Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO CAME AT MIDNIGHT
Julian arrived at my hotel at 12:17 a.m.
He came alone.
No driver.
No assistant.
No security.
That scared me more than if he had brought an army.
My brother had spent his entire adult life surrounded by people paid to make his existence easier.
Seeing him standing in a hotel hallway with wet hair and no overcoat told me something had gone very wrong.
I opened the door but left the security chain attached.
"What do you want?"
"Let me in."
"No."
"Celeste."
"Say it from there."
His eyes moved toward the ceiling camera.
"They'll see me."
"That's the point."
He closed his eyes.
"You always were impossible."
"And you always were dramatic."
"Father is going to destroy the records."
The humor vanished.
"What?"
"He called an emergency operations meeting tonight."
"Who was there?"
"Trent."
"Who else?"
"Chief financial officer, general counsel, two IT people, Harlan Pike."
I knew that name.
Harlan Pike had run corporate security for Vale Global for almost fifteen years.
Before that, he had worked in federal intelligence.
When Arthur wanted a problem to disappear, Pike usually appeared somewhere nearby.
"What kind of records?"
"I don't know exactly."
"Then why are you here?"
Julian looked down the hallway.
"Because I heard Father say the words Meridian archive."
I unlocked the chain.
He entered quickly.
I closed the door.
Julian paced toward the window.
For the first time in years, he did not look arrogant.
He looked terrified.
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because I'm on the documents."
"What documents?"
He faced me.
"The Singapore payments."
My stomach dropped.
Julian swallowed.
"I signed approvals."
"Did you know what they were?"
"No."
"That's not an answer."
"I thought they were consulting fees."
"To whom?"
"I don't know."
"Julian."
"I didn't ask."
That was the answer.
He had not needed to ask.
People like Julian survived by keeping themselves deliberately ignorant.
If money entered the company, he celebrated.
If money left the company, someone else explained it.
He had spent decades benefiting from not knowing where the bodies were buried.
Now the ground beneath him was moving.
"I need protection," he said.
I stared at him.
"From whom?"
"Our father."
The words sounded impossible even after everything Arthur had done.
Julian saw my doubt.
"You don't understand him."
"I understand him better than you think."
"No."
He stepped closer.
"You left."
The accusation surprised me.
"You escaped."
"I was erased."
"You were free."
His voice cracked.
"Vivienne and I stayed."
For the first time, I saw my brother not as Arthur's spoiled son, but as another child raised inside the same machine.
It did not excuse him.
But it explained part of him.
Julian rubbed both hands across his face.
"When Father decided you were gone, every expectation moved to me."
"You still helped him destroy my name."
"I know."
"You called me unstable."
"I know."
"You told reporters I was using drugs."
"I know."
I turned away.
"Then don't ask me for sympathy."
"I'm not."
His voice became quiet.
"I'm asking you to stop him before someone dies."
I turned back.
"Why would someone die?"
Julian looked toward the closed door.
Then he removed a small flash drive from his pocket.
"Because someone already did."
He placed it on the table.
"Three years ago, our senior quality engineer, Thomas Keene, threatened to report falsified test results."
I recognized the name.
Keene had supposedly died in a car accident.
Julian continued.
"The next morning, he was dead."
"You're saying Father killed him?"
"I'm saying Harlan Pike visited Father's office the night before."
"That proves nothing."
"I know."
"What's on the drive?"
"Keene's last internal emails."
"How did you get them?"
"I kept backups after he died."
"Why?"
"Because for once in my life, I was afraid not to."
I looked at the flash drive.
"Why wait three years?"
Julian laughed bitterly.
"Because I was a coward."
At least that part was true.
I did not touch the drive.
"If this is genuine, it goes to investigators."
"I know."
"You don't control what happens after that."
"I know."
"You could be charged."
His face went pale.
"I know."
Before either of us spoke again, my phone vibrated.
Rebecca.
I answered.
Her voice was sharp.
"Celeste, get away from the windows."
I moved immediately.
Julian froze.
"What happened?"
"Vale Global's records warehouse outside Baltimore is on fire."
I looked at my brother.
His face drained of color.
Rebecca continued.
"Fire department says the alarm system was disabled before ignition."
My eyes dropped to the flash drive on the table.
May you like
Arthur had begun burning the past.
The only question was how far he was willing to go.
