Chapter 9 - THE BROTHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Baldric returned to his mansion before sunrise.
The estate was unusually quiet.
The Vance family had spent years trying to make him believe that his wealth made him untouchable.
But tonight, Baldric understood something he had never wanted to admit.
Money had never protected his family.
It had only made them valuable targets.
He entered his study and locked the door behind him.
The enormous room was exactly as he had left it.
Dark wood.
Leather furniture.
Old family photographs.
And above the fireplace, a photograph that suddenly seemed to belong to another lifetime.
Two young men stood beside their father.
Baldric.
And Elias.
They were both smiling.
Before the companies.
Before the billions.
Before the betrayals.
Before death supposedly separated them forever.
Baldric stared at the photograph for a long time.
Then he walked to an old cabinet and unlocked a hidden compartment.
Inside was a newspaper clipping that had yellowed with age.
The headline was still readable.
LOCAL BUSINESSMAN KILLED IN HIGHWAY ACCIDENT.
Below it was Elias's name.
Baldric had kept the clipping for twenty-five years.
Not because he needed proof that Elias had died.
Because some part of him had never accepted it.
He placed the clipping on the desk.
Then Charles entered carrying the USB drive recovered from Gideon's room.
“We found something.”
Baldric looked up.
Charles connected the drive to the computer.
The screen remained black for several seconds.
Then a single folder appeared.
PROJECT ORPHEUS.
Charles opened it.
Dozens of files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Offshore accounts.
Property records.
Fake identities.
Medical documents.
Photographs.
Baldric's eyes moved rapidly across the screen.
Then he stopped.
One photograph filled the monitor.
An older man stood outside a private restaurant.
Gray hair.
Hard eyes.
A familiar face.
Standing beside Roger Vance.
Charles leaned closer.
“Baldric…”
Baldric didn't blink.
The photograph was dated only three months earlier.
He zoomed in.
There was no mistake.
The man was Elias.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakably his brother.
Baldric slowly leaned back in his chair.
For twenty-five years, he had believed his brother was dead.
For twenty-five years, someone had apparently been living under another identity.
And now that man was standing beside the family responsible for destroying his daughter.
Charles whispered:
“Why would your brother work with the Vances?”
Baldric didn't answer.
He opened another file.
There were photographs of meetings.
Transfers.
Private conversations.
Then one image caught his attention.
Elias was shaking hands with an unidentified man.
The man's face had been deliberately blacked out.
But his hand was visible.
On one finger was a large black signet ring.
Baldric stared at it.
His breathing changed.
Charles noticed.
“What is it?”
Baldric whispered:
“That ring belonged to my wife.”
Charles looked at him.
“Your wife gave that ring away?”
Baldric nodded slowly.
“One week before she died.”
A memory suddenly returned.
His wife standing in the kitchen.
Her voice unusually quiet.
Her eyes frightened.
She had said something he hadn't understood at the time.
“If anything happens to me, don't trust the man wearing this.”
Baldric had forgotten those words.
Until now.
May you like
And suddenly, his wife's death no longer looked like a tragedy from the past.
It looked like the beginning of everything happening now.
