Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Wanted the Throne
Julian stood halfway down the staircase.
Gun in hand.
His face was calm.
Too calm.
“You've been pretending for months,” he said.
Maxwell glared at him.
“You knew.”
“Mother knew.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“You call this safe?”
Julian smiled.
“She is exactly where she wants to be.”
“You're working with her.”
“I always have.”
“Did you kill Daniel?”
Julian's expression didn't change.
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Then who?”
Julian looked at me.
“The woman you called Dr. Voss.”
My stomach dropped.
“She ordered it.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel found financial records connecting her to Victor.”
I stepped forward.
“You knew?”
Julian looked at me.
“I knew enough.”
“You let my brother die.”
“He wasn't supposed to die.”
Maxwell stiffened.
“What?”
Julian lowered his weapon.
“He was supposed to disappear.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because Mother needed him out of the way.”
“And Victor?”
“Victor wanted him dead.”
“And you?”
Julian looked at Maxwell.
“I wanted you to blame yourself.”
Maxwell's face hardened.
“You succeeded.”
Julian laughed.
“That was the point.”
He came down another step.
“You've always been the one everyone trusts.”
“You're wrong.”
“No.”
Julian shook his head.
“That's what Father taught us. Power isn't about who is strongest. It's about who people believe.”
He pointed the gun at Maxwell.
“You became the perfect king.”
Then at me.
“And she became the perfect weakness.”
My blood ran cold.
Julian continued.
“I watched you investigate the bath incident.”
“How did you know?”
“There are cameras.”
Maxwell shouted:
“I removed them.”
“Not all.”
Julian smiled.
Then he revealed something worse.
Miss Delaney was not the only investigator inside the house.
Two of Maxwell's security guards were secretly working for Evelyn.
They had been feeding information to Victor.
They had monitored every movement.
Every meeting.
Every conversation.
Every attempt Maxwell made to regain strength.
Julian's plan had been simple.
Keep Maxwell paralyzed in public.
Keep him isolated in private.
Convince the world he was too weak to lead.
Then use the trafficking profits to seize control of the company.
But there was one problem.
Me.
Because I had discovered the lie.
And because Daniel had left evidence behind.
Julian pointed toward me.
“Give me the drive.”
“I don't have it.”
“You're lying.”
“I'm not.”
He fired into the wall beside my head.
I flinched.
Maxwell stepped in front of me.
“Enough.”
Julian smiled.
“There he is.”
Maxwell was breathing hard.
His left leg shook.
But he remained standing.
“You don't know what Mother did.”
Julian laughed.
“I know exactly what she did.”
“What?”
“She arranged Father's death.”
Silence.
Even Julian seemed affected by the admission.
“Our father was going to turn the organization legitimate.”
Maxwell stared.
“I knew.”
“No.”
Julian shook his head.
“You didn't.”
He explained.
Their father had been preparing to dismantle the trafficking side of the operation.
Evelyn had refused.
She believed legitimate business would make the family vulnerable.
So she arranged for him to die in what appeared to be a boating accident.
Afterward, she manipulated Julian.
She told him Maxwell had betrayed the family.
She turned the brothers against each other.
For years.
Julian had never realized he was being used.
Until now.
“She wanted us to destroy each other,” he said.
Maxwell looked at him.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
A phone rang.
Julian looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“Mother.”
He answered.
A woman's voice echoed through the room.
“Julian.”
He put the phone on speaker.
Evelyn's voice was cold.
“Kill Maxwell.”
Julian froze.
Then he said:
“No.”
Silence.
“You will do as I say.”
“No.”
“You owe me everything.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You used me.”
“I made you.”
“You made me hate my brother.”
“I made you strong.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“You made me afraid.”
The line went silent.
Then Evelyn said:
“Then Martha dies.”
Julian looked at me.
Maxwell's face turned to stone.
A gunshot came from somewhere outside.
The window shattered.
Everyone dropped.
I heard Maxwell shout.
Then pain exploded in my shoulder.
I had been grazed.
Maxwell pulled me behind the sofa.
Miss Delaney returned fire.
Julian ran toward the front door.
“Where are you going?” Maxwell shouted.
“To stop my mother.”
He disappeared.
Maxwell looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“Just a graze.”
He checked my shoulder with shaking hands.
“You're lying.”
“So are you.”
For the first time, he almost smiled.
Then his knees gave out.
I caught him.
He was breathing hard.
“You can't keep standing like that.”
“I know.”
“You're injured.”
“I know.”
“Then sit.”
He obeyed.
We hid until the gunfire stopped.
An hour later, Julian returned.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Where's Mother?”
Maxwell asked.
Julian shook his head.
“Gone.”
“What happened?”
“She knew we were coming.”
He handed Maxwell a small flash drive.
“I took this from her office.”
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
Maxwell plugged it into the computer.
Financial transfers.
Photographs.
Orders.
Names.
And one video.
Evelyn sat behind a desk.
She spoke directly to the camera.
“I always believed Maxwell would understand the value of sacrifice.”
Then she smiled.
“But he never understood one thing.”
The video continued.
“Fear is not weakness.”
She leaned toward the camera.
“Love is.”
The screen changed.
A file appeared.
Martha Bell.
My name.
My address.
My brother.
My nursing records.
Every secret.
Every vulnerable point.
At the bottom was a document.
A payment authorization.
Signed by Evelyn.
My brother's death.
My career destruction.
Everything.
I stared.
Maxwell closed the laptop.
“It ends now.”
Julian nodded.
Together, the brothers looked at each other.
For the first time, they weren't enemies.
They were family.
May you like
And they had the same enemy.
Their mother.
