Chapter 4 - The Brother Who Came Back With a GunMy brother's name was Julian.
I had forgotten it.
Or maybe I had been made to forget it.
Either way, seeing it on that note turned my childhood into something I could finally touch.
Julian.
My twin.
The boy beside me in the photograph.
The baby whose existence my father had denied.
The brother who was supposed to be dead.
Adrien found him first.
A security camera captured Julian entering the property.
He was twenty-four.
Tall.
Dark hair.
A scar over his eyebrow.
He looked almost exactly like our father.
And he was carrying a gun.
Adrien watched the footage twice.
“Does he know you?”
“I don't know.”
“Has he contacted you?”
“No.”
“Then why would he come here?”
Before I could answer, the phone rang.
Julian.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then:
“Charlotte.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Julian?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Working with them.”
He laughed softly.
“I never said I was.”
“Then why were you in the mansion?”
“To find you.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Adrien listened through speaker.
Julian continued:
“Don't trust the people around Adrien.”
Adrien rolled his eyes.
Julian laughed.
“I knew he'd be there.”
“Julian, where's Mia?”
“Safe.”
“Bring her back.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“Once you know the truth.”
My heart raced.
“What truth?”
“Ask Adrien what happened to his sister.”
The call ended.
I turned.
“What happened to your sister?”
Adrien's expression became stone.
“She wasn't killed in a car accident.”
“What happened?”
“She was murdered.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“Because she discovered what he was doing.”
“What was he doing?”
“Using children to hide money.”
My stomach twisted.
“How?”
“Fake identities. Illegal adoptions. Shell companies.”
I looked at my own photograph.
“My mother found out.”
“Yes.”
“And Julian?”
“Your brother was taken because your father knew he could be used against her.”
I felt sick.
“Then where has he been?”
“Raised by my father's enemies.”
“Why?”
“To make him hate me.”
The pieces began connecting.
The old organization.
The hidden ledger.
My mother's disappearance.
My brother's disappearance.
The mysterious man in the security footage.
Someone had been controlling all of us.
Then Mia's location appeared.
An abandoned church outside the city.
Adrien and I drove there.
Julian was waiting.
He stood beside my daughter.
She was safe.
Unhurt.
When she saw me, she ran.
I caught her.
“Mia!”
She wrapped her arms around me.
Julian smiled.
“I told you.”
I hugged my daughter tighter.
Adrien looked at Julian.
“You've got five minutes.”
Julian laughed.
“You haven't changed.”
“You have.”
“Yes.”
They stared at each other.
Then Julian said:
“You need to know what Dominic Cross did.”
Adrien's face tightened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He didn't just run a criminal organization.”
“What?”
“He built a system.”
Julian gave us a flash drive.
Every file was there.
Accounts.
Hospitals.
Adoption agencies.
Birth records.
Names.
Dozens of children.
Some disappeared.
Some were given new identities.
Some were raised by families who had no idea where they came from.
And then I saw my own name.
Charlotte Hayes.
Protected.
My heart stopped.
“What does protected mean?”
Julian looked at me.
“My mother protected you.”
“From whom?”
“From everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because you were the first child to escape the system.”
Adrien frowned.
“The first?”
Julian nodded.
“The others were used as leverage.”
I looked at Mia.
“And her?”
“She's on another list.”
Mia's name appeared.
I felt sick.
“What does it say?”
Julian hesitated.
“Future target.”
My arms tightened around her.
“Why?”
“Because the people who built the system believe her bloodline gives her access to the hidden accounts.”
Adrien shook his head.
“They're still using that lie.”
Julian looked at him.
“You know what I know?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know who the real target is.”
Adrien looked at me.
“What?”
Julian answered.
“Not Mia.”
“Then who?”
“You.”
I froze.
“Me?”
Julian nodded.
“Your mother hid something inside you.”
“What?”
“The location of the ledger.”
“How?”
“Memory.”
I remembered the lullaby.
The silver pendant.
The blue room.
The second crib.
Adrien looked at me.
“Your memories are the key.”
Before I could answer, a gunshot shattered the church window.
Julian pushed me down.
Adrien returned fire.
Men flooded through the side entrance.
Someone shouted:
“Take the girl!”
I grabbed Mia.
Adrien fought his way toward us.
Julian covered the exit.
We escaped through the cemetery.
Behind us, the church burned.
Mia cried.
Adrien picked her up.
She clung to him.
And as we ran through the snow, I realized something terrifying.
The enemy wasn't hunting Mia because she was powerless.
They were hunting her because they believed her mother knew where the fortune was hidden.
The fortune wasn't in a bank.
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It wasn't in a warehouse.
It was buried inside the memory of a little girl who had forgotten she was ever a key.
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