Chapter 9 - THE BROTHER MARIA NEVER KNEW “DON’T TELL MARIA.”
Alexander stared at Richard.
“What?”
His father’s hand tightened around his wrist.
“Not until you know which brother you’re dealing with.”
Alexander stepped away from the hospital bed.
“You’re telling me Gabriel had a twin.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody mentioned him?”
“Almost nobody knew.”
“How is that possible?”
“Michael was removed from the family records when he was fourteen.”
“Removed?”
Richard looked toward the door.
“Close it.”
Alexander did.
Richard lowered his voice.
“Rafael Delgado had two grandsons. Gabriel and Michael. Gabriel was brilliant. Quiet. Ethical.”
“And Michael?”
Richard hesitated.
“Also brilliant.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“He enjoyed hurting people.”
Alexander stared.
Richard continued.
“Not physically, at first. He liked manipulation. Breaking relationships. Making people doubt what they knew.”
“Meridian recruited him.”
Richard nodded.
“Eleanor did.”
“When?”
“Michael was seventeen.”
Alexander felt sick.
“My mother recruited a teenager?”
“She saw something in him.”
“What?”
“Herself.”
Silence filled the room.
Alexander thought about the man in the vault.
The scar.
The tears when he saw Maria.
The way he called her little sister.
“He knew Maria.”
“Of course.”
“Why wouldn’t she recognize him?”
“They were identical.”
“That doesn’t explain five years.”
“People see what they desperately want to see.”
Alexander knew that was true.
He had seen Catherine on a video and forgotten every question for several seconds because he wanted his wife alive.
Maria wanted her brother.
Michael had given her one.
“What happened to Gabriel?”
Richard looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“You just said he died.”
“I was told he died.”
“By who?”
“Michael.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Of course.
“Why trust him?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then why—”
“Because he showed me Gabriel’s ring.”
Richard’s voice broke.
“And photographs of the body.”
Alexander looked at him.
“You never verified it.”
“No.”
Another assumption.
Another lie.
Another grave without certainty.
Alexander’s phone vibrated.
Maria.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
Her voice sounded strange.
“Gabriel’s gone.”
Alexander froze.
“What?”
“I went to his room. He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“Maria, stay where you are.”
“Why?”
“Just stay there.”
“Alexander.”
He looked at Richard.
“Please.”
Maria went silent.
Then:
“You know something.”
Alexander didn’t answer.
“Tell me.”
“Not over the phone.”
Her voice hardened.
“Tell me now.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
“Gabriel had a twin.”
Silence.
“That’s not funny.”
“His name is Michael.”
“No.”
“My father says—”
“Your father has lied about my family for thirty years!”
“I know.”
“That was Gabriel.”
“Maria—”
“I know my brother.”
“Do you?”
The words hurt her.
Alexander heard it.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Maria’s breathing changed.
“You don’t get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make me doubt the one thing I finally got back.”
Alexander lowered his voice.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
Maria laughed bitterly.
“Now you sound like everyone else.”
The call ended.
Alexander cursed.
Richard whispered:
“She’ll go after him.”
“I know.”
“Then stop her.”
Alexander ran.
Maria was already gone.
Security footage showed her leaving through a service elevator.
Reed met Alexander downstairs.
“You were right.”
“About what?”
“The Delgado fingerprints.”
Alexander stopped.
“They don’t match Gabriel’s employment file.”
“Michael?”
“Maybe.”
“Where’s Vanessa?”
Reed’s expression darkened.
“Also gone.”
Alexander stared.
“You lost Vanessa?”
“She was transferred from local custody after the federal operation.”
“To where?”
“That’s the problem.”
Reed showed him a transfer order.
Signed.
Authorized.
Official.
Except the federal agency listed on it didn’t exist.
“Meridian.”
Reed nodded.
“They took her.”
Alexander looked toward the hospital entrance.
“Or she left willingly.”
Twenty minutes later, Maria’s phone was located.
Blackwood Tower.
Alexander and Reed raced there.
The building had been closed after the shooting.
Police tape still covered the executive floor.
Maria stood inside Gabriel’s old office.
Or what had once been Gabriel’s office.
She held a photograph.
Alexander entered carefully.
“Maria.”
She didn’t turn.
“He had a twin.”
“Yes.”
“I remember him.”
Alexander stopped.
“You do?”
“I was eight.”
She looked at the photograph.
“Michael scared me.”
“What happened?”
“He locked me inside our basement for six hours.”
Reed entered behind Alexander.
Maria continued.
“Gabriel found me.”
She smiled sadly.
“He broke the door with a hammer.”
Her eyes filled.
“Michael watched from the stairs.”
Alexander approached.
“Then you know the man at the estate might not be Gabriel.”
Maria nodded.
“I know.”
“Why come here?”
“Because Gabriel left something.”
She handed Alexander the photograph.
On the back was a sequence of numbers.
Reed recognized them.
“Safe combination.”
They found the safe behind a wall panel.
Maria entered the code.
Inside was one envelope.
MARIA.
Her hands shook.
She opened it.
A letter.
If you are reading this, someone has returned wearing my face.
Maria stopped breathing.
Alexander stared.
She continued reading aloud.
Michael is alive.
Do not trust him.
I am alive too.
Maria dropped the letter.
“No.”
Alexander grabbed it.
There was more.
I could not return because Michael controls people inside Meridian who believe I am dead.
Catherine knows part of the truth.
Richard knows less.
Eleanor knows more than she admits.
If Michael appears, he wants the Blackwood Archive opened.
Do not let him access File Zero.
Reed frowned.
“File Zero?”
Alexander remembered the vault.
“Did you see anything labeled that?”
“No.”
Maria continued.
File Zero is not evidence against Meridian.
It is the reason Meridian exists.
The letter ended with an address.
A church in Vermont.
Maria whispered:
“He’s alive.”
Alexander didn’t let himself believe it yet.
“We verify.”
Reed nodded.
“We go carefully.”
Then every computer inside the office turned on.
One by one.
Black screens.
White text.
HELLO, ALEXANDER.
Reed drew his gun.
“What the hell?”
Another line appeared.
HELLO, MARIA.
Then:
GABRIEL ALWAYS DID LOVE LETTERS.
Maria stared.
“Michael.”
A video appeared.
Michael sat inside a private aircraft.
Vanessa was beside him.
Alexander stepped toward the screen.
“Where are you?”
Michael smiled.
“You know these things aren’t two-way conversations, right?”
Recorded.
He had anticipated them.
Michael continued.
“If you found Gabriel’s letter, congratulations. My brother is alive.”
Maria covered her mouth.
“He’s telling the truth?”
Alexander whispered:
“Maybe.”
Michael’s recording continued.
“But if you’re thinking about driving to Vermont, I wouldn’t.”
A photograph appeared.
The church.
Then another.
Explosives beneath the foundation.
Maria screamed:
“No!”
Michael smiled.
“Gabriel and I have unfinished business.”
The screen changed.
A countdown.
02:00:00.
Two hours.
Reed immediately called Vermont authorities.
Michael continued.
“You have something I want.”
Alexander knew.
“File Zero.”
As if answering him, Michael smiled.
“Bring File Zero to the coordinates appearing on your screen.”
Coordinates appeared.
“Come alone.”
Alexander laughed.
“No.”
Michael’s face became serious.
“If I see police, Gabriel dies.”
Maria stared at the screen.
“If he’s even there.”
Michael continued.
“And because I know you’re wondering whether I’m bluffing…”
The video changed.
A man appeared tied to a wooden chair.
Thin.
Bearded.
Bruised.
Maria stopped breathing.
The man lifted his head.
Even after five years…
she knew him.
Not because of his face.
Because of his eyes.
“Maria…”
She collapsed.
“Gabriel.”
The real Gabriel looked into the camera.
“Don’t give him anything.”
Someone hit him.
The video cut.
Maria screamed.
Alexander caught her.
The countdown continued.
01:59:12.
Reed stared at the screen.
“We don’t have File Zero.”
Alexander looked at him.
“No.”
Then Catherine’s voice came from the doorway.
“Yes, we do.”
Everyone turned.
Catherine stood there holding Mr. Brown.
Ethan’s teddy bear.
Alexander stared.
“What are you doing here?”
“I remembered something.”
She opened the bear’s damaged back.
Inside the stuffing was a small metal cylinder.
Maria stared.
“That was inside him?”
Catherine nodded.
“I put it there three years ago.”
Alexander’s anger returned.
“You hid Meridian evidence inside our son’s toy?”
“I hid it where Eleanor would never destroy it.”
“What is it?”
Catherine removed a tiny encrypted drive.
Gabriel’s letter had called it File Zero.
Catherine looked at the screen.
“It’s not a list of crimes.”
“What is it?”
“The original Meridian charter.”
Reed frowned.
“That’s worth kidnapping someone over?”
Catherine looked at Alexander.
“Because the charter identifies every founding family.”
“How many?”
“Seven.”
“Blackwood and Delgado?”
“Yes.”
“And the others?”
Catherine swallowed.
“Sterling.”
Alexander looked toward Michael’s frozen image beside Vanessa.
“Vanessa’s family.”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
Catherine listed four more names.
Families connected to banking.
Defense.
Media.
Shipping.
Old money hidden behind newer corporations.
Reed whispered:
“Jesus.”
Catherine shook her head.
“That’s not the worst part.”
“What is?”
“File Zero contains the succession protocol.”
Alexander frowned.
“For Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“If Eleanor falls, someone replaces her.”
“Who?”
Catherine looked at Michael.
“The person who possesses File Zero and receives authorization from four of the seven bloodlines.”
Maria stared.
“Michael wants to become Meridian.”
Catherine nodded.
Alexander looked at the countdown.
01:56:40.
Then Ethan’s teddy bear suddenly made a sound.
A child’s recorded laugh.
Everyone froze.
Alexander looked at Catherine.
“What was that?”
“I didn’t do it.”
The bear spoke again.
But this time it wasn’t Ethan.
A man’s voice.
Thomas Blackwood.
Alexander’s grandfather.
“If you found File Zero, then the family has already failed.”
Alexander stared.
The recording continued.
“Do not destroy Meridian.”
Catherine went pale.
Reed whispered:
“What?”
Thomas Blackwood’s voice continued.
“Because Meridian was never created to control governments.”
A pause.
May you like
“It was created to stop something worse.”
And then the recording ended.
