Chapter 2 - The Brother Nobody Mentioned
Emily followed Victoria into the house because she refused to be dismissed from her own confrontation.
Julian followed because Victoria couldn’t legally stop him without creating questions she clearly didn’t want answered.
The three entered Blackthorne’s glass conservatory through a side door.
Warm air struck Emily’s frozen face.
Victoria immediately reached for her phone.
Julian took it from her hand.
“Don’t.”
“You have no right—”
“You’re calling Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Good. Call him in front of us.”
Victoria stared at him.
Emily took off her wet gloves.
“Someone needs to explain what’s happening.”
Julian handed Victoria’s phone back.
“Start with your employment.”
“My employment?”
“When were you hired?”
“June eighteenth.”
“By whom?”
“Victoria.”
Victoria scoffed. “This is absurd.”
Julian ignored her.
“Did you apply?”
Emily opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
“No.”
“How did the offer happen?”
“Victoria called me after my mother died. She said the estate wanted to take care of legacy employees’ families.”
Julian looked at Victoria.
“There has never been a legacy-family employment program.”
Emily felt suddenly sick.
Victoria’s voice sharpened. “You haven’t been involved in Vale Meridian for six years. You don’t know what programs exist.”
“I’m still a shareholder. I receive annual disclosures.”
Emily stared at Julian.
“Shareholder?”
Victoria answered bitterly.
“He owns fifteen percent of Vale Meridian Group and has spent six years trying to take more.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“I owned thirty-two percent before Adrian presented a trust amendment that cut my voting rights.”
“Because our father changed the trust.”
“Three weeks before he had a stroke.”
Emily put a hand against the back of a chair.
“Stop.”
They did.
“My mother,” she said. “What records did she know about?”
Julian looked at her.
“Nora worked in internal accounting.”
“I know.”
“She also reconciled transactions for the family trust.”
Emily hadn’t known that.
Nora had always described herself as “the woman who made rich people’s numbers behave.”
Victoria moved toward the conservatory doors.
“This has nothing to do with Emily.”
Julian blocked her path.
“Then why did you hire her?”
“I felt guilty.”
“About what?”
Victoria’s eyes flashed.
The door opened.
Adrian Vale entered.
At forty-one, Adrian had the controlled appearance of a man accustomed to being obeyed before he raised his voice. Navy overcoat. Silver tie. Perfect posture.
He looked first at Victoria.
Then Emily.
Then Julian.
His composure broke.
“You.”
Julian smiled thinly.
“Happy New Year, brother.”
Adrian shut the door.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Learning how your wife treats pregnant employees.”
Adrian’s gaze snapped toward Emily’s stomach.
Emily hated herself for shrinking under it.
Victoria spoke quickly.
“She’s pregnant.”
“I can see that.”
“She says it isn’t yours.”
Adrian stared at his wife.
“Mine?”
Emily stepped forward.
“I have never slept with your husband.”
Adrian looked genuinely shocked.
For one terrible second, Emily almost believed that cleared everything.
Then Adrian asked, “Who is the father?”
Julian said nothing.
Emily saw Adrian follow her gaze.
Understanding arrived.
“No.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“Yes.”
Adrian turned toward Julian.
“You slept with an employee in this house?”
“It wasn’t in this house.”
“That makes it better?”
“You’re worried about morality now?”
Emily snapped, “Stop talking about me like I’m furniture.”
Silence.
She faced Adrian.
“Why did your wife hire me?”
Adrian glanced at Victoria.
A tiny glance.
But Emily caught it.
“She admired your mother.”
“Julian says there was no legacy employment program.”
Adrian’s eyes went cold.
“Julian says many things.”
“What records did my mother have?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did Victoria say my mother should have destroyed them?”
Victoria interrupted.
“I was angry.”
“You were scared.”
“Emily—”
“And you searched my room.”
Adrian looked sharply at Victoria.
“You did what?”
For the first time, Victoria seemed irritated with her husband.
“Not now.”
Emily noticed.
They were not united.
That mattered.
Julian reached into his coat and removed a business card.
He gave it to Emily.
JULIAN VALE
MERCER & VALE ADVISORY
Corporate Investigations
“You investigate companies?”
“Mostly fraud tied to family-controlled businesses.”
Victoria laughed.
“He means he gets paid to accuse other people of doing what he did.”
Julian’s face tightened.
Adrian turned to Emily.
“Six years ago, Julian authorized transfers totaling $8.4 million from a Vale subsidiary into accounts he controlled.”
“I didn’t.”
“You signed them.”
“The signatures were digital.”
“They authenticated to your credentials.”
“Credentials your IT department administered.”
Emily looked at Julian.
“Were you charged?”
“No.”
Adrian answered.
“Because our father refused to prosecute his own son. Julian resigned instead.”
“I was forced out.”
Victoria stepped toward Emily.
“This is the man you trust?”
“I don’t trust anyone in this room.”
That silenced them.
Adrian slowly removed his gloves.
“Emily, you’re emotional. You’ve been under strain since your mother died.”
She stiffened.
“That sounded like something my mother warned me about.”
“What?”
“People calling women emotional when they don’t like the question.”
Julian almost smiled.
Adrian did not.
Emily held up the pendant.
“Why does this scare Victoria?”
Adrian’s face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
The compass rose.
The V.
He recognized it too.
Julian took the pendant carefully.
“It belonged to my mother.”
Emily frowned.
“You said it was yours.”
“It is. She gave one to each of her sons.”
Adrian’s hand moved unconsciously toward his shirt collar.
Emily saw the empty chain around his neck.
Julian continued.
“The pendants were made from a pair of antique silver seals that belonged to our grandfather.”
Victoria said, “Enough.”
Julian turned the pendant over.
Along its rim was a tiny engraved number Emily had never noticed.
14-7-3.
“Those numbers,” she whispered.
Julian looked at her.
“You’ve seen them?”
Emily thought of Nora’s belongings.
A battered green accounting notebook locked in a box Emily had never understood.
Numbers written in the margins.
14.
15.
16.
Over and over.
Emily looked toward the snowy memorial garden.
“My mother wrote them everywhere.”
Victoria went pale.
Adrian didn’t.
His response was worse.
He smiled.
May you like
Then he said, “Emily, whatever you think you remember, I strongly suggest you forget it.”
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