Chapter 5 - My Brother’s Price
Daniel answered on the fifth call.
“Em?”
“Are you busy?”
“For you? Never.”
The lie arrived smoothly.
I drove to his office.
He ran a small insurance brokerage forty minutes outside town.
When I walked in, he smiled.
Then saw my face.
“What happened?”
I placed the memory card on his desk.
His smile vanished.
“How much did Julian pay you?”
Daniel leaned back.
“I don’t know what you think—”
“Wrong answer.”
Silence.
Then he locked the office door.
That frightened me more than denial.
“It wasn’t supposed to hurt you.”
I laughed.
The sentence should be printed on family crests.
“What wasn’t?”
“Julian said you were planning to leave.”
“Did he?”
“He said you wanted Leo.”
“He’s my son.”
“You know what I mean.”
No.
I didn’t.
Then Daniel explained.
Julian had approached him eight months earlier.
Claimed I was secretly preparing divorce papers.
Claimed I had become emotionally unpredictable after a difficult period at work.
Claimed he wanted documentation in case I made false accusations.
Daniel helped recommend private investigators.
Medical evaluators.
One fake psychiatrist letter.
“For money?”
His face tightened.
“I owed him.”
“What?”
Julian had loaned Daniel $180,000.
My brother’s insurance business was failing.
Nobody told me.
“Julian said if I helped, he’d forgive the debt.”
“How noble.”
Daniel stood.
“Emily, I thought it was paperwork.”
“You told him to make me question my memory.”
He went still.
So he knew I had heard the recording.
“Em—”
“You said increase frequency.”
“I was talking about documenting incidents.”
“No. You were teaching him how to manufacture them.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
Then something changed.
Fear.
“Listen to me. Stop digging.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
“Because this is bigger than Julian.”
“Meaning?”
He looked toward the blinds.
“Did Sophie give you the necklace?”
“Yes.”
“Then he knows.”
“Knows what?”
Daniel whispered:
“That she chose you.”
I stared.
“Chose me for what?”
Before he answered, his office door opened.
Julian stood there.
No knock.
No smile.
He looked at my brother.
“I told you not to call her here.”
Daniel whispered:
“I didn’t.”
Julian turned to me.
His face was exhausted.
Almost scared.
“Emily, come home.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“Tell me why you’ve been manufacturing evidence that I’m unstable.”
His expression collapsed.
Then he said something I did not expect.
“Because someone else was already doing it.”
I laughed.
He didn’t.
“Emily, I wasn’t building a case against you.”
A pause.
May you like
“I was building one before they could.”
And suddenly I no longer knew which man in the room I should fear more.
