Chapter 4 - TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED FORTY DOLLARS
I read the message twice.
NOW WE’RE EVEN.
The third time did not make it less frightening.
“What does that mean?” Adrian asked.
Daniel closed the door behind him.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s becoming your favorite sentence.”
“Maya,” Daniel said, “did you tell anyone outside your family about the tuition?”
“No.”
“Coworkers?”
“No.”
“Friends?”
“No.”
“Did you discuss it inside this room?”
I looked toward Adrian.
He understood instantly.
“I asked her about it last night.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
“You think this room is bugged?” I asked.
“We swept it yesterday.”
“Then how did someone know?”
“That is what Marcus is investigating.”
I thought about Toby.
“Is my brother in danger?”
Daniel did not answer quickly enough.
I stepped toward him.
“Is my brother in danger?”
“We don’t know.”
“No. You don’t get to say that.”
“Maya—”
“I was doing my job. I helped keep this man alive. Now somebody knows where my seventeen-year-old brother goes to school.”
Adrian swung his legs off the bed.
Daniel raised his hand.
“You should not be standing.”
“Neither should she be worrying about her family because of me.”
Adrian’s face had changed.
The humor was gone.
“If anyone connected to me contacted her brother’s school, I want security there.”
Daniel nodded.
“Marcus already arranged it.”
“You arranged security at my brother’s school without asking me?” I said.
“To keep him safe.”
My first instinct was anger.
My second was relief.
That frightened me more.
By noon, Marcus had traced the tuition payment.
The money had come through a charitable educational trust.
A legitimate trust.
Controlled by Vale Meridian.
But the authorization had not come from Adrian.
It came from the office of Julian Vale.
Adrian’s half-brother.
“Why would Julian pay it?” I asked.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“That is an excellent question.”
Adrian looked at the message again.
“Now we’re even.”
He turned toward Daniel.
“What would Julian owe Maya?”
“Nothing that I know of.”
“What would he owe me?”
Daniel looked away.
Adrian noticed.
“Tell me.”
“Your relationship with Julian has been strained.”
“Why?”
“Your father.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Daniel finally sat.
“Your father, Richard Vale, was difficult.”
“That’s a polite word.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“Richard expected perfection from you because you were his firstborn son. Julian received the opposite treatment. Your father barely acknowledged him.”
“Why?”
“Julian’s mother was not Richard’s wife.”
Adrian stared at the floor.
“So my brother spent his childhood being punished for something he didn’t do.”
“In many ways, yes.”
“And I benefited.”
“You were also punished, just differently.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Wonderful family.”
That evening Julian came to the hospital.
I knew who he was before he introduced himself.
Same dark hair.
Same gray eyes.
But younger.
Thirty, maybe.
His expensive coat hung open and rain clung to his shoulders.
He looked at Adrian for a long time.
Then said, “You look terrible.”
Adrian smiled despite himself.
“You must be my brother.”
Julian’s expression broke.
Only for a moment.
He crossed the room and hugged him.
Adrian stiffened before slowly returning it.
I began to leave.
“Stay,” Adrian said.
Julian glanced at me.
“Maya Carter.”
I froze.
“You know who I am.”
“Of course.”
“Did you pay my brother’s tuition?”
“Yes.”
Adrian sat straighter.
“Why?”
Julian looked embarrassed.
“Because I heard Maya arguing with you about it yesterday.”
“How?”
“I was outside.”
I thought back.
There had been voices near the door.
“And the note?”
Julian frowned.
“What note?”
Daniel handed it to him.
Julian read the message.
His face drained.
“I didn’t write this.”
“Who knew about the payment?” Daniel asked.
“My assistant. Finance. Maybe the foundation office.”
“Why pay it anonymously?”
Julian looked at me.
“Because if Adrian wanted to help and Maya wouldn’t accept it, I thought anonymity solved the problem.”
“It didn’t.”
“I can see that.”
I wanted to be angry.
Instead I looked at him carefully.
“Why do you care whether Toby stays in school?”
Julian swallowed.
“Because Adrian paid my tuition once.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What?”
“When Dad cut me off at nineteen.”
Julian looked toward his brother.
“You paid my college bill without telling him.”
Adrian searched his face.
“I don’t remember.”
“I do.”
For the first time since his accident, Adrian looked devastated by something he could not remember.
Not wealth.
Not power.
A kindness.
A relationship.
His brother remembered a version of him he could not reach.
Julian moved closer.
“You weren’t always good to me.”
Adrian nodded.
“I figured.”
“But you were good when it mattered.”
The words sat heavily between them.
Then Julian reached into his coat.
“I brought something.”
He handed Adrian a small black key.
“What is it?”
“Your private office key.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
“Julian.”
“What?”
“You were explicitly told not to give him access.”
“By whom?”
“By me.”
Julian laughed.
“You’re his lawyer, Daniel. Not his father.”
Adrian examined the key.
“Why is everyone afraid of my office?”
No one answered.
Julian looked directly at his brother.
“Because two days before your crash, you locked everyone out.”
“Why?”
“You said there was someone inside Vale Meridian you could no longer trust.”
Adrian’s eyes sharpened.
“Who?”
“You wouldn’t tell me.”
Julian hesitated.
“But you did say one thing.”
“What?”
“If anything happened to you, I was supposed to burn the company down before letting them have it.”
Daniel’s expression turned cold.
“And you failed to mention this until now?”
Julian ignored him.
Adrian looked at the photograph of the woman in the red coat.
“Eleanor.”
Julian’s eyes widened.
“How do you know that name?”
The room changed.
“You know her?” I asked.
Julian looked at Daniel.
Then back at Adrian.
“You really don’t remember.”
“No.”
Julian took a slow breath.
“Eleanor Price wasn’t an employee.”
“Then who was she?”
May you like
Julian answered quietly.
“She was the woman who accused our father of stealing his entire company.”
