Chapter 7 - The Brother Behind The War
Adrian Costa appeared on every screen in the warehouse.
Not physically.
A live video.
He sat in a dark room wearing a black suit.
He looked older than Vincent.
Calmer.
Almost kind.
“Hello, little brother.”
Vincent stared.
“Adrian.”
Charmian stood beside him.
“Why?”
Adrian smiled.
“Because you inherited everything I was supposed to have.”
Vincent's voice was cold.
“You disappeared.”
“I was removed.”
“By whom?”
“Father.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Why?”
“Because I refused to become him.”
Silence.
Adrian continued.
“He chose you.”
Vincent's face hardened.
“You're working with Elias.”
“I was.”
“Past tense?”
“Yes.”
“Then who are you working for now?”
Adrian looked at Charmian.
“The same person your mother feared.”
Charmian frowned.
“Who?”
Adrian smiled.
“You.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Your mother didn't hide evidence in a notebook.”
“She hid it in you.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“Explain.”
“Your mother discovered a financial network stretching through three countries.”
“Names. Accounts. Bribes.”
“Everything.”
“She needed a living key.”
He looked at Charmian.
“She taught you the sequence.”
“She made you memorize it.”
“But the final code requires your memory.”
Charmian whispered,
“I still don't understand.”
Adrian's expression softened.
“Your mother knew someone would erase the records.”
“So she placed them where no one could search.”
“In your memory.”
Charmian stared.
“The song.”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at the screen.
“Why do you need her?”
“Because Elias wants the network.”
“And you?”
“I want Elias dead.”
Vincent laughed once.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“I expect you to understand that we are more alike than you think.”
“You killed people.”
“So did you.”
Vincent said nothing.
“I know what you've become.”
Adrian leaned closer to the camera.
“But I also know what you could still become.”
The screen went black.
Charmian looked at Vincent.
“Do you trust him?”
“No.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Yes.”
That answer startled her.
Vincent continued.
“He's telling the truth about one thing.”
“What?”
“He knows where Elias is.”
That night, they went to the address Adrian had provided.
A church on the edge of the city.
There was no one there.
Only a note.
You were always going to come.
Underneath it was another photograph.
Charmian's mother.
Alive.
Holding baby Charmian.
Beside her stood Elias.
And Adrian.
Charmian stared.
“My mother knew Adrian.”
Vincent nodded.
“Apparently.”
A second note.
READ THE BACK.
Charmian turned the photograph.
A handwritten message.
He saved us once.
Then he chose himself.
Vincent went still.
“That's my father.”
“What?”
“My father wrote it.”
Another memory surfaced.
Her mother's voice.
Never trust the man who says he is protecting you.
Charmian whispered,
“Vincent.”
He looked at her.
“I think my mother wasn't talking about Elias.”
The church doors locked.
Smoke began filling the room.
Vincent grabbed Charmian.
“Down.”
Glass shattered.
Gunfire.
The attack lasted less than a minute.
When it ended, a body lay near the altar.
Not Elias.
Not Adrian.
Sloan Mercer.
She was bleeding.
Charmian rushed toward her.
Vincent grabbed her.
“She works for them.”
“She needs help.”
“She tried to kill us.”
“She is still bleeding.”
Vincent looked at Charmian.
Then stepped aside.
Charmian treated Sloan.
Sloan opened her eyes.
“You…”
“Why?”
Sloan coughed.
“Because I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“Adrian.”
Vincent crouched.
“Where is he?”
Sloan smiled weakly.
“He never wanted the empire.”
“Then what does he want?”
“His daughter.”
Vincent froze.
“What daughter?”
Sloan looked at Charmian.
“Your father had a daughter before he married your mother.”
Vincent stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Sloan whispered,
“Elias isn't your uncle.”
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
“He's your father.”
Silence.
Sloan looked at Charmian.
“And the person you think is your father…”
She coughed.
“…was the man who raised you.”
Vincent and Charmian stared at one another.
Two lives.
Two families.
Two histories.
Everything had just shifted.
Sloan closed her eyes.
“There's a bunker under the old Costa cemetery.”
“That's where Elias is.”
May you like
Then she whispered one final thing.
“He's been waiting for both of you.”
