Chapter 40 - The Price of the Trust
I stared at the photograph until the words blurred.
Diane sat in the back of the police vehicle.
Lucas was beside her.
Daniel leaned against the opposite door.
The image had been taken less than a minute earlier.
Someone was watching them.
Right now.
“I have to go.”
Evan grabbed my hand.
“No.”
“They have Lucas.”
“They want you to think they do.”
“I saw the picture.”
“So did I.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“Look at the reflection.”
I stared.
In the dark window behind Diane was a face.
A man.
Not Jonathan.
Not Richard.
Arthur.
My heart stopped.
“Arthur?”
Evan nodded.
The investigator took the phone.
“That can't be.”
“He left the ambulance,” I said.
“We checked the hospital.”
“Then he's working with them.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
We all looked at her.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Arthur hated Jonathan.”
“Then why is he in the picture?”
Evelyn looked at the image.
Her face went pale.
“That isn't Arthur.”
I stared.
The face in the reflection slowly became clear.
It looked like Arthur.
But younger.
Much younger.
“Who is that?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Elias.”
Arthur's father.
The man we'd believed existed only in the oldest documents.
The investigator immediately radioed the police vehicle.
No response.
Again.
Nothing.
He cursed.
“They're gone.”
Diane.
Lucas.
Daniel.
All three vehicles disappeared from the GPS.
The investigator looked at me.
“This is exactly what they wanted.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
He pointed to the trust.
“The moment you activated it earlier, somebody must have received confirmation.”
I stared at the cover.
“I didn't activate it.”
Arthur's words returned.
Your hand.
Your blood.
Your name.
I looked at the ring.
Then at Evan.
“The door recognized me.”
“Yes.”
“But the trust never opened.”
The investigator shook his head.
“Maybe it did.”
A notification appeared on the black ledger.
ACCESS RECORDED.
Then another.
PRIMARY HEIR CONFIRMED.
NATALIE BROOKS.
Then:
SIXTH BENEFICIARY CONFIRMED.
EVAN BROOKS.
Evan's face went blank.
“No.”
The final line appeared.
WITNESS REQUIRED.
I looked at the investigator.
“What does that mean?”
He opened the original ledger.
“The witness must verify the transfer.”
“Transfer of what?”
“Control.”
I stared at Evan.
“They want me to transfer the trust to him.”
Evelyn took the ledger.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because once you do, Jonathan will own everything through Evan.”
Evan looked at her.
“How?”
“He controls your legal identity.”
“What?”
“He altered your birth records too.”
Evan shook his head.
“My father?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked toward the darkness.
“Jonathan.”
Evan stared.
“So I'm not Richard's biological son?”
Silence.
Richard's voice came from behind us.
“No.”
We turned.
Richard stood in the doorway.
He was unarmed.
His face was exhausted.
Evan looked at him.
“Say it again.”
Richard swallowed.
“You're not my biological son.”
Evan's eyes filled with tears.
“Then who is?”
Richard looked at me.
Jonathan.
My father's name suddenly carried a different weight.
“You said he was my father.”
“Yes.”
“And Evan?”
“His too.”
I shook my head.
“That's impossible.”
Richard nodded.
“Jonathan had two children.”
Evan stared at me.
“We're siblings?”
“No.”
Richard's voice broke.
“You're not related by blood.”
A strange relief washed through me.
Then fear replaced it.
“Then what are we?”
Richard answered:
“The original trust's paired heirs.”
I remembered the five children.
The sixth clause.
The witness.
The contingency.
Evelyn stepped toward Richard.
“You finally understand what he did.”
Richard nodded.
“I do.”
“Where are they?”
Richard looked at me.
“Jonathan took them to the original house.”
“What house?”
“The first Brooks estate.”
“Where?”
He gave an address.
The investigator wrote it down.
“We leave now.”
Richard raised a hand.
“It's a trap.”
“Of course it is.”
“He expects you to come.”
“Then he'll get me.”
Richard looked at Evan.
“He expects Evan too.”
Evan stepped forward.
“I'm coming.”
Richard shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“You may not come back.”
Evan looked at me.
“Neither may you.”
I took his hand.
“We go together.”
Richard stared at us.
Then something in his expression changed.
A tear rolled down his cheek.
“I spent twenty years trying to keep this family alive.”
He looked at Evan.
“And I destroyed the people I loved to do it.”
Evan's voice was quiet.
“Then help us now.”
Richard nodded.
“I will.”
We drove through the rain.
The old Brooks estate stood beyond a rusted gate.
No lights.
No cars.
No visible guards.
Too quiet.
The investigator raised his weapon.
“Stay behind us.”
We entered.
The foyer smelled like dust and old wood.
On the wall hung six portraits.
Five were covered.
The sixth was not.
I stepped closer.
The portrait showed a young woman.
Evelyn.
Beside her stood a man.
Jonathan.
And between them were two children.
Me.
And another baby.
Evan.
I stared.
“We were raised together.”
“No,” Evelyn whispered.
“You were separated.”
The investigator looked at the portrait.
“Why were there two?”
Evelyn touched the glass.
“Because Jonathan needed a spare.”
The lights came on.
A voice filled the room.
“Not a spare.”
Everyone turned.
Jonathan stood at the top of the staircase.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakably the man from the recordings.
He smiled.
“You were always the original pair.”
Evan stepped forward.
“Where are Diane and the boys?”
“Safe.”
“Let them go.”
“After Natalie opens the trust.”
I held up the ledger.
“What happens after that?”
Jonathan smiled.
“Everything changes.”
“You killed Benjamin.”
“No.”
“Your records say he died.”
“I changed the record.”
Benjamin stepped forward from behind me.
Jonathan's expression cracked.
“You.”
Benjamin stared at him.
“You told me my mother was dead.”
Jonathan looked toward Evelyn.
“She was supposed to be.”
“You erased me.”
“You were never supposed to be born.”
Benjamin laughed sadly.
“And yet I was.”
Jonathan looked at me.
“You were supposed to be the successor.”
He looked at Evan.
“You were supposed to be the sixth.”
Then he looked toward the covered portraits.
“And the others were supposed to disappear.”
Anna whispered:
“You planned all of this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Jonathan's answer was quiet.
“Because the original trust was never meant to belong to the children.”
I stared.
“Then who?”
Jonathan pointed upward.
“To the creator.”
The ceiling lights flickered.
A hidden door opened behind him.
Someone stepped out.
An elderly man in a wheelchair.
Arthur.
But not the Arthur we'd seen before.
This man was older.
Much older.
He smiled at Jonathan.
Then looked at me.
“Natalie.”
Arthur froze.
“No.”
Elias raised his head.
“You finally came home.”
I felt the world tilt.
“You're Elias.”
He nodded.
“The first trustee.”
Jonathan stood beside him.
“My father.”
Elias smiled.
“My granddaughter.”
I couldn't speak.
Evan stepped closer.
Elias looked at him.
“And my other heir.”
The investigator lifted his weapon.
“This ends now.”
Elias laughed.
“No.”
He pointed toward the trust.
“It begins now.”
The ledger opened.
Pages turned by themselves.
The final page appeared.
Six names.
Natalie.
Evan.
Samuel.
Anna.
Lucas.
Daniel.
Then beneath them appeared a seventh.
Elias Brooks.
CONTROL TRUSTEE.
I stared.
“You said there were six.”
Elias smiled.
“There are.”
“Then what's that?”
He looked at his own name.
“The man who controls the sixth.”
Behind us, the doors slammed shut.
Every lock in the mansion clicked.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Then hundreds.
Elias looked directly at me.
“You wanted to know why David spent twelve years keeping you from asking questions.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Why?”
“Because he knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
Elias leaned forward.
“David wasn't protecting you from us.”
He smiled.
“He was protecting us from you.”
My heart stopped.
The room erupted with shouting.
The investigator ordered everyone down.
Jonathan grabbed the ledger.
Evan pulled me toward the side hall.
Evelyn screamed.
“Don't let Elias touch the trust!”
But Elias was already smiling.
Because the trust wasn't in Jonathan's hands.
It wasn't in mine.
It wasn't in Evan's.
It had vanished.
Then a red light appeared beneath my feet.
A biometric scanner.
A woman's recorded voice spoke from the walls.
“Primary heir recognized.”
My blood went cold.
“Secondary heir recognized.”
Evan froze.
“Witness required.”
The investigator stepped forward.
“I'm the witness.”
The system rejected him.
“Invalid.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“Me.”
“Invalid.”
Diane shouted:
“Then who?”
Silence.
Then the system spoke.
“Witness identified.”
The doors behind us opened.
Someone walked into the mansion.
I turned.
And my entire body went numb.
David.
Not a photograph.
Not a recording.
Not a memory.
David.
Alive.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Evan whispered:
“Dad?”
David looked at all of us.
Then he looked at Elias.
“I told you,” he said quietly.
“You should have let her stay hidden.”
Elias smiled.
“But she came anyway.”
David's eyes moved to me.
Tears filled them.
“I’m sorry, Natalie.”
I could barely breathe.
“What did you do?”
David looked at the trust.
Then at Evan.
Then at the twins.
And finally at me.
“I lied to you for twelve years.”
He swallowed.
“Because I was the one who took you from your mother.”
The mansion went silent.
I stared at him.
“You?”
David nodded.
“And the reason I did it…”
He looked toward the locked doors.
“…is because your mother wasn't the only person Jonathan was trying to save.”
A deep mechanical rumble moved beneath the house.
The floor began to shake.
David's face changed.
“Oh God.”
I grabbed his arm.
“What?”
He stared at Elias.
“You activated the original trust.”
Elias smiled.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“She did.”
May you like
The lights went out.
And somewhere beneath the mansion, something massive unlocked.
