Chapter 4 - THE MAN AT THE GATE
The security monitors flickered back on.
Four black SUVs rolled through the gates.
Men in dark suits stepped out.
At the center stood a tall man with gray eyes and a scar across his left cheek.
He looked almost exactly like my father.
Clara noticed it too.
“Oh my God…”
I stared at the screen.
Adrian Cross.
My half-brother.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then smiled.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Julian Vale.”
His voice was calm.
“You took your time coming home.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You knew he was coming tonight.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I didn't.”
Adrian laughed softly through the phone.
“Your brother has always been terrible at lying.”
“What do you want?”
“What your father promised me.”
“The company?”
“The company.”
“You don't have it.”
“Not yet.”
I walked toward the monitor.
“You forged documents.”
“No.”
“You threatened my brother.”
“No.”
“You stole from me.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Your family stole from me first.”
Silence.
“What did my father do?”
Adrian paused.
“He promised my mother that I would never be abandoned.”
My jaw tightened.
“And then?”
“He chose you.”
The words were quiet.
“They gave you the name. The inheritance. The company. The house.”
I looked around the mansion.
“While you got nothing.”
“Exactly.”
“And you think stealing from me fixes that?”
“No.”
His voice became colder.
“I think making you feel what I felt will.”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
Then Marcus spoke.
“Sir, there's something you need to see.”
A new video appeared.
It showed Daniel meeting Adrian six months earlier.
I watched in silence.
Daniel handed him an envelope.
Then another.
Then a USB drive.
I turned slowly.
Daniel looked devastated.
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“They threatened Clara.”
Everything stopped.
“What?”
Daniel's voice broke.
“They said if I didn't cooperate, they would hurt her.”
Clara stood.
“You never told me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I looked at Adrian's vehicles outside.
Suddenly the situation was different.
My brother had betrayed me.
But perhaps he hadn't been the mastermind.
I turned toward Marcus.
“Get Clara to the safe room.”
“No.”
Clara shook her head.
“I am not hiding.”
I looked at her.
“Clara—”
“No.”
Her voice was steady.
“You spent years protecting everyone else.”
She stepped closer.
“Let me stand beside you now.”
For the first time that night, I saw something different in her eyes.
Not fear.
Strength.
I nodded.
“Stay behind me.”
The front doors opened.
Adrian walked inside alone.
His men remained outside.
He looked at me.
Then at Clara.
“So you're the wife.”
I stepped between them.
“Don't look at her.”
He smiled.
“Protective.”
“Very.”
Adrian looked around.
“Beautiful house.”
“You won't be staying.”
“I don't need to.”
He pulled a document from his coat.
“I only came to give you this.”
He placed it on the table.
A copy of my father's hidden will.
I opened it.
My hands went cold.
But there was something Adrian didn't know.
May you like
I had already seen this signature.
And I knew it was fake.
