Chapter 12 - THE BROTHER MY FATHER CHOSE
Julian revoked the proxy the next morning.
Eleanor immediately filed a lawsuit claiming he lacked capacity to manage his inheritance.
The hypocrisy was almost impressive.
The same woman who needed his signature suddenly claimed he was incompetent after he stopped obeying her.
Julian laughed when Daniel told him.
“She really has one move.”
“Control.”
“Exactly.”
He sat beside me in the hospital cafeteria.
For years, we had spoken mostly about holidays and business.
Now everything between us had been stripped open.
“I used to hate you.”
“I know.”
“You always won.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It felt true.”
He stirred his coffee.
“Dad trusted you.”
“Mom told me you were irresponsible.”
“She told me you were arrogant.”
We both laughed bitterly.
Two brothers.
Two different stories.
One author.
Our mother.
“What are you going to do with the shares?”
I asked.
Julian looked at me.
“You’re really giving them back?”
“They were Dad’s instructions.”
“But you built the company.”
“We both inherited the beginning.”
“I built what came after.”
“That doesn’t erase your rights.”
He looked down.
“I want twenty-five percent.”
I frowned.
“The will says fifty.”
“I know.”
“The rest goes into a trust for employees.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Dad started the company with drivers who worked for him when he couldn’t always pay them.”
“Mom talks about sacrifice like she invented it.”
“She didn’t.”
I smiled.
My little brother had grown up while I was not paying attention.
Then he said, “I know who my biological father is.”
I froze.
“Mom told you?”
“No.”
“I found a letter.”
He handed me a photograph.
Gerald Knox stood beside Eleanor at a charity event twenty-nine years earlier.
On the back was a handwritten message.
For our son, even if he can never know.
I looked at Julian.
“Gerald?”
He nodded.
My anger sharpened.
That explained Gerald’s decades of loyalty.
He had not simply been my mother’s attorney.
He had been her partner.
Julian’s biological father.
The forged will made even more sense.
Gerald had shifted shares away from Julian, his own son, because keeping Julian financially dependent made him easier to control.
Julian laughed without humor.
“My biological father stole from me.”
“My real father protected me.”
I placed the photograph down.
“Our father was the man who raised you.”
Julian’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
That afternoon, Julian gave investigators the location of one of Gerald’s private offices.
Police searched it.
They found forged wills.
Fake medical affidavits.
Copies of Clara’s prenatal records.
And something none of us expected.
A life insurance policy.
Insured person: Sebastian Vance.
Beneficiary: Vance Family Preservation Trust.
Trustee: Eleanor Vance.
Coverage amount: $50 million.
The policy had been purchased without my knowledge.
May you like
And according to the records, Gerald had recently increased the coverage.
Three weeks before Clara’s due date.
