Chapter 5 - THE UNCLE FROM THE SHADOWS
The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time we reached the mansion. Lights blazed from every window, casting a warm glow over the stone and brick, but the house no longer felt like a sanctuary. It felt like a stage. A place where secrets had been kept, lies had been told, and enemies walked freely among us.
Inside, I ordered tea. We sat in the library—Mr. Collins, Sophie, and me—while the servants dried our clothes and brought us fresh towels. The blue leather will lay on the table, water-stained but readable. Beside it sat the voice recorder.
“Julian Whitmore,” I said, repeating the name as if speaking it aloud might make it less dangerous. “Arthur’s younger brother. He left the country more than thirty years ago. Arthur said he moved to Europe and never returned.”
“Arthur said a great many things,” Mr. Collins said gravely. “Some of them were not true.”
I looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”
“Julian did not leave because he wanted to,” Mr. Collins said. “Arthur sent him away. Paid him to stay gone. Silenced him. Because Julian knew something Arthur did not want revealed.”
“About Daniel?”
“About everything,” Mr. Collins said. “The affair. The adoption. The marriage arranged between our daughter and Daniel. Arthur feared Julian would expose it all. That Julian would claim the company was being run on lies. So he bought his brother’s silence. Year after year. Payment after payment. Until Arthur died.”
“And then the payments stopped,” I said.
May you like
Mr. Collins nodded. “Arthur left no provision for Julian. He believed his brother would stay away. That he had no proof. But Julian… he waited. He watched. And when Arthur died… Julian came back.”
“Rachel found him,” I said
