Chapter 6 - The Brother We Never Knew
Dad had another son.
The sentence refused to fit inside my head.
I was twenty-three years old and had just learned I had an older half brother.
Victor sat down without being asked.
He looked suddenly older.
The woman on the phone continued.
“His name is Noah.”
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
“Where’s Ethan?”
“With someone who knows Noah.”
My hands shook.
“Give me my brother back.”
“You’ll get him.”
“When?”
“When you understand why your mother was framed.”
Victor stood.
“Hang up.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“Sit down.”
He stared at me.
For the first time in my life, I sounded like my mother.
Victor sat.
The caller continued.
Rachel Hayes had supposedly died in a boating accident when Dad was twenty-six.
No body was recovered.
Dad later married Mom.
Nobody told us about Rachel.
Nobody told us about Noah.
“Why hide a child?”
I asked.
“Because Noah was not Michael’s biological son.”
I frowned.
“But you said he was Dad’s son.”
“Legally.”
The caller paused.
“Biologically, he was Victor’s.”
Every person in the room turned toward my uncle.
Victor looked sick.
“No.”
The woman laughed.
“You still deny it?”
Victor gripped the chair.
“Rachel lied.”
“You paid her for seventeen years.”
“That doesn’t prove—”
The caller interrupted.
“You paid for Noah’s school.”
Silence.
“Medical bills.”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“Apartment.”
Another silence.
“And six months before Michael died, you transferred four hundred thousand dollars into Rachel’s account.”
I stared at him.
“Rachel is alive?”
Victor did not answer.
The caller did.
“Yes.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
“You’ll find out.”
Then the line disconnected.
The police traced nothing.
Victor demanded a lawyer.
He refused further questions.
At 2:00 a.m., another message arrived.
A photograph.
Ethan sat in a kitchen beside an older woman.
He looked frightened but unharmed.
The woman held that day’s newspaper.
Underneath was an address.
An abandoned motel outside town.
Police surrounded it before dawn.
The room was empty.
But Ethan’s blue sweater lay on the bed.
So did a flash drive.
Rebecca connected it to her laptop.
A video opened.
Evelyn Carter appeared on-screen.
Alive.
The recording date was six years earlier.
Two days before Dad died.
“If anything happens to Michael Hayes, Victor will blame Caroline.”
My entire body went cold.
May you like
Evelyn continued.
“He already has the knife.”
