Chapter 6 - Richard Finds His Missing Brother
Richard did not obey the message completely.
He went to Andrew’s rented house with security nearby, though they
remained out of sight.
Andrew opened the door before Richard knocked.
For several seconds, neither brother spoke.
Twelve years separated them.
Andrew looked exhausted rather than dangerous.
Richard finally said:
“You let me think you were a thief.”
Andrew’s face tightened.
“I let you think I was alive somewhere.”
“You could have called.”
“Your father monitored you.”
“He died seven years ago.”
“And the people working for him didn’t.”
Richard entered.
The house contained computers, document boxes, and photographs of former
Ashford executives.
Andrew had spent years building a case.
Richard showed him the photograph found behind Victoria’s portrait.
“Why were you with her?”
“Because she found me.”
“Why?”
Andrew looked away.
“Caroline.”
Richard’s anger sharpened.
“You knew my wife.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was collecting evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And after she died?”
“I knew something about her death didn’t fit.”
Andrew explained that Caroline contacted him secretly for years.
She believed Charles’s old pharmaceutical network survived under a new
company.
When Charles died, she thought it was finally safe to expose everything.
Then Caroline suddenly died.
Andrew suspected one of the old executives.
He had no proof.
Victoria later contacted him with a claim that she had found Caroline’s
missing medical file.
Richard asked:
“Why would Victoria help you?”
Andrew’s answer surprised him.
“Because her mother was in the trial.”
Victoria’s mother had been one of the injured participants.
Victoria had spent years trying to prove what happened.
She joined the settlement law firm specifically to access records.
That was how she met Andrew.
Richard’s marriage to Victoria had not been accidental.
She entered his life partly because she wanted access to Ashford
records.
Richard felt sick.
“Did she ever love me?”
Andrew looked at him.
“I can’t answer that.”
“What about Lily?”
Andrew’s expression changed.
“I told Victoria never to involve Lily.”
Richard stepped closer.
“What does Lily have to do with this?”
Andrew opened a safe.
Inside was a sealed evidence bag containing a child’s silver bracelet.
Richard recognized it.
Lily wore it as a baby.
Andrew said Caroline had hidden a micro-storage chip inside the clasp.
It contained the only surviving copy of the original trial database.
But the bracelet Andrew possessed was empty.
Someone had removed the chip.
Andrew looked directly at Richard.
“Victoria thought Lily knew where Caroline hid it.”
Richard’s blood went cold.
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The haircut had never been about a vase.
Victoria had been searching Lily.
