Chapter 5: The Brother Who Wasn't There
Daniel read the message again.
Then again.
As if staring at the words long enough would make them change.
*ASK YOUR BROTHER, DANIEL.*
His fingers tightened around the phone.
Rachel noticed immediately.
"Daniel.""
He didn't respond.
"Who was your brother?""
The question was simple.
But Daniel felt something inside him collapse.
Because there were questions about his brother he had spent years refusing to answer.
Questions about loyalty.
Questions about guilt.
Questions about why a man who had once been his closest ally had died alone.
"My brother's name was Marco.""
Rachel watched his face.
"You never talk about him.""
"I know.""
"Why?""
Daniel looked toward the window.
The city lights blurred through the rain.
"Because every time I do, I remember the things I could have changed.""
Rachel stepped closer.
"Daniel.""
He shook his head.
"No.""
His voice was quiet.
Not angry.
Just exhausted.
"You need to hear this.""
He walked to the dining table and sat down.
Rachel followed.
For the first time that night, Daniel wasn't trying to control the situation.
He was surrendering to it.
"Marco was five years older than me.""
Rachel listened.
"He was the person who taught me everything.""
Daniel gave a faint, bitter smile.
"How to fight. How to negotiate. How to know when someone was lying.""
"And how to run a company?""
Daniel nodded.
"Before Moretti Security became what it is now, it was just an idea.""
He looked at his hands.
"Marco believed in it before anyone else did.""
Rachel sat across from him.
"You loved him.""
Daniel looked up.
"More than anyone.""
The answer came without hesitation.
That was what made what happened next so painful.
"Then why would someone tell you to ask him?""
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Because the truth sounded impossible.
"Because Marco was involved.""
Rachel frowned.
"Involved with what?""
"The warehouse.""
Silence.
Daniel continued.
"After Elena died, the investigation became complicated.""
"Because Victor blamed you?""
"Because there were things that didn't make sense.""
"What things?""
Daniel leaned back.
"The evidence against Elena was incomplete.""
Rachel looked surprised.
"But you said she was involved.""
"We thought she was.""
"Thought?""
Daniel nodded.
"That's the part I never told anyone.""
Rachel waited.
"Marco found something.""
"What?""
"I don't know.""
Her expression changed.
"You don't know?""
Daniel shook his head.
"Because he never told me.""
"Then how do you know he found something?""
Daniel looked at her.
"Because the night before he died, he called me.""
Rachel became still.
"What did he say?""
Daniel remembered the call.
The sound of his brother's voice.
The urgency.
The fear.
Something he had never heard from Marco before.
"He said, 'Daniel, I made a mistake.''"
Rachel whispered, "What mistake?""
"I asked him.""
Daniel looked away.
"He wouldn't answer.""
"What did he say?""
Daniel's voice dropped.
"He said, 'If anything happens to me, don't trust anyone who tells you the warehouse story.''"
Rachel felt a chill.
"And then?""
"Then the call ended.""
"What happened the next day?""
Daniel stared at the floor.
"Marco died.""
The room became quiet.
Rachel reached across the table.
Not touching him.
Just close enough.
"How?""
"Car accident.""
"Was it suspicious?""
Daniel's expression hardened.
"The police said it was an accident.""
"But you don't believe that.""
Daniel looked at her.
"I stopped believing in accidents a long time ago.""
Rachel looked down at the phone.
"So someone is telling you your brother knew the truth.""
"Yes.""
"Why now?""
Daniel stood.
"Because someone wants me to reopen the past.""
"Or?""
He looked at her.
"Or someone wants me to find something I missed.""
Rachel followed him toward the security panel.
"What are you doing?""
"I'm checking something.""
"Your brother's?""
Daniel nodded.
"Marco kept records of everything.""
"Didn't you look through them after he died?""
Daniel froze.
A painful pause.
Rachel saw the answer before he said it.
"No.""
"Why?""
"Because his wife asked me not to.""
Rachel looked surprised.
"His wife?""
Daniel nodded.
"She said Marco wanted his files left alone.""
"Did you believe her?""
Daniel hesitated.
"I trusted her.""
Rachel studied him.
"Do you still?""
Daniel didn't answer.
He opened a hidden compartment behind the security panel.
Inside was a small metal key.
Rachel watched.
"You kept that here?""
Daniel nodded.
"Marco gave it to me.""
"What does it open?""
Daniel held the key.
"I never found out.""
The elevator chimed.
Both of them froze.
The sound echoed through the apartment.
Someone was coming up.
Daniel immediately moved in front of Rachel.
But then he stopped.
Because the elevator didn't open.
The private elevator remained closed.
Instead, the apartment intercom activated.
A voice came through.
"Daniel?""
His entire body went still.
Rachel looked at him.
"You know that voice.""
Daniel did.
And that was impossible.
Because the voice belonged to someone who had been gone for eighteen months.
"Daniel, open the door.""
Rachel whispered:
"Who is it?""
Daniel couldn't speak.
The voice came again.
This time clearer.
"Little brother.""
The blood drained from his face.
Only one person called him that.
Only one person had ever said it with that exact mix of affection and frustration.
Marco.
Rachel stared at him.
"Your brother is alive?""
Daniel moved toward the intercom slowly.
Every instinct told him not to answer.
But every memory told him he had to.
He pressed the button.
"Who is this?""
A pause.
Then a soft laugh.
The same laugh Daniel remembered from childhood.
"Seriously?""
Daniel's hand shook.
"Marco?""
Rachel covered her mouth.
The voice continued.
"I knew you would ask that first.""
Daniel stepped closer to the speaker.
"You're dead.""
Another pause.
"I know.""
The words sent a chill through him.
"What happened?""
"Daniel, you don't have much time.""
"Where are you?""
"Don't ask me that.""
"Why?""
"Because someone is listening.""
Daniel looked around the apartment.
At the cameras.
The screens.
The walls.
Someone watching.
Someone always watching.
Then Marco said something that made Daniel's entire world shift.
"The person who attacked Rachel isn't Victor.""
Daniel frowned.
"What?""
"Victor is only a piece.""
Rachel moved closer.
Daniel looked at her.
The voice continued.
"Daniel, you need to understand something.""
"What?""
"Victor didn't come back for revenge.""
A pause.
"He came back because he knows who really killed Elena.""
Daniel's chest tightened.
"Who?""
Silence.
Then:
"The same person who made sure I disappeared.""
The intercom suddenly cut off.
Daniel stood frozen.
Rachel whispered:
"Daniel.""
He looked at her.
And for the first time in years, he felt something he hated.
Not fear.
Uncertainty.
Because if Marco was telling the truth, then everything Daniel believed about the last two years was wrong.
Elena's death.
The warehouse.
Marco's accident.
All of it.
A sound came from the hallway.
A soft metallic click.
Daniel turned.
The front door lock moved.
Someone was trying to open it.
Rachel stepped behind him.
Daniel reached for the security system.
The camera activated.
And the person standing outside wasn't Marco.
It wasn't Victor.
It was someone Daniel knew even better.
Someone who had comforted him after Marco's death.
Someone who had told him to stop searching.
Someone who had looked him in the eyes and said:
"Your brother is gone. You need to accept it.""
The woman standing outside held a folder in her hands.
Rachel recognized her immediately.
Because she had seen her face in the old photographs.
Daniel's sister-in-law.
Marco's wife.
May you like
And the folder she was holding had one word written across the front.
*ELENA.*
