Chapter 9 - The Brother Richard Buried
Richard Sterling recognized the man beside Eleanor before Julian finished opening the photograph.
“No.”
It was not disbelief.
It was terror.
Richard took the phone from Julian's hand and enlarged the image. His fingers trembled as he studied the silver-haired man sitting beside Eleanor in the moving car.
“Who is he?” Julian demanded.
Richard didn't answer.
“You said Alexander was your brother.”
“He was.”
“And now you're saying you had another brother?”
Richard looked toward Evelyn's hospital bed.
The monitor continued its mechanical rhythm, but Evelyn's eyes had closed. Medical staff entered and began working around her.
“Richard.”
Still nothing.
Julian grabbed his shoulder.
“Who is the man with my mother?”
Richard finally turned.
“My twin brother.”
“What is his name?”
“Sebastian.”
Julian waited.
Richard swallowed.
“Sebastian Sterling.”
Another name erased from the family.
Another dead man who apparently wasn't dead.
“What happened to him?”
Richard looked at the photograph again.
“We buried him thirty-four years ago.”
Julian almost laughed.
“Your family seems exceptionally bad at confirming deaths.”
“This isn't funny.”
“Nothing about tonight has been funny.”
Richard returned the phone.
“Sebastian died.”
“He's sitting beside my mother.”
“I know what I'm looking at.”
“Then explain it.”
Richard walked toward the window.
For several seconds, Julian thought he would refuse.
Then Richard began.
“My father had three sons.”
“Charles Sterling?”
“Yes.”
“Alexander, you, and Sebastian.”
Richard nodded.
“Alexander was the eldest. I was born second. Sebastian came seven minutes after me.”
“Why have I never heard his name?”
“Because my father erased him.”
“Why?”
Richard's expression became distant.
“Because Sebastian tried to expose Alexander.”
Julian felt the second ledger drawing closer again.
“Expose what?”
“The network.”
“Before Thomas Hart?”
“Long before.”
Richard looked at him.
“You think Thomas discovered something new. He didn't. He rediscovered something people had spent decades burying.”
“Sebastian knew about the ledger?”
“He helped create the first version.”
Julian frowned.
“I thought Alexander created it.”
“He created the system. Sebastian documented it.”
“So Sebastian was trying to destroy him.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Richard's mouth tightened.
“Power changes people.”
---
Evelyn suddenly spoke from the bed.
“Tell him the rest.”
Her voice was weak, but clear.
Richard turned.
“You need to rest.”
“I've rested for eleven years.”
Her eyes opened.
“Tell Julian why Sebastian was declared dead.”
Richard said nothing.
Evelyn looked at Julian.
“Because Richard identified the body.”
Julian slowly turned toward him.
“You lied?”
“I was twenty-eight.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Richard looked at Evelyn.
“Alexander.”
Julian understood.
“Alexander ordered you to identify another body as Sebastian.”
“Yes.”
“And you did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Alexander threatened Eleanor.”
Julian froze.
“My mother?”
“They were friends then.”
Evelyn laughed weakly.
“Richard was already in love with her.”
Richard looked irritated.
“That is irrelevant.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “It explains almost everything.”
Julian stared at Richard.
The man who had betrayed his mother repeatedly had once helped erase his own brother to protect her.
Nothing fit into the simple categories Julian wanted.
Victim.
Monster.
Liar.
Protector.
Everyone seemed to be all four.
“What happened to Sebastian after his fake death?”
Richard shook his head.
“I never saw him again.”
“Until tonight.”
“Yes.”
“And Alexander?”
“Evelyn killed him approximately a year later.”
“How?”
Evelyn answered.
“I shot him.”
Julian looked at her.
“Where?”
“At the original Sterling estate.”
“Was there a body?”
“Yes.”
“Did you identify it?”
“Yes.”
Richard interrupted.
“We both did.”
Julian stared at them.
“Then the man beside Eleanor cannot be Alexander.”
“No,” Evelyn whispered.
“Which means he's Sebastian.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at his phone.
“And he has my mother.”
---
The next message arrived almost immediately.
A location pin.
**Sterling Tower.**
Julian frowned.
The building had been Richard's corporate headquarters for nearly thirty years.
Beneath the pin:
**Come to the 61st floor.**
Then:
**Bring Richard.**
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Julian looked at him.
“You're coming.”
“You don't understand Sebastian.”
“Neither do you. You haven't seen him in thirty-four years.”
“Exactly.”
Richard stepped closer.
“If Sebastian wanted to kill Eleanor, she'd already be dead.”
“That's supposed to reassure me?”
“No. It means he wants something.”
“What?”
Richard looked toward Evelyn.
“The ledger.”
Julian remembered Nathan's explanation.
A succession record.
Names.
Payments.
Power.
“But we don't have it.”
Evelyn opened her eyes.
“Julian does.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Julian frowned.
“No, I don't.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“You've had it since you were twenty-one.”
Richard stared at Evelyn.
“What did you do?”
She ignored him.
“Your twenty-first birthday. I gave you a watch.”
Julian remembered.
A vintage Patek Philippe.
His grandmother had told him it belonged to his grandfather.
He still owned it.
“You hid something in the watch?”
“Not inside.”
“Then what?”
“The serial number.”
Julian understood.
“A cipher.”
“Yes.”
“For the ledger?”
“For the location.”
Richard swore.
“You gave him the key?”
“I gave it to the one person Alexander's people would never suspect.”
“Your grandson.”
“My heir.”
Richard looked furious.
“You put a target on him.”
“No. You did that when you let him carry the Sterling name.”
Julian interrupted.
“Enough.”
Both looked at him.
“Where is the watch?”
Richard asked.
Julian thought.
He had worn it earlier that morning.
Then changed to a different watch for the wedding.
“It was in the bridal suite.”
Richard's expression changed.
“The room where Vivienne and I were recorded.”
“Yes.”
“The room the federal agents searched.”
Julian's stomach tightened.
Someone might already have it.
He called Vivienne.
She answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“With Nathan and Cross.”
“Go back to the hotel.”
“Why?”
“My watch.”
“What?”
“The watch I was wearing before the ceremony. Find it.”
A pause.
“Julian, the hotel is still a crime scene.”
“Find Cross. Get access.”
“What am I looking for?”
“My grandmother's watch.”
Evelyn corrected him weakly.
“Your grandfather's.”
Julian looked at her.
She shook her head.
“Not Charles.”
Richard went still.
Julian stared at Evelyn.
“Whose watch was it?”
She closed her eyes.
“Alexander's.”
---
Sterling Tower was almost empty when Julian and Richard arrived.
The sixty-first floor had never existed on public building plans.
Officially, the tower had sixty floors.
But Richard used a private elevator requiring biometric access.
He placed his palm against the scanner.
The doors opened.
Julian stared at him.
“You knew about this floor.”
“Yes.”
“And never mentioned it.”
“I didn't know Sebastian was using it.”
They entered.
The sixty-first floor was nothing like the corporate offices below.
No reception.
No conference rooms.
No glass walls.
It looked like an archive.
Rows of locked cabinets extended into darkness.
Old photographs covered one wall.
Politicians.
Judges.
CEOs.
Police commissioners.
Foreign diplomats.
Some photographs dated back forty years.
Julian stopped before one.
Evelyn stood beside a much younger Charles Sterling.
Behind them were Richard, Sebastian and Alexander.
Three brothers.
Richard pointed.
“Alexander.”
Julian studied the eldest brother.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Especially around the eyes.
His eyes.
“You really believe he's my father.”
“I've believed it every day since you were born.”
“Did you hate me for it?”
Richard looked at him.
“Sometimes.”
The honesty hurt more than a lie.
“But you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard looked away.
“Because leaving would have meant Alexander won.”
Before Julian could answer, a speaker clicked on.
“Still making everything about Alexander.”
Richard froze.
The voice was older.
Smooth.
Almost identical to his.
“Sebastian.”
Lights illuminated the far end of the archive.
Eleanor sat in a chair.
Unbound.
Uninjured.
Beside her stood Sebastian Sterling.
Julian's first thought was that Richard was looking into an aging mirror.
Sebastian had the same height.
The same silver hair.
The same posture.
But where Richard radiated dominance, Sebastian radiated patience.
That frightened Julian more.
“Mother.”
Eleanor stood.
“Julian.”
He moved toward her.
Sebastian raised one hand.
“She's free to go.”
Julian stopped.
“Then let her.”
“I just did.”
Eleanor walked toward Julian.
Richard stared at his twin.
Thirty-four years separated their last meeting.
Neither embraced.
Neither smiled.
Sebastian spoke first.
“You got old.”
Richard's jaw tightened.
“So did you.”
“I had fewer comforts.”
“You could have come home.”
“To be killed properly this time?”
Richard said nothing.
Sebastian smiled.
“I thought so.”
Julian stepped between them.
“You sent the messages?”
“Some.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because there are at least three players.”
“Name them.”
Sebastian looked impressed.
“Straight to business. Very Alexander.”
Richard stiffened.
Julian ignored it.
“Who are the three?”
“Evelyn.”
“One.”
“Me.”
“Two.”
Sebastian's smile disappeared.
“And the person who kidnapped Nathan, bombed the lake house, attacked Richard in custody, and took Eleanor.”
Julian frowned.
“You took Eleanor.”
“No.”
Eleanor spoke.
“He found me after I escaped.”
Julian looked at her.
“Escaped from whom?”
“I never saw his face.”
Sebastian continued.
“But I know what he wants.”
“The ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the ledger identifies him.”
Julian stared.
“The leader of the network?”
“No.”
Sebastian walked toward one of the locked cabinets.
“The man who replaced Alexander.”
Richard's expression changed.
“Impossible.”
“Why?”
“Alexander controlled everything.”
“Until Evelyn shot him.”
Sebastian smiled coldly.
“You really thought a machine like that would stop because one man died?”
He opened the cabinet.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Each marked with a year.
“The network selected a successor.”
“Who?”
“That is what the second ledger reveals.”
Julian's phone rang.
Vivienne.
He answered.
“Tell me you found the watch.”
“I found the box.”
“But?”
“The watch is gone.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“Who entered the bridal suite?”
“Police. Federal agents. Hotel staff.”
“Anyone else?”
Silence.
“Vivienne?”
“There was someone on the security footage.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Send it.”
The image arrived.
Julian opened it.
A man wearing hotel maintenance clothing entered the bridal suite seventeen minutes after the ceremony began.
His face was visible for only a second.
Julian enlarged it.
Eleanor gasped.
Richard swore.
Sebastian's expression changed for the first time.
Fear.
Julian looked at him.
“You know him.”
Sebastian didn't answer.
Richard grabbed the phone.
“No.”
“What?”
Richard stared at the image.
“I watched him die.”
Julian's patience snapped.
“Apparently that means nothing in this family. Who is he?”
Eleanor whispered the answer.
“Dr. Mercer.”
Julian remembered Vivienne's research.
Samuel Mercer.
The obstetrician who delivered him and Nathan.
Officially dead fifteen years ago.
Sebastian walked toward the photograph.
“That's impossible.”
Julian stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Mercer wasn't just the doctor who delivered you.”
Sebastian looked at Eleanor.
“He was the fourth man at the party.”
The room became silent.
Julian's pulse slowed.
“Benjamin wasn't the fourth?”
“No.”
“Then Mercer was there when my mother was drugged.”
“Yes.”
“And he later delivered us.”
“Yes.”
Julian felt nausea rise.
“Was Mercer my father?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
“You know?”
Sebastian nodded.
“Alexander ordered the original paternity test.”
Richard stared at him.
“You saw the result?”
“I stole a copy before the laboratory was destroyed.”
Julian moved toward him.
“Then tell me.”
Sebastian's gaze settled on Julian.
“You aren't Alexander's son.”
Richard went completely still.
Julian barely breathed.
“Then whose?”
Sebastian reached into his jacket.
He removed an old folded laboratory report.
“I've carried this for thirty-three years.”
Julian took it.
His hands remained steady until he reached the final page.
The document compared genetic markers from Eleanor, infant Julian, Alexander Sterling, Gabriel Vale, Richard Sterling, Benjamin Cross—
and Samuel Mercer.
Five men.
Four exclusions.
One probability.
Julian read the name.
Then read it again.
**SAMUEL MERCER — PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.94%.**
Eleanor made a broken sound.
Julian looked at Sebastian.
“You knew all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't Evelyn know?”
“Because I changed the report before she saw it.”
Richard stared at his twin.
“Why?”
Sebastian's face hardened.
“Because Mercer wasn't merely another man at that party.”
He looked at Julian.
“He was Alexander's physician.”
A pause.
“His fixer.”
Another.
“And the man who drugged Eleanor.”
Julian's hands tightened around the report.
Eleanor sank into the chair.
“No…”
Sebastian continued.
“Alexander didn't assault Eleanor.”
Richard whispered, “Then why did Mercer?”
Sebastian looked toward the archive wall.
“Because he needed a child.”
Julian stared at him.
“For what?”
Sebastian answered quietly.
“To inherit the network.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Eleanor screamed.
Julian dropped behind a cabinet.
A second shot.
Then silence.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Richard stood near the wall.
Eleanor was on the floor but moving.
Julian turned toward Sebastian.
He was still standing.
But blood was spreading across his shirt.
He collapsed.
Julian rushed to him.
“Sebastian!”
Sebastian grabbed Julian's jacket.
His breathing was wet and shallow.
“Listen…”
“Who shot you?”
Sebastian looked beyond Julian.
At someone approaching from the darkness.
Julian turned.
A man stepped into the red emergency light.
Hotel maintenance uniform.
Silver hair.
Thin face.
Dr. Samuel Mercer.
Alive.
In one hand he held Julian's missing watch.
In the other, a suppressed pistol.
Mercer smiled at Julian.
“Thirty-three years,” he said.
“And finally, my son has come home.”