Chapter 3 - The Dead Brother's File
Claire didn't show Ethan the photograph immediately.
She spent one night trying to convince herself it was nonsense.
The next morning, she failed.
She placed it on his desk.
He looked at the picture.
His face emptied of color.
“Where did you get this?”
“Someone left it outside my apartment.”
He picked it up.
“Did anyone see?”
“No.”
“Did you touch anything else?”
“Just the photograph.”
Ethan stood.
“Claire, you're moving.”
“What?”
“You can't stay there.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
His expression sharpened.
“Someone is threatening you.”
“And I am not moving into your house because someone left a photograph.”
He stepped closer.
“You think this is a joke?”
“No.”
“Then understand what you're involved in.”
“I already do.”
“No, you don't.”
“Then tell me.”
Silence.
Finally, Ethan sat.
“Julian didn't die in an accident.”
Claire's stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
Ethan stared at the photograph.
“The truck that hit us had no plates.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“We had no proof.”
“Did you investigate?”
“For fourteen months.”
“And?”
“I found nothing.”
Claire looked at the image.
“Then why would someone send me this?”
“To make you believe I killed him.”
“Did you?”
He looked wounded.
“No.”
She nodded.
“I didn't think so.”
His eyes lifted.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you had killed your brother, you wouldn't look at that photograph like that.”
He looked away.
Claire understood something about Ethan then.
He lived behind control because grief had taught him that everything could disappear without warning.
“Tell me about Julian.”
Ethan took a breath.
“He was reckless. Funny. He didn't care about money.”
“Sounds like you.”
“No.”
He smiled faintly.
“Nothing like me.”
“Was he married?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared.”
Claire frowned.
“After Julian died?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“No.”
Something clicked.
“Maybe she knows who killed him.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What?”
“Start there.”
They found Julian's former girlfriend two days later.
Her name was Nora Bell.
She lived under a different surname in Boston.
When they arrived, she nearly shut the door in Ethan's face.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I need answers.”
“You need to leave.”
Claire stepped forward.
“We aren't here to hurt you.”
Nora looked at her.
“You're Claire.”
Claire froze.
“How do you know me?”
“Julian talked about you.”
“He did?”
“He thought Ethan would eventually meet you.”
Ethan went still.
“What does that mean?”
Nora sighed.
“Come inside.”
She showed them a box.
Letters.
Photographs.
Documents.
Julian had been investigating someone.
The person's name was Daniel Cross.
Vale Meridian's former head of security.
He had been dismissed shortly before the accident.
“Why?”
Nora looked at Ethan.
“Because Julian discovered Daniel had been selling private information.”
“To whom?”
“Your competitors.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
She held up a phone.
“Your office blocked my calls.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
He looked genuinely confused.
“That's impossible.”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“It happened.”
Then she gave Claire something.
A USB drive.
“Julian wanted you to have this.”
Claire stared.
“Why me?”
“He said you were the only person Ethan would trust who wasn't afraid of him.”
Ethan looked away.
Nora smiled sadly.
“You don't scare her.”
“I know.”
“That's why she might actually save you.”
Outside, Ethan said nothing.
Claire held the drive.
“What do you think is on it?”
“Evidence.”
They returned to his office.
The files contained financial records.
Someone had been secretly paying Daniel Cross.
The payments came from a shell company.
And the shell company belonged to a board member of Vale Meridian.
Marcus Hale.
Ethan's chief operating officer.
His oldest business partner.
The man who had been beside him for sixteen years.
Ethan stared.
“I trusted him.”
Claire said softly, “That's why it worked.”
He opened another file.
There was footage from the night of the accident.
A second vehicle had followed them.
A black SUV.
Its driver was Marcus Hale.
Ethan's hands shook.
Claire touched his wrist.
He didn't pull away.
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
“He watched Julian die.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The final file answered.
Marcus had been manipulating the property purchase around Blackpine Lake.
He wanted Ethan to clear the cottages.
He had forged eviction notices.
He had used the resort project to move illegal funds through Vale Meridian.
And Julian had discovered it.
“Julian was going to expose him,” Ethan whispered.
“So he killed him.”
“No.”
Ethan looked at Claire.
“Marcus didn't pull the trigger.”
A second name appeared.
Thomas Vale.
Ethan's uncle.
Claire stared.
“Your uncle?”
“My father's brother.”
“But you said your family was gone.”
“My father is dead. My mother remarried and lives overseas. Thomas has been out of my life for years.”
“Why would he work with Marcus?”
Ethan read the final line.
Because Thomas controls the original land deeds.
Claire's heart dropped.
“What does that mean?”
Ethan stared at her.
“It means the cottages weren't supposed to be sold.”
“Then why did your company buy them?”
“Because the deed was forged.”
The property Ethan thought he owned might never have been legally his.
And if that was true, eighteen families had been threatened by a purchase that should never have existed.
Claire looked at him.
“What are you going to do?”
Ethan's answer was immediate.
“Give it back.”
She smiled.
“To whom?”
“The people who built their lives there.”
He picked up the phone.
“Cancel the evictions.”
Then another line.
“Freeze Marcus Hale's accounts.”
Then another.
“Find my uncle.”
Claire stared at him.
He caught her watching.
“What?”
“You really will risk your company.”
“For my brother?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“For you too.”
Her heartbeat quickened.
Before she could answer, every light in the office went out.
The door locked automatically.
A voice came through the conference-room speaker.
“That's touching, Ethan.”
Ethan looked toward the ceiling.
“Marcus.”
A laugh answered.
“You've always been slow.”
Claire felt Ethan's hand close around hers.
“Don't move.”
The voice continued.
“Your brother died because he trusted the wrong person.”
May you like
A pause.
“Now let's see what happens to the woman you trust.”
