Chapter 7 - The Price of a Brother’s LifeGrace did exactly what the caller ordered.
“That poor child.”
He looked at Noah with practiced sadness.
“He’s clearly associating me with Elena.”
Dominic said nothing.
Richard continued.
“I gave her that watch.”
Grace looked again.
The engraving beneath the face caught the light.
R.V.
Noah buried his face in Grace’s shoulder.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“Why did you come?”
“I heard someone nearly killed my grandnephew.”
“Who told you?”
Richard paused.
“Ryan.”
Interesting.
Dominic had not informed Richard personally.
“Ryan doesn’t work here anymore.”
Richard’s eyebrows rose.
“Since when?”
“Since someone used his credentials to lock Noah inside a burning bedroom.”
Richard glanced toward Grace.
“You’re discussing security matters in front of staff now?”
Grace felt Dominic stiffen.
“She isn’t staff.”
Richard smiled faintly.
“What is she?”
Dominic looked at Grace, then at Noah.
“Someone I trust.”
The words changed the room.
Richard’s expression barely moved.
But Grace saw it.
He did not like that.
Dinner became a performance.
Richard talked about childhood stories.
Dominic listened.
Noah refused to enter the room.
Grace stayed upstairs with him.
At nine, Dominic joined them.
“He’s leaving tomorrow.”
Grace looked at Noah asleep beside her.
“Did you confront him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I wanted to.”
“I know.”
Dominic sat at the edge of the chair.
“Elena suspected he killed my parents.”
“Suspected.”
“My father discovered missing company funds two days before the crash.”
Grace’s eyes narrowed.
“You checked?”
“I spent the afternoon going through archived accounting records.”
“And?”
“Richard became executor of the estate after their deaths.”
Dominic looked sick.
“He controlled everything until I turned twenty-five.”
“How much money?”
“Enough.”
“Meaning?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
Grace exhaled.
“This isn’t just about money anymore.”
“No.”
They both looked toward Noah.
“What happened on Elena’s trip?” she asked.
Dominic spoke slowly.
“Richard organized it.”
Grace felt cold.
“He said I was working too much. Booked Elena and Noah three days in the mountains. Told me to join them later.”
“You didn’t.”
“A deal collapsed. I stayed.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“If I’d gone—”
“You might be dead too.”
Dominic looked at her.
She did not soften the statement.
Someone had to say it.
The following morning, Richard left.
Before he reached the front door, Noah appeared at the top of the stairs.
Richard stopped.
Noah held the blue elephant.
Grace watched.
Noah unzipped a hidden seam along the elephant’s back.
He removed a tiny metal button.
Grace had never seen it.
Richard had.
His face changed.
Noah dropped the button.
Dominic picked it up.
“What is this?”
Grace turned it over.
A miniature audio recorder.
Richard smiled.
“Elena always was paranoid.”
Noah screamed.
Richard’s smile vanished.
Dominic looked up.
“How did you know it belonged to Elena?”
Silence.
Richard realized his mistake.
Anyone could have placed it inside the toy.
Dominic had not said Elena’s name.
Richard’s eyes hardened.
“I assumed.”
“Of course.”
Richard walked out.
Dominic handed the recorder to Marcus.
By evening, they recovered several audio fragments.
Most were static.
Then a clear conversation emerged.
Elena’s voice.
And Richard’s.
“You’re stealing from him.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I have records.”
“You have a husband who is never home and a frightened imagination.”
“I’m telling Dominic.”
A pause.
Richard’s voice changed.
“If you loved him, you’d think very carefully before doing that.”
The recording ended.
Dominic listened twice.
Then once more.
His hands shook.
“We go to the police.”
Grace agreed.
Dominic contacted a federal prosecutor he trusted rather than local police.
Her name was Amelia Grant.
She listened carefully.
“You may have evidence of financial crimes and conspiracy,” she said. “But connecting Richard to Elena’s death is another matter.”
“Noah saw something.”
“He’s four.”
“He remembers.”
“I believe you. A defense attorney will destroy a child witness if the evidence around him isn’t solid.”
Grace hated how reasonable that sounded.
Amelia arranged forensic examinations of the recorder and card.
Meanwhile, Noah began working with a child trauma specialist named Dr. Maya Chen.
No cameras.
No pressure.
Grace stayed in the room.
By the third session, Noah spoke five words.
Mommy.
Bad.
Grace.
Daddy.
Watch.
On the fifth, he added:
“Man pushed.”
Grace’s blood froze.
Dr. Chen did not react dramatically.
“What man?”
Noah shook.
“Watch man?”
He nodded.
“Richard?”
Noah covered his ears.
Session over.
That evening, Grace returned to her old apartment to bring Eli clothes.
She found the door open.
Her blood turned cold.
“Eli?”
No answer.
She ran inside.
Furniture overturned.
Drawers open.
Her laptop gone.
Then she saw blood on the kitchen floor.
“ELI!”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Grace answered.
A man’s voice.
“Miss Miller.”
She stopped breathing.
“Who is this?”
“You have involved yourself in matters that don’t concern you.”
“Where’s my brother?”
“He’s alive.”
Grace grabbed the counter.
“You hurt him and I swear—”
“You’re in no position to swear anything.”
A pause.
“Bring the memory card to the old Lake Forest rail depot at midnight.”
Grace’s eyes filled with terror.
“If you contact Dominic, federal agents, or police, your brother’s heart condition will become irrelevant.”
The line went dead.
Grace stood alone in the destroyed apartment.
Then she noticed something on the floor.
Eli’s medication organizer.
Beneath it, written in blood with one shaking finger, were two letters.
May you like
RV.
Richard Vale had her brother.
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