Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER IN THE DARK
Ethan stopped in the corridor.
The voice came again.
“Ethan.”
It echoed from the lower tunnel.
Claire heard the same tone.
The same rhythm.
The same roughness that entered Ethan’s voice when he was frightened.
Ethan looked toward her.
“My brother.”
“You did not know.”
“No.”
The transmission display on the wall dropped to forty-two percent.
The countdown beside Eleanor’s chamber showed twenty-one minutes.
They had no time to understand either discovery.
Ethan drew the pistol Detective Reed had given him.
“Stay behind me.”
Claire ignored the instruction and moved beside him.
They descended a steel staircase toward the server level.
The air smelled of hot wiring and dust.
Emergency lights flashed red along the walls.
At the bottom, they found Rosa lying near the doorway.
Blood covered the side of her face.
Ethan dropped beside her.
“Rosa.”
Her eyes opened.
“I’m alive.”
“Where are you hit?”
“I’m not.”
She touched the blood.
“The bullet struck the camera.”
Claire helped her sit up.
“Evelyn forced you to stop the transfer.”
Rosa nodded.
“She has Victor’s override drive.”
“Where did she go?”
“Server room.”
“Is Reed with Eleanor?”
“Victor’s men took him.”
Ethan’s expression tightened.
“How many men?”
“I saw four.”
A scream came from behind the server door.
Ethan’s voice.
Yet Ethan stood beside Claire.
Rosa looked at him.
“She brought Adrian.”
“Who is Adrian?”
Rosa stared at Ethan.
“Your twin brother.”
Ethan stood.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“For how long?”
“Since you were a child.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Eleanor made everyone believe he died.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn chose him.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Rosa struggled to stand.
“Eleanor took Ethan away after Victor attempted to buy both children through an illegal adoption arrangement.”
“Buy us?”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“Victor wanted an Ashford heir he could control.”
“Eleanor stopped him.”
“She saved one child.”
“What happened to the other?”
“Evelyn disappeared with Adrian.”
A heavy object struck the server room door from inside.
“Open it,” a man shouted.
Ethan approached the panel.
The lock had been damaged.
He pulled the door open.
A man fell into the corridor.
Claire caught the wall to steady herself.
The resemblance was immediate.
The stranger had Ethan’s height, Ethan’s dark hair, and Ethan’s gray eyes.
A thin scar crossed his right eyebrow.
His clothes were torn.
Plastic restraints hung from one wrist.
He looked at Ethan.
Neither man spoke.
For several seconds, the underground complex disappeared around them.
Adrian reached toward Ethan’s face.
“You’re real.”
Ethan stepped back.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Adrian Vale.”
“Vale?”
“Victor gave me his name.”
Claire looked past him.
The server room was empty.
“Where are Evelyn and Victor?”
Adrian pointed toward a second exit.
“They went to the chamber.”
Ethan grabbed his arm.
“Why?”
“To kill Eleanor.”
The display showed eighteen minutes remaining.
They ran back through the passage.
Adrian stumbled once.
Ethan caught him instinctively.
The brothers looked at one another again.
There was no time for questions, but every unanswered year followed them.
They reached the glass chamber.
The door stood open.
Detective Reed lay unconscious beside the control panel.
Eleanor was gone.
A trail of blood led toward the western tunnel.
Reed groaned.
Claire knelt beside him.
“What happened?”
“Victor.”
“Did he take Eleanor?”
Reed tried to focus.
“The woman with Eleanor’s face.”
“Evelyn.”
“She shot one of Victor’s men.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian looked toward the blood trail.
“She is not helping Eleanor.”
Ethan turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because my mother spent my entire life promising she would kill her sister.”
They followed the trail.
The western tunnel ended inside a circular underground theater.
Rows of old wooden seats faced a small stage.
Graham had once used the room for private company presentations.
Now Eleanor stood beneath a single overhead light.
Her wrists were bound.
Victor held a gun against the back of her head.
Evelyn stood several feet away.
She held another weapon.
“You brought both of them,” Victor said.
Eleanor looked at Ethan.
Then she saw Adrian.
The strength left her face.
“No.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You remember me.”
Eleanor whispered his name.
“Adrian.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Tell him what you did.”
Eleanor looked toward Ethan.
“I tried to save you both.”
“You left me,” Adrian said.
“I thought you were dead.”
“You never looked.”
“I looked for years.”
“My mother said you chose Ethan because he was healthier.”
Eleanor stared at Evelyn.
“You told him that?”
“You chose him because Graham wanted him.”
“I chose him because you had already placed Adrian in Victor’s hands.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“That is enough.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You said you rescued me.”
“I raised you.”
“You trained me to break into companies and steal records.”
“I gave you purpose.”
“You kept me locked in private schools under false names.”
“You were difficult.”
“You told me Ethan stole my life.”
Victor’s face remained calm.
“He did.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“I did not know you existed.”
Adrian looked at him.
The hatred he had carried for years had nowhere to land.
Claire saw it collapse into confusion.
Victor aimed at Ethan.
“Knowledge does not erase benefit.”
Evelyn raised her gun toward Victor.
“You promised not to hurt him.”
“Which one?”
Her face tightened.
Victor smiled.
“That has always been your problem.”
“You love the idea of your sons more than either son.”
Eleanor looked at Ethan.
“Victor sabotaged the plane because Graham discovered Adrian was alive.”
Graham’s words returned to Claire.
The plane crash had been intended to kill both Graham and Eleanor.
Victor fired.
The bullet struck Evelyn in the shoulder.
She fell against the seats.
Adrian rushed toward her.
Victor turned his weapon toward Eleanor.
Ethan fired first.
His bullet struck Victor’s arm.
The gun flew across the stage.
Claire kicked it away.
Reed entered behind them, leaning against the wall.
“Victor Hale, get on the ground.”
Victor laughed.
“You still believe this is about arresting me.”
He reached inside his coat.
Reed fired into the floor near his feet.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Victor slowly removed a small remote.
Eleanor went pale.
“What did you do?”
“I gave the manor a proper ending.”
Ethan looked at the remote.
“What does it control?”
“The gas lines.”
Claire felt cold.
Victor pressed the button.
A distant explosion shook the underground theater.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The lights went out.
Flames appeared on the security monitor near the stage.
Ashford Manor was burning.
Victor used the darkness to run toward the western exit.
Reed followed him.
Ethan moved toward Eleanor.
Adrian remained beside Evelyn.
Claire looked between them.
“Everyone has to leave.”
Eleanor stared at the burning manor on the monitor.
“The evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The files I kept against Victor.”
“Where are they?”
“My bedroom.”
Ethan cut her restraints.
“The house is already on fire.”
“Those files prove Daniel did not die by accident.”
Claire turned toward Eleanor.
“You have had proof all this time.”
“I had suspicions.”
“You said files.”
“A recording.”
“Of what?”
“Victor ordering the crash.”
Claire grabbed her arm.
“Where?”
“Behind the portrait in my bedroom.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No one is going back inside.”
Claire looked at the burning manor.
Her father’s final truth was disappearing room by room.
She moved toward the exit.
Ethan blocked her.
“Absolutely not.”
“I need that recording.”
“You will die.”
“My father died because all of you stayed silent.”
“I will get it.”
“No.”
“You have broken ribs.”
“And you have a father in surgery, a mother who lied to you, and a brother you met five minutes ago.”
“Which is exactly why I am not losing you too.”
The word settled between them.
Losing.
Not helping.
Not protecting.
Losing.
Ethan turned toward Adrian.
“Get them outside.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You expect me to follow your orders?”
“I expect you to decide whether you want Victor to erase your life again.”
Adrian looked at Evelyn.
She pressed one hand against her wounded shoulder.
“Go,” she whispered.
Adrian helped Eleanor and Evelyn toward the southern tunnel.
Claire followed Ethan through the passage leading back to the manor.
Smoke entered before they reached the greenhouse.
Fire consumed the western roof.
Windows exploded outward.
Fire engines climbed the long driveway.
Ethan pulled his shirt over Claire’s mouth.
They entered through the service corridor.
Heat pressed against them.
The ballroom chandeliers had fallen.
The staircase where Eleanor pushed Claire burned along one side.
They moved toward the upper floor.
Claire’s ribs screamed with every step.
Ethan kicked open Eleanor’s bedroom door.
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
A portrait of Graham and Eleanor hung above the fireplace.
Ethan tore it from the wall.
A steel safe appeared behind it.
“What is the code?”
Claire remembered the photograph inside the hidden medical room.
Graham and Daniel standing together.
A date had been written beneath it.
“Try the day my father died.”
Ethan entered the numbers.
The safe opened.
Inside lay a recorder, several passports, and a sealed envelope addressed to Ethan.
Claire grabbed the recorder.
A burning beam crashed across the doorway.
They were trapped.
Ethan looked toward the balcony.
“We climb down.”
“The drop is two stories.”
“The roof below will break the fall.”
“That is not reassuring.”
The ceiling cracked.
Ethan wrapped one arm around her.
“Trust me.”
Claire looked at him through the smoke.
Eight years earlier, she had failed to do exactly that.
She nodded.
They climbed onto the balcony.
Flames burst through the bedroom behind them.
Ethan lowered Claire onto the sloping roof.
The tiles shifted beneath her.
He followed.
The roof groaned.
They began sliding.
Claire caught the edge of a gutter.
Ethan caught her wrist.
The structure cracked beneath him.
“Don’t let go,” she shouted.
“I won’t.”
The gutter tore away from the stone.
They fell through smoke and sparks.
A canvas fire blanket stretched beneath them.
Firefighters caught their weight.
Claire hit the ground and lost her breath.
Ethan landed beside her.
Paramedics rushed forward.
He still held the sealed envelope.
Claire still held the recorder.
Across the lawn, Eleanor watched the manor burn.
Adrian stood beside her.
Evelyn sat inside an ambulance, refusing treatment until she saw both sons alive.
Detective Reed emerged from the woods alone.
Victor had escaped.
Claire pressed play on the recorder.
Static filled the small speaker.
Then Victor’s younger voice spoke.
Daniel Bennett cannot reach Washington.
Make the crash look accidental.
Claire closed her eyes.
A second voice answered.
It belonged to a woman.
Consider it done.
Ethan looked toward Eleanor.
Eleanor shook her head.
“That is not me.”
The recording continued.
Victor spoke again.
Thank you, Evelyn.
Every person on the lawn turned toward the ambulance.
Evelyn stared back at them.
Adrian’s face emptied.
His mother had not merely known about Claire’s father’s death.
She had arranged it.
Then the sealed envelope in Ethan’s hand began vibrating.
Something electronic had been hidden inside it.
He tore it open.
A phone fell onto the grass.
The screen displayed a live video.
Graham lay unconscious in his hospital bed.
Victor stood beside him holding a syringe.
May you like
“Bring me the original ledger,” Victor said.
“Or this time, Graham Ashford will stay dead.”
