Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO CAME HOMEAt 9:15 the next morning, the mansion's front gate opened.
Richard Hayes walked in.
Calm.
Confident.
As if nothing had happened.
Mark stood in the foyer.
“You.”
Richard smiled.
“Good morning.”
“Where have you been?”
“Business trip.”
“You left yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Richard shrugged.
“Chicago.”
Mark stared at him.
“You're lying.”
Richard's smile faded.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Victoria appeared behind Mark.
Richard looked at her.
“Still playing the victim?”
Victoria stepped forward.
“Richard.”
“Don't say my name like you know me.”
“I know exactly who you are.”
Richard laughed.
“Do you?”
Mark stepped between them.
“Why were you taking money from my charity?”
Richard's expression remained calm.
“I wasn't.”
“I have the records.”
“Records can be forged.”
“I have your name.”
“So?”
Mark pulled out the ledger.
Richard's eyes flickered toward it.
For the first time, Mark saw fear.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
But real.
“You recognize it.”
Richard smiled again.
“You have no idea what you're holding.”
“Then tell me.”
“I won't.”
Mark stepped closer.
“Did you kill our father?”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Were you there when he died?”
Richard remained silent.
Victoria whispered:
“Yes.”
Richard turned toward her.
“You should have kept your mouth shut.”
The police moved immediately.
“Don't threaten her.”
Richard raised his hands.
“I didn't.”
Then the lights went out.
The mansion plunged into darkness.
A crash sounded upstairs.
Mark shouted:
“Everyone stay together!”
The emergency lights came on.
Richard was gone.
The police searched the house.
Nothing.
Then Elena noticed the open window in the study.
“He escaped.”
Mark rushed over.
Outside, tire tracks disappeared down the driveway.
A police officer ran in.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“The security footage has been erased again.”
Mark stared.
“From Richard's device?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
The officer hesitated.
“Yours.”
Mark's stomach dropped.
“My computer?”
“Yes.”
Someone had accessed his private system.
A message appeared on his monitor.
YOU'RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.
Then another message:
ASK VICTORIA ABOUT THE BABY.
Mark turned.
“What baby?”
Victoria froze.
Elena looked at her.
“What baby?”
Victoria couldn't speak.
Mark walked toward her.
“Victoria.”
She began crying.
“There was a child.”
“What child?”
“Your father's.”
Mark stared.
“My father had another child?”
Victoria nodded.
“A son.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Who is he?”
Victoria whispered:
“Daniel Ross.”
The room went silent.
Mark felt dizzy.
“Daniel?”
“He was your father's illegitimate son.”
Mark stared at the ledger.
“That can't be.”
“Your father hid him.”
“Why?”
“Because Blackwood found out.”
Mark looked at Elena.
She suddenly understood.
“Daniel wasn't investigating the family.”
“No,” Victoria said.
“He was part of it.”
Victoria nodded.
“Your father trained him to expose the network.”
Mark whispered:
“Then where is Daniel?”
Victoria looked toward the window.
“He's alive.”
A police officer's phone suddenly rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Everyone looked at him.
He slowly lowered the phone.
“We just received confirmation.”
“Of what?”
“Daniel Ross is alive.”
Mark's heart raced.
“Where?”
The officer looked at him.
“He contacted the police.”
“What did he say?”
The officer swallowed.
“He said he knows who killed your father.”
Mark's entire world seemed to stop.
Then the officer added:
May you like
“And he says Victoria is the only person who can tell you why.”
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