Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Rafael Reyes had Damon’s eyes.
That was what made it worse.
Not the scar running from his temple to his jaw.
Not the gray beginning at his hairline.
Not the fact that he looked thinner than the man Damon remembered.
It was the eyes.
The same eyes that had watched Damon from the passenger seat when they were boys.
The same eyes that had promised never to abandon him.
The same eyes Damon had seen in a casket six years ago.
Damon stared at the screen.
“You're dead.”
Rafael smiled.
“I was supposed to be.”
“Who buried you?”
“No one.”
“Then whose body was in that coffin?”
Rafael looked away.
“A man who looked enough like me to satisfy the people who needed a funeral.”
Damon felt rage rising.
“You let me mourn you.”
“I had no choice.”
“You let me believe you were gone.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
Rafael's face tightened.
“Maybe.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Where is Selena?”
Rafael's expression changed.
“She is alive.”
“Where?”
“You will know soon.”
Damon looked at the timer.
Thirty-seven minutes remained.
“What do you want?”
Rafael laughed.
“What I have always wanted.”
“Which is?”
“To end Father's empire.”
Damon glanced at Victor.
“Victor says you wanted to control it.”
Rafael's expression hardened.
“Victor lies.”
“Does he?”
“He has been compromised for years.”
Victor shouted.
“That's not true!”
Rafael ignored him.
“You need to understand something, Damon. Father did not build the Circle alone.”
Damon said nothing.
“Victor helped him.”
Victor looked down.
Rafael continued.
“When I discovered what they were doing, I tried to expose them. I found the ledger.”
“And?”
“They found me first.”
He described the night of his disappearance.
The plane.
The staged crash.
The fake body.
The escape.
He vanished.
But instead of fleeing, Rafael stayed close.
He watched.
He tracked the Circle.
And eventually he discovered that someone had hidden the ledger inside a genetic cipher.
A code requiring bloodline markers.
His daughter.
Ruby.
Damon stared.
“Why didn't you come to Selena?”
“I did.”
“Then why did she think you were dead?”
“Because she was supposed to.”
Rafael admitted that he had approached Selena years ago.
He had asked her to protect Ruby.
He had told her never to reveal his identity.
Then he disappeared again.
But someone learned about Ruby.
The Circle began watching Selena.
That's why she eventually came to Damon.
Not for money.
Not for work.
For protection.
Damon's voice was bitter.
“So every moment since she arrived here was part of a plan.”
Rafael shook his head.
“Not on her side.”
“She knew who I was?”
“No.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“Yes.”
Damon stared.
“Why?”
“Because she had to.”
The line went silent.
Then Rafael said something unexpected.
“She loves you.”
Damon froze.
Marcus looked away.
Rafael continued.
“I know because she asked me to leave her alone after she met you.”
Damon frowned.
“Why?”
“She said you were the first man she had ever trusted since Daniel died.”
Damon's chest tightened.
Rafael lowered his voice.
“She did not want you pulled into my war.”
Damon looked at Victor.
“What about him?”
Rafael's expression became cold.
“Victor is not the mastermind.”
“Then who?”
Rafael leaned toward the camera.
“Your father's successor.”
“Who?”
Rafael whispered one name.
“Adrian Vale.”
Damon froze.
Adrian Vale had been dead for fifteen years.
Or so he thought.
Damon suddenly remembered a file his father had kept locked away.
A photograph.
A man with silver hair.
A diplomat.
A businessman.
A man Damon had never understood.
Adrian.
The architect behind The Meridian Circle.
The man who had disappeared after Javier's death.
Rafael continued.
“He has been running everything.”
“From where?”
“Everywhere.”
The timer showed twenty-eight minutes.
Damon spoke.
“What about Selena?”
Rafael hesitated.
“I don't have her.”
Damon's blood turned cold.
“Then who does?”
Rafael's face changed.
“I thought you did.”
Silence.
Damon realized something.
The video of Selena could have been old.
The captors had sent it to manipulate him.
She might have been moved somewhere else entirely.
Rafael said, “Damon, listen to me.”
“I am.”
“Do not open the ledger.”
Damon looked at the key.
“Why?”
“Because that's what they want.”
“Then what do they want Ruby for?”
Rafael stared at him.
“They don't need Ruby.”
“They need her blood.”
Damon clenched his jaw.
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Rafael's voice broke.
“They need her blood to identify the original ledger code.”
Damon understood.
If the ledger existed as a genetic encryption system, Ruby was not the ledger.
She was the key.
And someone was willing to kill her to unlock it.
Damon turned toward the safe room.
“Marcus.”
Marcus nodded.
“I've already doubled security.”
“Move Ruby.”
“Where?”
“Underground vault.”
Marcus frowned.
“That's for weapons.”
“Today it's for a child.”
Marcus nodded.
Damon turned back toward the screen.
“Rafael.”
His brother looked at him.
“I want the truth.”
“You deserve it.”
“Did you kill Daniel?”
Rafael went completely still.
“No.”
“Did you order his death?”
“No.”
“Did you use Selena?”
“No.”
“Did you know Ruby was your daughter?”
Rafael closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Damon's voice dropped.
“And you never told me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You could have trusted me.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Rafael looked directly at him.
“Because Victor had already betrayed you.”
Damon turned.
Victor was gone.
The chair where he had been standing was empty.
Marcus spun around.
“Damon!”
A gunshot erupted downstairs.
Then another.
Ruby screamed.
Damon ran.
The vault doors were open.
Marcus stood over an unconscious guard.
And the pink suitcase lay in the corridor.
Empty.
Damon's world went cold.
“Ruby?”
No answer.
He ran deeper into the corridor.
Then he saw a small shoe.
Ruby's shoe.
Beside it was a note.
May you like
Four words.
You trusted the wrong man.
