Chapter 8 - The Brother Who Came Back|
Gabriel had been twenty-five when their father died.
He remembered the rain against the windows, the argument in the study, and the sound of a glass breaking against the wall.
He remembered Damian's father arriving at the estate with two armed men.
And he remembered Thomas Bell leaving the house carrying a leather briefcase that had belonged to Vivien's mother.
"I saw him take it," Gabriel said. "I followed him to the garage. He told me our father had made a dangerous decision and that the family would collapse if anyone learned what was inside the briefcase."
"What did you do?"
"I confronted him."
Gabriel had believed that being an Ashcroft meant people would hesitate before threatening him. He had been wrong.
Thomas showed him a series of documents proving that Gabriel had secretly transferred money from the family trust to pay a debt owed by their father. The documents were real, but Thomas had arranged the transfers to make them appear fraudulent.
"He told me I would go to prison," Gabriel continued. "He said you would inherit the consequences. He offered me a choice: disappear or watch the family destroy itself."
"So you disappeared."
"I thought I could find the original records and clear our names."
"And you never contacted me."
"I tried twice. Both messages were intercepted."
Vivien turned away.
She had spent fourteen years believing she had lost her brother, only to discover that he had chosen to remain absent because he feared what might happen if he returned.
She understood the fear.
She did not forgive the choice.
"You could have trusted me."
Gabriel's eyes filled.
"I should have."
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Vivien returned to the desk and opened the journal.
"Thomas wants the trust. Seline wants the necklace. Damian wants to prove he can replace me. Someone has been arranging these events for years."
Gabriel nodded.
"And Helena Vale may be the person connecting them."
"Then we find her."
He hesitated.
"There is something else. Before I disappeared, I discovered that our father had transferred a controlling share of the Ashcroft trust to a beneficiary whose name was concealed."
"Who?"
"I never found out."
Vivien looked at the photograph of her parents.
"The first Donna was never the first."
She understood suddenly.
The original authority might not have belonged to the Ashcrofts at all.
Their family might have inherited it from someone else.
And if the inheritance had been built on a lie, then every family that had knelt before the Donna might have been serving the wrong bloodline.
Gabriel handed her a second envelope.
"I found this three years ago. I kept it because I didn't know whom to trust."
Inside was a list of payments made by Thomas Bell to a private medical facility.
One payment had been made on the day Vivien's mother supposedly died.
Another had been made on the day Gabriel's boating accident was reported.
A third bore the date of the previous week.
The recipient was listed as:
HELENA VALE — PERSONAL APPEARANCE CONFIRMED.
Vivien stared at the page.
May you like
Her aunt was alive.
And she was coming to Castell Verde.
