Chapter 10 - The Brother Adrian Named
I met Adrian through reinforced glass.
He looked smaller in county jail clothes.
But the arrogance remained.
“You look tired,” he said.
“What do you have?”
“No hello?”
“What do you have?”
He smiled.
“There she is.”
I started to stand.
“Gabriel.”
I sat down again.
Adrian's smile widened.
“What about him?”
“Your oldest brother knew Grandma's trust had problems years ago.”
“That isn't news.”
“He knew before she died.”
I stared.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Ask him about Zurich.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ask.”
“That is your evidence?”
“No.”
He lifted a folder.
“My attorney has copies.”
“Of what?”
“Emails between Gabriel and your grandmother.”
My stomach tightened.
Adrian slid a photocopy toward the glass.
A message dated six weeks before Grandma's stroke.
Gabriel,
Richard is becoming aggressive. Do not involve Evelyn yet. She trusts Adrian and I will not destroy her marriage without proof.
I read it twice.
Then another.
Gabriel,
If anything happens to me, you know where the second records are stored.
My hands went cold.
Gabriel knew.
He knew Grandma feared Richard.
And he had never told me.
Adrian leaned back.
“Your brothers aren't heroes.”
“Don't compare them to you.”
“I'm not.”
He smiled.
“I'm telling you they lie too.”
I left without another word.
Gabriel was waiting outside.
I walked straight past him.
“Evie?”
“Zurich.”
He stopped.
I turned.
His face told me everything.
“You knew.”
“Some of it.”
“You knew Grandma was afraid of Richard.”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“She made me promise.”
“She died.”
“And I spent thirteen years blaming myself!”
The hallway echoed.
Gabriel didn't defend himself.
That made me angrier.
“Why?”
“I was twenty-seven.”
“So?”
“I thought I could handle it.”
“Just like you always do.”
His voice cracked.
“I thought I could protect you.”
“By letting me marry into the family she feared?”
“She didn't know Adrian was involved.”
“But you knew Richard was dangerous!”
“Yes!”
Silence.
Gabriel looked shattered.
“I asked you not to marry Adrian.”
I remembered.
The fight before my wedding.
Gabriel had called Adrian ambitious.
I called Gabriel controlling.
We didn't speak for almost a year.
“You could have told me why.”
“I promised Grandma.”
“And after she died?”
He looked down.
“I should have.”
That answer hurt because it was honest.
I walked away.
For the first time since the ballroom, I didn't want my brothers around me.
I rented a small apartment under private security.
No mansion.
No hotel suite.
No family conference room.
I needed silence.
Three days passed.
Then someone slipped an envelope beneath my door.
Inside was a photograph.
Grandma Rose.
Richard Cole.
Dr. Bell.
And one more person.
The picture had been taken outside Grandma's house two days before her stroke.
The fourth person was Adrian.
He was only twenty-eight then.
My fiancé.
And on the back, Grandma had written four words.
May you like
EVELYN CANNOT MARRY HIM.
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