation.
Just shame.
And silence.
Natalie looked at her mother-in-law differently after learning that.
Patricia had spent years describing Rhett as unstable.
Drug addicted.
Paranoid.
Dangerous.
Exactly the language now being used against Natalie.
The pattern was older than her marriage.
“Where is he?” Detective Shaw demanded.
Patricia refused to answer.
Derek claimed not to know.
Madison was still missing.
Then Natalie remembered the anonymous messages.
THE RENOVATION ISN’T FOR YOU.
CHECK THE COUNTY RECORDS BEFORE MORNING.
Someone had warned her before the confrontation.
“Rhett,” she whispered.
Melissa looked at her.
“What?”
“He may be the anonymous sender.”
They traced the number.
Prepaid.
No subscriber.
But the photograph of Natalie’s house had been taken from an angle across the street.
Same location where a dark SUV had been parked twice that week.
Security cameras caught part of its plate.
Detectives found registration.
Rhett Harlow.
Different surname.
Same birth date as Rhett Holloway.
He had been living in Palm Springs under his mother’s maiden name.
Alive.
When police reached his address, he was gone.
But his apartment contained something unexpected.
Files.
Patricia’s old bank statements.
Probate documents.
Copies of Derek’s loan applications.
Photographs of Madison meeting Calvin Price.
And a handwritten note:
NATALIE IS NEXT.
Melissa stared.
“Next after who?”
The answer was inside another folder.
Rhett’s father.
Samuel Holloway.
Official cause of death:
Accidental fall.
Fifteen years earlier.
Rhett had apparently spent years investigating it.
His notes claimed Samuel planned to remove Patricia as executor of his estate.
Two days before the new documents were signed, he fell down a staircase.
Patricia inherited control.
Rhett disputed it.
Then disappeared.
Natalie felt cold.
“You think Patricia killed her husband?”
Detective Shaw cautioned:
“We think Rhett believed that.”
Important difference.
Evidence first.
Always.
Another file contained audio.
Rhett confronting Patricia years earlier.
“You forged Dad’s signature.”
Patricia:
“Lower your voice.”
“You moved the house.”
“You don’t understand the trust.”
“You stole from all of us.”
Then Derek’s voice appeared.
Young.
Angry.
“Rhett, stop.”
Rhett:
“You know she did it.”
Derek:
“I know you’re destroying this family.”
Patricia:
“He needs help.”
The exact phrase.
He needs help.
The same tactic.
Pathologize the accuser.
Make theft sound like paranoia.
The recording ended with Rhett saying:
“One day you’ll do this to Derek too.”
Natalie looked at her husband.
He sat handcuffed in the other room.
Maybe Rhett had been wrong.
Maybe Patricia didn’t do it to Derek.
Maybe she taught him how.
Then a detective brought in a laptop recovered from Rhett’s apartment.
One recent video.
Recorded three days earlier.
Rhett appeared.
Older.
Bearded.
Tired.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If Natalie Holloway is watching this, then I failed to stop them quietly.”
Natalie froze.
Rhett continued:
“Derek thinks the plan is his.”
Her stomach tightened.
“It isn’t.”
Patricia’s face went pale when police showed her later.
Rhett continued:
“Patricia thinks she controls Derek.”
Pause.
“She doesn’t.”
Natalie leaned closer.
“Madison thinks she gets part of the house.”
Rhett almost smiled.
“She doesn’t.”
Then his expression darkened.
“The real target is Hawthorne Biotech.”
Natalie stopped breathing.
Her employer.
Her career.
Her company?
She did not own Hawthorne Biotech.
She was chief financial officer.
A senior executive.
But not owner.
“What does my company have to do with my house?”
Rhett answered as if hearing her question.
“Ask Derek why he photographed the merger files on your computer.”
Natalie’s blood went cold.
Six months earlier.
One of the first clues.
Photos of documents from her laptop.
She assumed they were mortgage documents.
Maybe not.
Rhett continued:
“He wasn’t looking for your tax returns.”
Pause.
“He was looking for the Riverside Therapeutics acquisition.”
Melissa whispered:
“That deal is confidential.”
Extremely.
Hawthorne Biotech planned to acquire Riverside Therapeutics for $240 million.
Only senior leadership knew.
Natalie had worked on valuation.
The transaction had not been announced.
If Derek had accessed it—
This was securities fraud territory.
Then Rhett said:
“The house fraud is cover.”
Natalie stared.
“Cover for what?”
The video continued:
“They need everyone to think Derek’s motive is money.”
Rhett leaned closer.
“It isn’t.”
Then the video cut.
May you like
On the screen appeared one final title card typed by Rhett:
THE PERSON PAYING DEREK WORKS WITH NATALIE.
