Chapter 5 - Brother against Brother
Ten minutes later, my guards dragged my younger brother, Gabriel, into the grand study. He was wearing his expensive charcoal tuxedo, but his right sleeve was torn at the cuff, and his breathing was heavy, ragged, and panicked.
I stood behind my heavy mahogany desk, holding the torn piece of silver-stitched fabric in one hand and my tactical pistol in the other.
“Sit down, Gabriel,” I said, my voice dead, devoid of any warmth or brotherhood.
Gabriel threw his hands up, stumbling into a leather chair. “Julian! What the hell is going on?! Your guards tackled me in the library! They treated me like a criminal!”
I tossed the silver-stitched fabric onto the desk in front of him. “You dropped this on the nursery balcony six minutes ago after knocking out two of my guards.”
Gabriel looked at the fabric, his face turning gray. “No... no! Julian, you have to listen to me! That’s from my old tuxedo! The one I kept in my guest suite wardrobe!”
“We checked the access logs, Gabriel,” I said coldly. “Your keycard was used to enter the cold room. Your master override password was used to loop the security cameras. And now your sleeve is torn.”
Gabriel dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face. “Julian, I’m an idiot, I’m a gambler, I’m a terrible brother—but I would NEVER poison a child! I would never hurt Ethan! Someone framed me!”
“Why were you arguing on an encrypted phone outside the pantry at 6:45 p.m.?” Arthur asked sternly, stepping up behind Gabriel with handcuffs.
Gabriel swallowed hard, looking down at the carpet in shame. “I was talking to a private investigator... I discovered five days ago that someone was stealing money from the Sterling Family Trust. Millions of dollars were being funneled into an offshore account in Zurich. I thought... I thought you were pushing me out of the company, Julian! I was trying to find out who was opening those accounts!”
“Who owned the Zurich account, Gabriel?” I demanded.
“I didn't get the name!” Gabriel sobbed. “The investigator told me the account was registered under a shell corporation named Alba Holdings. The wire transfers were authorized using Veronica’s private digital signature!”
I stood frozen. Veronica. My stepmother.
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Before I could process the revelation, Clara ran into the study, holding a small plastic toy.
“Mr. Julian!” Clara gasped, her face pale. “Lily told me something else! She said the man with the shiny buttons wasn't wearing a suit when he was in the cold room... he was wearing a long black dress!”
