Chapter 3 - My Brother Recognized Me Before I Told Him the Truth—and His First Instinct Was to Ask Whether I Came Back to Destroy ThemLeo stared at me.
I kept my face calm.
“You don't look well,” I said.
“Neither did Serena.”
My heart tightened.
“She was your sister.”
“Yes.”
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you let her disappear?”
He closed his eyes.
“I believed Chloe.”
I said nothing.
“She showed me evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Texts.”
“Forged?”
“I know now.”
I studied him.
“You know now?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
He laughed bitterly.
“After she died.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“She isn't dead.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
I froze.
Too late.
His face changed.
“Who are you?”
I took off my glasses.
Then the wig.
His eyes widened.
“Serena?”
I nodded.
He stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“It doesn't matter.”
He stepped closer.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I went to the hospital.”
“I know.”
“I saw your file.”
“Someone changed it.”
He covered his mouth.
“Chloe.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then he asked:
“Why didn't you come to me?”
I laughed.
“Would you have believed me?”
He didn't answer.
“Exactly.”
He looked devastated.
“I would now.”
“That's not enough.”
“I know.”
I turned away.
“I don't want an apology.”
“Then what?”
“I want the truth.”
He looked at me.
“I don't know all of it.”
“Then help me find it.”
He nodded.
We became allies.
Leo secretly gave me access to his private archives.
Emails.
Contracts.
Messages.
Financial statements.
We found payments from Chloe.
Payments to doctors.
Payments to legal consultants.
Payments to private investigators.
Then something worse.
A file labeled SERENA DISPOSITION PLAN.
Leo stared at it.
“What does that mean?”
I opened it.
Inside was a timeline.
Phase One: Discredit.
Phase Two: Hospitalization.
Phase Three: Legal incapacitation.
Phase Four: Transfer of Assets.
Phase Five: Permanent Removal.
My hands shook.
Phase Five had a date.
The date was the night Chloe pushed me.
Leo whispered:
“She planned to kill you.”
“Yes.”
He looked sick.
“What about Victor?”
“We need proof.”
We found it.
A recording.
Victor telling Chloe:
“Once Serena is gone, everything becomes simple.”
Chloe asked:
“What about Leo?”
“He'll follow the money.”
They laughed.
I closed the laptop.
Leo stared at me.
“I thought Dad's death broke us.”
I whispered:
“It was supposed to.”
There was one more secret.
Our father had not died naturally.
His death had been staged.
The original autopsy was missing.
The replacement report cited cardiac failure.
The first report mentioned poison.
Leo stared.
“Our father was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
We traced the doctor who signed the second report.
He had received $2 million.
From Chloe.
The pattern was clear.
She had been involved years earlier.
But why?
Why would she murder our father?
Leo asked the same question.
I found the answer in a box our father had hidden in his office.
A letter.
To Serena.
My daughter,
If you are reading this, then Chloe has finally learned the truth.
She is my daughter.
But she is not Denise's.
Her mother was someone I loved before your mother.
I made choices I regret.
But Chloe's inheritance was never meant to replace yours.
If she becomes dangerous, do not hate her for being born.
Judge her for what she chooses.
I cried.
Leo cried too.
Then he whispered:
“She knew.”
“She knew she was our sister.”
“Yes.”
“She knew she was Dad's daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she steal everything?”
I looked at him.
“Because she believed being loved was a competition.”
Leo nodded.
“And we let her win.”
I closed the letter.
“We did.”
The next day, Victor disappeared.
Not physically.
He vanished from public view.
His lawyers announced he was stepping down.
Hale Meridian's stock crashed again.
And Chloe suddenly appeared on television, crying.
“My brother is sick.
“My family needs privacy.”
I watched her.
Then I noticed something.
She wasn't wearing the red dress.
She was wearing white.
White had always been my mother's color.
Chloe was preparing for something.
Adrian agreed.
“She wants to reposition herself.”
“For what?”
“Control.”
That evening, Leo showed me another document.
A merger proposal.
Hale Meridian would be acquired by a company called Blackthorne Media.
The CEO?
Chloe.
I stared.
“She is buying the company.”
“With whose money?”
We traced it.
My money.
She had been liquidating assets tied to my trust.
If the merger completed, she would own everything.
Unless I stopped her.
I had seventy-two hours.
So I called Chloe.
I used the Elena voice.
She answered.
“Hello?”
I smiled.
“It's Elena Hart.”
Her voice changed.
“Why are you calling?”
“Because I want to buy your company.”
She laughed.
“You can't afford it.”
“Maybe.”
I paused.
“Maybe you already sold it to me.”
Silence.
Then I heard her breathing change.
“Who are you?”
I smiled.
“Someone who reads everything you steal.”
I hung up.
That night, Chloe came to my apartment.
She knocked once.
Then entered.
She stared at me.
Then whispered:
“Serena.”
May you like
I smiled.
“Hello, Chloe.”
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