The Brother Who Wasn't Supposed to Exist
Chapter 07 - The Brother Who Wasn't Supposed to Exist
Michael Dane didn't look like a criminal.
That was the first thing Claire noticed.
He was sixty, neatly dressed, gray-haired, and polite.
He requested a meeting in a public restaurant.
Claire agreed only because Samuel and Ethan came with her.
Michael ordered coffee.
Then he looked at Ethan.
"You have your father's eyes."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Don't talk about my father."
Michael nodded.
"Fair enough."
Claire placed her hands on the table.
"What do you want?"
"To stop your mother."
No one expected that.
Michael opened a worn leather folder.
Inside were copies of bank transfers.
Vivian had paid him.
But Michael claimed the payments weren't blackmail.
"They were repayments."
"For what?" Ethan asked.
Michael looked toward the window.
"Twenty-eight years ago, your mother needed money."
"Why?"
"To save your father."
Ethan froze.
Michael told them that shortly after Ethan was born, his father Robert had developed a serious gambling problem.
He borrowed from dangerous people.
Vivian secretly went to Michael.
At the time, Michael was already involved in financial crime.
He gave her the money.
She saved Robert.
Then spent decades hiding the truth.
Claire struggled to understand.
"Why would Arthur call it blackmail?"
Michael smiled sadly.
"Because Vivian told him what she needed him to believe."
"Why?"
"Because the truth about Robert would have damaged the Cross name."
Ethan stood abruptly.
"Stop."
Claire touched his arm.
Michael continued.
"Your mother spent her entire life cleaning up disasters created by the men around her."
His voice softened.
"Eventually, she became one herself."
That sentence stayed with Claire.
Michael pushed the folder toward Ethan.
"I don't want the building."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Vivian called me three nights ago."
Michael's expression became serious.
"She said she had finally found a way to fix everything."
Claire felt uneasy.
"What did she mean?"
"I don't know."
"Where is she now?"
Michael looked directly at Ethan.
"I thought she was with you."
Everyone went silent.
Vivian had disappeared.
By evening, police confirmed her car had been found in an underground parking garage.
Her phone was inside.
So was her purse.
Ethan stared at the empty driver's seat.
Despite everything his mother had done, his face showed fear.
Claire stood beside him.
Then one of the detectives approached.
"We found something in the trunk."
He handed Ethan a sealed plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a photograph.
Claire recognized herself.
It had been taken outside Nora's house.
May you like
On the back, someone had written four words.
GIVE ME THE BUILDING BACK.
