Chapter 2 - THE LIE I HAD LIVED WITH FOR NINE YEARS
I got into Adrian Vale’s car because he knew the one secret I had never written down.
Ethan Bennett was not my brother.
At least, not biologically.
Nine years earlier, when I was nineteen, Ethan had appeared outside my mother’s apartment with a backpack, a bruised cheek, and nowhere to go.
He was fifteen.
His mother had disappeared.
His father was dead.
My mother knew his family somehow, although she refused to explain how.
We took him in.
From that night forward, he became my brother in every way that mattered.
But legally?
Officially?
Ethan Crowe had vanished nine years ago.
And Ethan Bennett had appeared.
I turned toward Adrian.
“How do you know?”
His driver pulled away from the freight yard.
Adrian sat beside me, calm as ever.
“Because I knew his mother.”
“You knew Rebecca?”
His jaw tightened slightly.
That was the first real emotion I had seen.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I’ll explain when we’re secure.”
“No. You’ll explain now.”
The driver glanced at us through the mirror.
Adrian almost smiled.
“Do people usually obey you?”
“When I’m right.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It was my answer.”
For several seconds, he simply studied me.
Then he said:
“Rebecca Crowe was Vanessa’s older sister.”
“I know that.”
“What you don’t know is that she was also my father’s accountant.”
I stared.
Adrian continued.
“Nine years ago, she discovered Vanessa was stealing from both families.”
“So she ran?”
“No.”
His voice turned colder.
“She planned to expose Vanessa.”
My fingers tightened together.
“What happened?”
“Rebecca disappeared two days before she was supposed to meet me.”
“And Ethan?”
“Vanished the same night.”
I looked out at the dark streets.
My mother had always claimed Ethan came to us because Rebecca had asked her for help.
But she had never explained the danger.
“Where are we going?”
“My house.”
I laughed once.
“No.”
“You’re safer there.”
“You expect me to sleep in a mafia boss’s house?”
His eyes met mine.
“I expect you to survive.”
Twenty minutes later, iron gates opened before a massive limestone mansion overlooking Lake Michigan.
Security cameras tracked our arrival.
Men in dark coats stood near the entrance.
I hated everything about how safe it made me feel.
Inside, Adrian handed me a phone.
“Call Ethan.”
I dialed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
My pulse quickened.
“Try his supervisor,” Adrian said.
I did.
The answer came immediately.
“Claire?”
“Where’s Ethan?”
A pause.
“He left two hours ago.”
“With who?”
Another pause.
“Vanessa Crowe.”
The room tilted.
Adrian took the phone from my hand.
But before he could speak, my own phone buzzed.
One message.
Unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Ethan sat in a chair, alive but terrified.
Behind him stood Vanessa Crowe.
Below the photo were seven words:
BRING ME THE LEDGER OR YOUR BROTHER LEARNS THE TRUTH.
I looked at Adrian.
“What truth?”
He did not answer.
And that was when I understood.
May you like
Whatever Vanessa planned to tell Ethan…
Adrian already knew it.
