Chapter 8 - THE BROTHER WHO WASN'T DEAD
The man arrived at midnight.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Older than Andre by four years.
He stood outside the estate gate.
The security guard called Andre.
“Sir, there's a man here claiming to be your brother.”
Andre laughed.
Then the man stepped beneath the security light.
Andre stopped breathing.
He knew the face.
Not from memory.
From photographs.
His brother, Nathaniel, had supposedly died in a boating accident at nine years old.
But the man standing outside looked exactly like David Callaway.
Andre opened the gate.
The stranger approached.
“Hello, little brother.”
Andre's knees nearly failed.
“Nathan?”
“Yes.”
Camille stood beside him.
“How?”
Nathan looked at Lorraine.
“She knows.”
Lorraine looked away.
Nathan continued.
“Our mother staged my death.”
Andre stared.
“Why?”
“Because our father discovered what she had done.”
Nathan revealed the truth.
He had survived the accident.
Lorraine had sent him away.
Private school.
New identity.
New country.
She wanted him gone because David intended to transfer control of the company to him.
Nathan returned only after David died.
But by then Lorraine had already taken control.
Camille looked at him.
“Why come back now?”
Nathan answered:
“Because she killed our father.”
Lorraine shouted:
“I did not!”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“You gave him the poison.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
Andre stepped between them.
“What really happened?”
Nathan looked at Camille.
“Your father knew.”
Camille froze.
“What?”
“He helped mine.”
Nathan removed a letter.
“Your father hid evidence before he disappeared.”
Camille took it.
The final line read:
If Camille ever marries Andre, give her the keys to the Meridian Trust.
She stared.
“What is the Meridian Trust?”
May you like
Nathan smiled sadly.
“The real company.”
