Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO HATED JULIAN
Daniel Price answered Naomi’s call on the third try.
Not Thomas Price.
Daniel Price.
Evelyn’s brother.
Same surname coincidence with Thomas’s family not relevant.
Daniel lived in Boston, ran a medical-device company, and had not set foot in Julian’s mansion since the funeral.
When Naomi said:
“We need to discuss Sophie,”
he went silent.
Julian heard it over speaker.
No denial.
No confusion.
“Where is she?” Julian asked.
Daniel exhaled.
“So Grace finally got through.”
Julian stood.
“You knew Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“Alive.”
The word nearly destroyed him.
Grace covered her face.
Julian gripped desk.
“Where?”
“I will tell you.”
“When?”
“When you prove Marcus is not in the room.”
Julian looked at Torres.
She nodded.
Video call.
Daniel visually inspected.
Naomi.
Torres.
Grace.
Julian.
No Thomas.
No Hale security.
Daniel’s face appeared.
Older.
Grayer.
He looked at Grace first.
“I’m sorry.”
Grace stared.
“You let him ruin my career.”
“I know.”
“You knew I saw Sophie.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Julian?”
Daniel looked at Julian.
“Because at the time I thought he was the reason Evelyn was dead.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“The week before the crash, Evelyn called me.”
Julian froze.
“She told me she was leaving you.”
Grace looked at him.
Julian did not react outwardly.
Inside, something cracked.
“Leaving me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your life.”
Fair.
“She said she could not raise Sophie around armed men, threats, and secrets.”
Julian looked away.
“She never said.”
“She was afraid.”
“Of me?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Of what you would do to stop her.”
Julian felt anger.
Then shame because he knew exactly why she might think that.
Would he have kidnapped his own daughter?
No.
Would he have pressured, persuaded, monitored, fought custody with every resource?
Yes.
Probably.
Daniel continued.
“She arranged to stay with me.”
“In Boston.”
“Yes.”
“She never arrived.”
“What happened that night?”
Daniel swallowed.
“I was supposed to meet her halfway.”
“Where?”
“Milwaukee.”
Julian stared.
“The crash happened before that.”
“No.”
Silence.
“What?”
Daniel looked sick.
“The crash was staged.”
Julian stopped breathing.
Grace whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Daniel continued.
“Evelyn switched cars at a service plaza twenty minutes before the Hale vehicle went into the river.”
Julian felt reality split.
“Who drove my car?”
“I don’t know.”
“Evelyn’s body was found.”
“Yes.”
“So she got back in.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“This is where plan went wrong.”
“What plan?”
“Marcus’s.”
There.
“Marcus helped her leave?”
“Yes.”
Julian’s knees felt weak.
His head of security had helped his wife disappear from him.
“Why?”
“Evelyn asked.”
“And Sophie?”
“With her.”
“Then why was Sophie not in river?”
“Because Marcus removed her before the crash.”
Julian’s mind raced.
Timeline.
“Where?”
“Another car.”
“Why?”
“Marcus said if police found Evelyn alone, everyone would assume Sophie washed away.”
Julian stared.
“You all used my daughter’s disappearance to fake her death.”
Daniel flinched.
“Yes.”
Grace whispered:
“But Evelyn actually died.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Someone followed them.”
Silence.
“Who?”
“We never proved.”
“Marcus?”
“No. He was in second vehicle with Sophie.”
“Then Evelyn drove decoy?”
“Yes.”
Julian felt sick.
“She agreed?”
“She thought the brakes were fine. Plan was to abandon car near lake and leave country.”
“But someone cut line.”
“Yes.”
“So the staged disappearance became real homicide.”
Daniel nodded.
“And Marcus had Sophie.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he bring her back?”
Daniel looked at Julian.
“Because he believed whoever killed Evelyn was coming from your organization.”
Julian’s rage sharpened.
“Based on what?”
“Evelyn had received threats from inside.”
“What threats?”
“Messages telling her she would never take a Hale child away.”
Julian went still.
He had never sent them.
“Show me.”
Daniel held up scanned pages.
Anonymous.
IF YOU RUN, SOPHIE STAYS.
YOU MARRIED THE NAME. YOU DON’T WALK OUT WITH ITS HEIR.
Julian felt cold.
“Marcus thought I wrote these.”
“At first.”
“Did Evelyn?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Then why trust Marcus?”
“He offered to help.”
“What happened after crash?”
“Marcus called me.”
“When?”
“Thirty minutes after news broke.”
“He told you Sophie was alive.”
“Yes.”
“And you both agreed to hide her.”
“Yes.”
Julian’s voice dropped.
“You had no right.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“And you had no right to build a life where your wife needed an extraction plan.”
The sentence hit.
Both could be true.
Julian sat.
“Where did Marcus take her?”
“Safe house.”
“Then Saint Catherine’s.”
“Months later. Sophie stopped sleeping. panic attacks. wouldn’t eat.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“That’s when I saw her.”
“Yes.”
“Why alias?”
“To keep her hidden.”
“From me.”
“From whoever killed Evelyn.”
“Same effect.”
“Yes.”
Julian breathed.
“Why was my trust used?”
“Marcus said medical bills would be too visible from his personal accounts.”
“So you used mine.”
“Yes.”
“Why add yourself as trustee?”
“I already was through Evelyn’s family trust amendment.”
Naomi nodded.
Legal.
“Where did Sophie go after Saint Catherine’s?”
Daniel looked away.
“Marcus moved her without telling me.”
Julian’s body went cold.
“When?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
“You lost her.”
“Yes.”
“You let him move my daughter and you don’t know where.”
“I fought him.”
“How?”
“Lawyers?”
“No.”
“Police?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“And explain what? That we conspired to fake a child’s death, then lost control of the man hiding her?”
Julian stared.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“I should have.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I thought Marcus still had the right reason.”
“Meaning?”
“He said a leak inside your estate had found Saint Catherine’s.”
Grace remembered Helen Ward at mansion.
Maybe.
“Then Marcus moved Sophie to protect her.”
“That was his claim.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Not anymore.”
“Why?”
Daniel leaned closer to screen.
“Because he stopped sending proof-of-life videos.”
Julian’s chest tightened.
“Videos?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Monthly for almost a year.”
“Show me.”
Daniel hesitated.
Julian’s voice sharpened.
“Now.”
Files transferred.
Sophie.
Drawing.
Eating cereal.
A therapist room.
Growing.
Alive.
Julian watched first ten seconds and had to stop.
He covered his mouth.
Grace looked away.
Naomi stared at table.
Torres remained professional but her eyes softened.
Julian pressed play again.
Sophie looked into camera in one clip.
“Uncle Danny, when can I see Daddy?”
Julian broke.
He had not cried in front of employees in eleven years.
Now he bent forward and cried without sound.
His daughter had asked for him.
Someone had decided no.
Again.
Daniel’s voice came through laptop.
“I’m sorry.”
Julian looked up.
“Sorry is not enough.”
“No.”
“When did videos stop?”
“Eleven months ago.”
“Then?”
“Marcus said cameras increased risk.”
“Did he send photos?”
“Three.”
“Last?”
“Four months ago.”
Grace’s Lincoln Park sighting.
Maybe same day.
“Where was picture taken?”
“Unknown.”
Julian studied.
Sophie near fountain.
Background cropped.
“What did she look like?”
“Healthy.”
“Happy?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“No.”
Good answer.
Then Torres asked:
“Who knew the staged-disappearance plan before crash?”
Daniel thought.
“Evelyn. Marcus. me. one driver.”
“Name?”
“Leon Pike.”
“Alive?”
“No.”
“When died?”
“Three months after crash.”
“Cause?”
“Overdose.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Was he using?”
“History.”
Could be accident.
Could be cleanup.
“Who knew Evelyn planned to leave even without details?”
“Her therapist. maybe housekeeper. Marcus.”
“What about Julian’s men?”
“Unknown.”
Torres asked:
“Who sent anonymous threats?”
“Unknown.”
Julian stared at message on Thomas’s phone.
Same style.
Someone still using threats.
Then Grace spoke.
“Helen Ward.”
Everyone looked.
“What?”
“At Saint Catherine’s, Helen was not just nurse supervisor.”
“What else?”
“She met Marcus privately.”
“How know?”
“I saw.”
“Could be normal.”
“Yes.”
Grace continued.
“But once she told me, ‘Some children are safer with stories than fathers.’”
Julian’s blood turned cold.
“What does that mean?”
“I thought she meant family narratives in therapy.”
“Now?”
Grace looked at him.
“I don’t.”
Torres asked Daniel:
“Do you know Helen Ward?”
His face changed.
“No.”
Lie.
Julian heard it.
“Daniel.”
He looked away.
Torres said:
“Answer.”
Daniel swallowed.
“She is Marcus’s daughter.”
Silence.
Julian stared.
Marcus had a daughter named Helen?
He knew Marcus had a daughter estranged in college.
Different surname after marriage.
He had never connected.
“So Sophie’s nurse supervisor was Marcus’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And Grace saw her entering my mansion.”
Julian looked toward security cameras.
Marcus’s family had access everywhere.
“Why?”
Daniel whispered:
“Maybe Sophie was here.”
Julian stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Helen may have brought her.”
“To my house?”
“Or nearby.”
Grace said:
“I only saw Helen.”
Daniel continued.
“Marcus once said Sophie needed to see home from a distance before deciding whether she wanted contact.”
Julian stood.
“Deciding?”
“She was six.”
“I know.”
“You let a six-year-old decide whether to see her father while every adult around her told her he was dangerous.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Julian turned away.
The rage was unbearable.
Then Amara’s laughter came from hall.
Mrs. Chen was playing blocks with her.
A child’s sound.
Julian forced himself down.
No vengeance.
Find Sophie.
Torres’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her face changed.
“We found the plate Grace wrote down.”
Everyone turned.
“Registered to Vale Protective.”
Julian almost laughed.
Of course.
“Assigned driver?”
“Helen Ward.”
There.
“And there’s toll activity from four months ago.”
“Where?”
Torres looked at map.
“North of Chicago. Then Wisconsin.”
“Destination?”
“One repeated exit.”
She zoomed.
A town on Lake Geneva.
Marcus owned a property there.
Julian knew because he had attended Christmas once.
Naomi said:
“We get law enforcement.”
Julian stood.
“Yes.”
Grace stared.
“You’re not going yourself?”
Everything in him wanted to.
Instead:
“I’m going where police let me go.”
Daniel looked shocked.
Julian stared at screen where Sophie’s frozen image remained.
“I’ve had two years of other people deciding that my anger was more dangerous than their lies.”
His voice cracked.
“I’m not giving them proof now.”
Then Thomas entered without knocking.
His face white.
“Sir.”
Julian looked.
“What?”
“East garage is open.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
“No.”
“Vehicle missing?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Mrs. Chen’s car.”
Julian’s heart stopped.
“Amara?”
Thomas looked at Grace.
“Gone.”
Grace screamed.
The room exploded into motion.
Not Sophie now.
Amara.
Three years old.
And beside the blocks in the hallway sat one folded note.
Julian opened it with gloved hands.
BRING NO POLICE TO LAKE GENEVA.
May you like
YOU WANT ONE GIRL BACK?
DON’T LOSE THE OTHER.
