Chapter 19 - THE MAN WITH TWO NAMES
Elise thought she had misheard.
Samuel explained.
The man everyone knew as Thomas Keene had been born Thomas Kessler.
The real Thomas Keene died twenty-eight years earlier.
Kessler assumed his identity while working for Helena.
“Why?”
“To move money without connecting it to his original family.”
“What family?”
Samuel hesitated.
“The Vales.”
Rebecca stared.
“He’s related to Helena?”
“Her half brother.”
Elise sat in stunned silence.
Thomas had saved June.
Helped Jonathan.
Then lied about almost everything else.
“Whose side is he on?”
Samuel laughed bitterly.
“That depends on the year.”
A noise came from the porch.
Samuel turned.
Too late.
The door burst inward.
Thomas stood there.
Alone.
Blood on his shirt.
Rebecca raised the poker.
Thomas lifted his hands.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
Elise stepped forward.
“Thomas Kessler?”
His face collapsed.
“So Samuel found you.”
“He says you’re Helena’s brother.”
“Half brother.”
“You might want to stop correcting technicalities.”
Thomas entered slowly.
“My mother worked as a housekeeper for Helena’s father. I was never publicly acknowledged.”
“Yet you helped Helena.”
“For years.”
“Why save June?”
Thomas looked at the girl.
“Because I had already watched Helena destroy too many children.”
He removed a flash drive.
“Everything I have is here.”
Elise didn’t take it.
“Why now?”
“Because Monica plans to kill Helena.”
Everyone went silent.
Thomas continued.
“Helena has become a liability. Monica wants the network for herself.”
Samuel whispered, “Where is Helena?”
Thomas looked at Elise.
“Northbridge.”
Elise’s stomach tightened.
“My house?”
“She entered through the old wine tunnel yesterday.”
Rebecca cursed.
“What does she want?”
“The fifth letter.”
Elise frowned.
“We don’t have it.”
Thomas looked at June.
“Jonathan hid one clue somewhere only she could reach.”
June suddenly stiffened.
“The tree.”
Everyone turned.
“What tree?” Elise asked.
“The oak behind Dad’s memorial bench.”
Jonathan had built June a small wooden platform in the branches when she was six.
They drove to Northbridge under cover of darkness.
Samuel stayed behind.
Thomas led them through an old drainage route.
The estate was silent.
June climbed the oak.
Inside a hollow branch was a waterproof cylinder.
Letter five.
Then a voice came from below.
“Beautiful.”
Helena Vale stepped from the shadows.
She looked thinner than Elise remembered.
Older.
But her eyes remained sharp.
Two armed men flanked her.
Elise moved in front of June.
Helena smiled.
“You were always predictable when it came to the child.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
Helena laughed.
“My little brother finally grew a conscience.”
“Too late, perhaps.”
“Twenty years too late.”
Elise held the cylinder.
“You want this?”
Helena’s gaze fixed on it.
“Yes.”
“Tell me who killed Jonathan.”
Helena’s expression changed.
“No.”
“Then you don’t get the letter.”
One of Helena’s men raised his weapon.
Thomas stepped between them.
“Shoot her and you lose the clue.”
Helena sighed.
“Fine.”
She looked directly at Elise.
“I did not kill Jonathan.”
Elise stared.
“Who did?”
Helena’s eyes moved toward the dark house.
“Your aunt.”
Then a bullet struck Helena in the chest.
Chaos exploded.
Helena collapsed.
Her guards fired toward the trees.
Elise grabbed June.
Thomas dragged them behind the memorial wall.
A second shot hit one guard.
A third struck the other.
Then silence.
Helena gasped on the ground.
Elise crawled toward her.
“Who shot Jonathan?”
Helena struggled to breathe.
She grabbed Elise’s wrist.
“Monica ordered it.”
Then she whispered something else.
“Jonathan… survived the crash.”
Elise froze.
“What?”
Helena’s fingers tightened.
“He was alive when they found him.”
“Who found him?”
Helena’s eyes filled with terror.
“Thomas.”
Elise slowly turned.
May you like
Thomas stood behind her.
And said nothing.
