Chapter 6 - The Brother She Never Knew Was Alive
Lucas Hart was thirty-five and worked as a paramedic.
When Olivia saw him, she understood immediately.
The resemblance was impossible to ignore.
Same auburn hair.
Same gray-green eyes.
Same small scar above the left eyebrow.
Lucas stared at her across the coffee shop.
“You’re Olivia.”
She nodded.
“You’re my brother.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
Neither knew what to say.
Finally Lucas laughed nervously.
“Our first conversation is going badly.”
Olivia laughed too.
Then she cried.
“So did our parents name us after the same thing?”
“What?”
“Olivia Evelyn.”
Lucas smiled.
“Lucas James.”
“James?”
“Mom’s father.”
Olivia touched the table.
“She thought you were dead.”
“So did I.”
“What?”
Lucas looked at Dante.
Then back at her.
“I was told my mother gave me up.”
Olivia’s heart broke.
“Who told you?”
“Margaret.”
“Why?”
“To keep Charles from finding me.”
Lucas leaned forward.
“Your father knew I existed.”
Olivia closed her eyes.
“Of course he did.”
“He sent someone to find me when I was seventeen.”
“What happened?”
“My foster father moved us.”
“Why didn’t you come looking?”
Lucas smiled sadly.
“I had no idea I had a sister.”
They spent hours talking.
Lucas remembered Evelyn.
Not many memories.
Her voice.
Her perfume.
The way she sang while making breakfast.
A red scarf.
A silver bracelet.
Olivia cried at every detail.
When they left the café, Dante waited outside.
Lucas looked at him.
“So you’re the famous Dante Moretti.”
Dante raised an eyebrow.
“Apparently.”
“I’ve heard stories.”
“Most are exaggerated.”
Lucas smiled.
“Some aren’t.”
Olivia stepped between them.
“Please don’t kill my brother.”
Dante almost smiled.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
The discovery changed everything.
Because Lucas possessed one thing Olivia did not.
A letter Evelyn had given him before she disappeared.
Lucas had kept it hidden for years.
Inside was a photograph.
Evelyn stood beside Vivian.
And behind them was a third woman.
A woman Olivia recognized immediately.
Helen Grant.
Her father’s longtime business partner.
Also the woman who had helped raise Olivia after Evelyn's death.
Olivia stared at the photograph.
“Helen.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“She was at the Hart estate the night your mother died.”
“Why?”
Lucas handed Olivia another document.
A signed statement.
Helen had arranged the transfer of Evelyn’s financial records.
“She was working for Vivian.”
Olivia’s stomach dropped.
“But Vivian was supposed to be the architect.”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Dante looked at the documents.
“Someone above them.”
The final file contained a coded name.
A.
Dante knew it.
“Alden.”
Olivia frowned.
“Who’s Alden?”
“Judge Malcolm Alden.”
Dante’s voice was quiet.
“Retired federal judge.”
Lucas looked alarmed.
“The judge?”
“He handled the case involving my father’s murder.”
Olivia stared.
“So he buried the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And Charles worked for him.”
“Yes.”
“And Helen worked for Vivian.”
“Yes.”
“Then Vivian wasn’t the architect.”
“No.”
“She was trying to expose Alden.”
“Exactly.”
Suddenly the family war became much larger.
The next step was finding Vivian.
They searched every property tied to Hart Development.
Nothing.
Then Olivia remembered the line from Evelyn’s letter.
Look beneath the blue house.
She returned to the cottage.
In the hidden room, she found a second compartment behind the fireplace.
Inside was a small cassette player.
And another tape.
Evelyn appeared again.
This time she was crying.
“Olivia, Lucas, if you ever see this together, then my children found each other.”
Olivia covered her mouth.
“I am sorry.”
Her mother continued.
“I know Charles will try to separate you. He will tell you Lucas died. He will tell Lucas you abandoned him.”
Lucas began crying.
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“He always lies.”
Evelyn looked directly at the camera.
“Vivian tried to protect me, but Malcolm Alden discovered everything.”
Dante leaned forward.
“He controlled Charles.”
Evelyn continued.
“Alden does not work alone. There is someone close to him.”
A pause.
Then:
“Someone you will never suspect.”
The tape stopped.
Olivia looked at Dante.
“Who?”
Before he could answer, a gunshot shattered the window.
Lucas pulled Olivia down.
Dante moved instantly.
The attacker disappeared into the woods.
They searched the outside grounds.
No one.
But they found something on the porch.
A black envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Olivia and Dante leaving the courthouse.
On the back:
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE DEAD STAY BURIED.
And beneath it was a single name.
CHARLES.
Olivia stared.
“Why would they frame my father?”
Dante looked at the photograph.
“Maybe because he isn’t the person they are trying to protect.”
“Then who are they protecting?”
His phone rang.
A detective’s voice came through.
“Mr. Moretti, we found a body.”
“Who?”
A pause.
May you like
“Charles Hart.”
Olivia’s heart stopped.
