Chapter 33 - The Original Trust
The steel door slammed shut.
The sound shook the archive.
“Get it open!” the investigator shouted.
Two officers threw themselves against it.
Nothing happened.
The keypad was dead.
Arthur moved toward the control panel.
“Don't touch it.”
He stopped.
I stared at him.
“You said you'd never seen this happen.”
“I said nothing.”
“You knew.”
Arthur looked at the screen.
“I knew the system was capable of locking from the inside.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I was hoping it wouldn't.”
Evan stepped closer.
“Who was that man?”
Arthur didn't answer.
“Who is my father?”
Anna looked at him.
“Answer her.”
Arthur's voice was barely audible.
“His name is Jonathan Brooks.”
The name landed like a physical blow.
“Brooks?”
Arthur nodded.
“Your biological father.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You were told he died?”
“Yes.”
“He didn't.”
“Then why was I adopted?”
“You weren't adopted.”
“But the document said—”
“The document was manufactured.”
I stared at the file.
Arthur continued.
“Richard wanted the world to believe you were legally separated from the Brooks family.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonathan's daughter was the only person who could legally challenge the original trust.”
Evan stepped forward.
“Then why wasn't Natalie raised with us?”
“Because Jonathan disappeared.”
“Did he leave her?”
“No.”
Arthur's eyes moved to the floor.
“We took her.”
I froze.
“We?”
Arthur didn't speak.
Anna answered.
“Richard. David. Me.”
“David?”
“He agreed because Jonathan had threatened the family.”
“Threatened them with what?”
Anna shook her head.
“The archive.”
The investigator looked at the mountains of records.
“He knew all this existed.”
“Yes.”
“And he tried to expose it?”
“He tried to destroy it.”
I looked at Arthur.
“And you stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Arthur's face hardened.
“Because I believed the family needed the trust more than it needed the truth.”
Evan laughed bitterly.
“You destroyed lives for a piece of paper.”
Arthur looked at him.
“No. I protected an empire.”
“What's the difference?”
Arthur didn't answer.
Lucas walked deeper into the archive.
“There's something here.”
We followed him.
He stopped at a cabinet labeled 14-B.
His hands trembled.
“I remember this.”
Rachel touched his shoulder.
“What's inside?”
“A box.”
He pulled open the cabinet.
Inside was a metal case.
Lucas stared at it.
“I used to dream about this.”
Diane covered her mouth.
Victor, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.
“Don't open it.”
Everyone turned.
The investigator frowned.
“You know what's inside?”
Victor smiled.
“That's the first thing I've said tonight that you should listen to.”
I took the box.
It was locked.
A small indentation appeared on top.
Arthur looked at me.
“Your ring.”
I stared at my hand.
The ring I'd pushed away earlier.
The one I had been told belonged to my family.
I had shoved it into my pocket.
I pulled it out.
The ring fit perfectly into the indentation.
The lock clicked.
Inside was an envelope.
My name was written across it.
NATALIE BROOKS.
My throat tightened.
I opened it.
One sheet of paper.
A handwritten letter.
Dear Natalie,
If you are reading this, then the people who raised you have failed to keep you hidden.
I stopped breathing.
Evan looked over my shoulder.
The letter continued.
You have spent your life believing abandonment is the deepest wound a person can survive.
It isn't.
The deepest wound is learning that someone stayed close enough to protect you and chose not to.
My eyes filled.
David.
I knew it immediately.
The next line confirmed it.
David watched you grow from a distance.
He knew where you lived.
He knew when you graduated.
He knew every school you attended.
He knew when you were sick.
He never approached you because Jonathan ordered him not to.
I lowered the paper.
“Jonathan ordered David?”
Arthur nodded.
“Why?”
The answer came from another voice.
“Because David was afraid.”
Victor.
The investigator turned.
“Afraid of what?”
Victor stared at the floor.
“Jonathan.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonathan didn't build the family trust.”
He looked at me.
“He built the people who controlled it.”
Silence.
Victor continued.
“Richard was Jonathan's son.”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“You always hated that truth.”
I looked at Arthur.
“You're Richard's father?”
Arthur's expression went blank.
“Yes.”
“And Jonathan?”
Arthur stared at him with hatred.
“My older brother.”
The room went silent.
I looked from Arthur to the old photograph on the monitor.
“You and Jonathan are brothers.”
“Yes.”
“And Richard was your son.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Jonathan control him?”
“Because he had the money.”
“And you?”
“I had the records.”
Evan slowly understood.
“The two brothers split the empire.”
Arthur nodded.
“Jonathan controlled the original trust. I controlled the archive.”
“Then Richard controlled the children.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
“Why me?”
Arthur looked at me.
“Because you were Jonathan's first child.”
I shook my head.
“You said Lucas was a contingency.”
“He was.”
“What was I supposed to be?”
Arthur's voice lowered.
“The replacement trustee.”
I stared at him.
“For what?”
“The original trust.”
He pointed to a locked safe at the far end of the archive.
“Inside is the original agreement.”
The investigator approached the safe.
“How do we open it?”
Arthur looked at me.
“Natalie opens it.”
I didn't move.
“I don't want it.”
“You don't have a choice.”
“That sounds like everything my family has ever told me.”
Arthur flinched.
I walked toward the safe.
On its front were four empty handprints.
I placed mine against one.
Nothing.
Then Evan stepped beside me.
He placed his hand against another.
The safe flashed.
Anna joined us.
Then Samuel.
The safe clicked.
Four names appeared.
NATALIE.
EVAN.
ANNA.
SAMUEL.
Beneath them was a fifth.
ACCESS DENIED — CONTINGENCY.
Lucas stared at it.
His face fell.
“I knew it.”
I turned.
“Knew what?”
“That I was never really one of you.”
I walked toward him.
“That's not true.”
“It is.”
“No.”
“You all have a place.”
“You're my brother.”
He looked away.
“You have no idea what that means.”
I stopped.
He was right.
I didn't.
Not yet.
The safe opened.
Inside was a single black ledger.
The investigator lifted it carefully.
The cover contained one sentence.
THE ORIGINAL TRUST SHALL NEVER BE ACTIVATED BY BLOOD ALONE.
Underneath:
IT REQUIRES A WITNESS.
Rachel frowned.
“A witness?”
Arthur went pale.
“No.”
Anna looked at him.
“You know what that means.”
Arthur whispered:
“Someone outside the family has to confirm the truth.”
Everyone turned toward the investigator.
He stared back.
“Me?”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Rachel.
“No.”
He looked at Diane.
“No.”
Then he looked at Lucas.
“Yes.”
Lucas went still.
“The contingency must identify the lie.”
I frowned.
“What lie?”
Arthur opened the ledger.
A page was already marked.
He read the sentence aloud.
“When the heirs cannot agree which child belongs to the Brooks bloodline, the contingency child shall determine succession.”
Lucas's hands began shaking.
“That means me.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody knows which record is real.”
He looked at me.
“And I'm the only one who was there when the records were changed.”
Before I could answer, the archive phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The investigator picked it up.
A man's voice said:
“Send Natalie upstairs.”
The investigator frowned.
“Who is this?”
“Jonathan.”
I looked at Arthur.
His face drained of color.
The voice continued.
“Bring my daughter.”
The line went dead.
Then every monitor in the archive turned on.
May you like
Each screen displayed the same words.
NATALIE, DON'T TRUST ARTHUR.
