Chapter 13 - Brothers
Victor admitted speaking to Monica.
He denied telling her to kill Lucas.
The recorded jail call sounded terrible.
Monica: You told me the boy was the only thing standing between us and everything.
Victor: That isn’t what I meant.
Monica: You always say that after.
Victor: I told you the trust was the obstacle.
Monica: Same thing.
Victor: No. It is not.
Monica: You wanted Andrew broken.
Victor: I wanted him out of the company.
Monica: And now he is.
Victor: Because you’re insane.
Monica laughed.
Then said:
We’re all insane. I’m just the one who stopped pretending money was innocent.
Andrew listened twice.
Rachel sat beside him.
“Victor knew more than he admitted.”
“Yes.”
“But it still doesn’t prove he ordered the push.”
“No.”
That distinction mattered.
Andrew hated it.
He wanted Victor placed cleanly on one side of the line.
Monster.
Brother.
Criminal.
Victim.
But Victor was all of them in different proportions.
Federal investigators charged Victor with wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud Bennett Maritime, obstruction, and evidence tampering.
They did not charge him with attempted murder.
Not yet.
Victor requested a meeting with Andrew before entering a plea.
They sat across from each other in a federal detention conference room.
Victor looked thinner.
“You gave the company away.”
“Temporarily.”
“You know what Dad would say.”
“He recorded a video warning me about you.”
Victor looked down.
“Yes.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I hated you.”
The honesty surprised Andrew.
Victor continued.
“You were always the son he trusted.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It felt true.”
“So you stole nine million dollars.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“No. I stole because I was arrogant enough to think I could fix losses before anyone noticed.”
“Then you blamed everyone else.”
“Yes.”
“Monica?”
“I introduced her to David.”
Andrew went still.
“Why?”
“She was smart. Ruthless. Useful.”
“You knew David wanted her near me.”
Victor looked ashamed.
“At first.”
“And later?”
“I realized she actually loved you.”
Andrew’s jaw tightened.
“Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“She tried to kill Lucas.”
“Both things can be true.”
Andrew hated hearing the same uncomfortable complexity Rachel often forced him to accept.
Victor continued.
“I thought if Monica married you, she could influence you. Push you to sell certain assets. Support board changes.”
“You helped manipulate my marriage.”
“Yes.”
“And Lucas?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“When she got pregnant, everything changed.”
“The trust.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever say he was the only thing standing between you and control?”
“Yes.”
Andrew’s face hardened.
“I said it in anger. To David and Monica. After Dad changed the trust.”
“Did you know Monica might take it literally?”
“No.”
“Did you know she poisoned his formula?”
“No.”
“Ferry?”
“No.”
“Do you expect me to believe you?”
Victor looked at him.
“I don’t expect anything from you.”
Silence.
“I put the drive in Lucas’s bag because I was a coward. I thought nobody would search a baby’s things.”
“You endangered him.”
“Yes.”
“You gave Monica a reason to grab the bag.”
“Yes.”
“You helped create every condition that brought him to that deck.”
Victor’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Andrew had never seen his brother cry.
Not when Harold died.
Not at their mother’s funeral years earlier.
Now tears slid down Victor’s face.
“I hear that splash in my head.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I watched the video.”
Andrew said nothing.
Victor covered his face.
“I watched it over and over.”
“That doesn’t make you innocent.”
“I know.”
For once, Andrew believed him.
Victor later agreed to plead guilty to financial crimes and testify against David and Monica regarding the broader conspiracy.
His cooperation would reduce his sentence but not erase it.
The brothers left the meeting with no reconciliation.
Only truth.
Sometimes that was all people had earned.
Then Andrew suffered another blow.
Monica’s attorneys filed a family-court petition challenging Lucas’s placement with Andrew.
It sounded absurd.
But they argued Andrew’s household was unsafe because of ongoing threats, corporate enemies, and his own admitted failures of oversight.
They requested temporary placement with Monica’s sister Claire’s mother.
Rachel read the filing.
“She’s trying to take Lucas from you from jail.”
Andrew stared at the papers.
“Can she?”
“Not likely.”
“Not likely isn’t no.”
The guardian ad litem ordered a full household review.
Andrew’s temper finally broke.
He threw the filing across the room.
Rachel watched him.
“You finished?”
“No.”
“Then throw something cheaper.”
He stared at her.
She pointed at a couch cushion.
He almost laughed despite himself.
Instead he sat.
“I gave up control of the company.”
“Yes.”
“I cooperate with every investigator.”
“Yes.”
“I protect Lucas.”
“Yes.”
“And they can still question whether he should be with me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because courts care about the child, not your sense of fairness.”
That hurt.
Because it was true.
And Monica knew exactly how to turn Andrew’s worst fear against him.
May you like
He had almost lost Lucas to the black water.
Now he might lose him without anyone touching the stroller.
