The Hidden heir’s revenge

CHAPTER 9 THE BROTHER HELD HOSTAGE

Varek stared at Adrian’s photograph.

The man who had spent years trying to destroy him was now tied to a chair in an unknown location, his face bruised and his shirt stained with blood.

For the first time in years, Varek felt something other than hatred toward his brother.

Fear.

Not for himself.

For the possibility that someone else was about to decide who deserved to live and who deserved to die.

His phone vibrated again.

MIDNIGHT. THE OLD THORNE MAUSOLEUM. COME ALONE.

A second message followed.

IF YOU BRING THE POLICE, ADRIAN DIES. IF YOU BRING SEBASTIAN BLACKSTONE, YOU WILL BOTH DIE.

Varek read the messages twice before locking his phone.

Then he turned toward Sebastian.

“How much do you know about Jonathan Thorne?”

Sebastian studied him carefully.

“Enough to know that he doesn’t make threats he cannot carry out.”

“Adrian has been kidnapped.”

Sebastian’s expression changed.

“By Jonathan?”

“I don’t know. But the person holding him wants the black case Eleanor gave me.”

“Then we need to notify the authorities.”

“No.”

“Varek, this isn’t a game.”

“Neither is my brother’s life.”

Sebastian stared at him.

“After everything Adrian has done to you, you’re willing to risk your life to save him?”

Varek’s expression hardened.

“I’m willing to risk my life to discover why someone wants him dead. There’s a difference.”

He slipped the phone into his pocket.

“Besides, if Adrian knows something about our identities, keeping him alive may be the only way to uncover the truth.”

Sebastian said nothing for several seconds.

Then he reached into his jacket and removed a small black card.

“There’s a private entrance to the mausoleum through the eastern grounds. Your grandfather used it whenever he wanted to visit without being seen.”

Varek accepted the card.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“Because I know you’re going regardless of what I say.”

Sebastian leaned closer.

“But I want you to understand something. If Jonathan is behind this, he may not be the only person waiting for you.”

Varek met his gaze.

“Then I hope they brought enough people.”

⸻

At eleven forty-five that night, Varek arrived at the old Thorne estate.

The grounds were silent.

Moonlight stretched across the abandoned gardens, illuminating the broken statues and overgrown paths that led toward the family mausoleum.

He parked several hundred meters away and approached on foot.

The black case Eleanor had given him was secured beneath his jacket.

Inside it were the original birth certificate, the flash drive, and the documents linking Cassian Vale to the conspiracy surrounding the Thorne inheritance.

Varek had made copies of everything.

If he died tonight, the copies would reach Naomi automatically.

It wasn’t a perfect plan.

But it was enough to ensure that whoever killed him would have to deal with the truth eventually.

At the eastern gate, he inserted Sebastian’s card into a concealed reader.

The lock clicked.

He pushed the gate open.

Beyond it stood a narrow stone path leading directly to the mausoleum.

A single light glowed above the entrance.

Varek approached cautiously.

The doors were open.

Inside, the air smelled of dust and damp stone. Rows of marble memorials lined the walls, bearing the names of generations of Thorne family members.

At the far end stood his grandfather’s tomb.

A man was waiting beside it.

He wore a black suit and leather gloves. His silver hair was neatly combed, and his posture carried the confidence of someone accustomed to commanding powerful people.

Varek stopped several feet away.

“Jonathan Thorne.”

The man smiled.

“Varek Vale.”

Hearing his real name spoken by a stranger sent an unexpected chill through him.

“So you know who I am.”

“I knew who you were before you took your first breath.”

Jonathan examined him with unsettling interest.

“You look like your father.”

“Which one?”

For the first time, Jonathan’s smile disappeared.

“Ah. Eleanor has finally started telling you things.”

“She’s told me enough to know that you’re a liar.”

“Then she hasn’t told you nearly enough.”

Varek glanced around the mausoleum.

“Where’s Adrian?”

“Safe.”

“Prove it.”

Jonathan raised a hand.

A large screen mounted against the wall flickered to life.

Adrian appeared on the screen, still tied to a chair. A man stood behind him holding a gun.

Adrian’s face was swollen, but his eyes remained alert.

When he saw Varek, his expression changed.

“Don’t give him the case!” Adrian shouted.

The man behind him struck him across the face.

Varek’s entire body tensed.

“Touch him again, and I’ll kill you.”

Jonathan chuckled.

“Still trying to protect your brother. How touching.”

“Tell your man to step away from him.”

“Give me the case first.”

Varek lifted it slightly.

“Before that, I want answers.”

Jonathan sighed.

“You have your mother’s stubbornness and your father’s temper. Unfortunately, you inherited neither man’s patience.”

“Who is my father?”

“Cassian Vale.”

“Then who is Adrian’s father?”

“Richard Thorne.”

Varek watched him carefully.

“And Damian Mercer?”

Jonathan’s eyes narrowed.

“Where did you hear that name?”

“Answer the question.”

Jonathan studied him for a long moment before walking toward a nearby marble table.

He placed a small photograph on it.

Varek approached.

The photograph showed three newborn babies.

Not two.

Three.

One baby lay in Eleanor’s arms. Another rested beside a woman Varek had never seen before. The third was held by a doctor wearing a hospital coat.

On the back of the photograph were three names.

VAREK VALE.

ADRIAN THORNE.

DAMIAN MERCER.

Varek looked up.

“Three children?”

“Three boys born within a period of several hours,” Jonathan replied. “Three families with secrets. Three identities that were supposed to remain separate.”

“Who was the third child’s mother?”

“That is one of the questions you should have asked twenty-nine years ago.”

“I wasn’t born with the ability to investigate my own birth.”

Jonathan laughed softly.

“No. You were born into a world where everyone around you had already decided what you were allowed to know.”

Varek pointed at the photograph.

“Why was Damian declared dead?”

“Because someone needed him to disappear.”

“Who?”

Jonathan’s expression became cold.

“Your grandfather.”

Varek stared at him.

“You’re lying.”

“Your grandfather discovered that Damian’s existence threatened the inheritance arrangement he had spent years constructing. He believed the boy would become a weapon in Cassian’s hands, so he arranged for the records to be altered.”

“Then why did you help him?”

“Because I thought I was saving all three children.”

Jonathan’s voice grew quieter.

“I was wrong.”

For a moment, something resembling regret crossed his face.

Then it vanished.

“Your grandfather believed he could control every person in his life. He believed money could erase betrayal and that a carefully constructed lie could protect a family forever.”

He gestured toward the tomb.

“Look where it brought him.”

Varek’s hands tightened.

“Did you kill him?”

Jonathan didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he walked to the screen showing Adrian.

“Your brother has spent years believing that the Thorne fortune belongs to him. Richard encouraged that belief because Adrian was the only son he could openly claim.”

Jonathan looked back at Varek.

“But Adrian was never the real problem.”

“Then who was?”

Jonathan stepped closer.

“You.”

Varek’s eyes narrowed.

“Explain.”

“Your grandfather didn’t leave you his fortune because he loved you more than the others. He left it to you because you were the only person whose identity could unlock the original trust.”

Varek remembered the letter Eleanor had given him.

The second key.

The vault beneath the original Thorne headquarters.

The inheritance that could only be accessed when both heirs were present.

“What is inside the trust?”

“Everything your grandfather stole, everything Cassian hid, and everything Richard has spent his life trying to control.”

“And what do you want?”

Jonathan smiled again.

“The same thing everyone in this family wants.”

“Money?”

“Power.”

Varek shook his head.

“Then you have wasted your life.”

Jonathan’s face hardened.

“Careful.”

“No. You spent decades hiding while other people suffered for your mistakes. You let my mother believe she had to disappear to protect me. You allowed Richard to raise me inside a lie. And now you’re threatening Adrian because you think I care more about the truth than his life.”

Varek stepped forward.

“You don’t want the inheritance, Jonathan. You want to punish everyone who ever made you feel powerless.”

For several seconds, the older man remained silent.

Then he smiled.

“Perhaps you’re finally beginning to understand.”

He snapped his fingers.

The screen changed.

Adrian’s image disappeared, replaced by a live camera feed from a room Varek had never seen.

A woman sat tied to a chair.

Her head was lowered, and her long dark hair covered most of her face.

Varek leaned closer.

Something about her looked familiar.

Jonathan spoke quietly.

“You came here expecting to save your brother.”

He pointed at the screen.

“But there is another person you should have been looking for.”

The woman slowly raised her head.

Varek stopped breathing.

He knew that face.

He had seen it in photographs.

He had mourned it for nineteen years.

It was Eleanor.

His mother.

The woman currently recovering in the hospital.

Varek stared at the screen, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

Jonathan watched his reaction with satisfaction.

“Now do you understand why you should never trust a family secret?”

Varek’s voice came out barely above a whisper.

“That’s impossible. My mother is in the hospital.”

“Is she?”

Jonathan pressed a button on the table.

The camera zoomed in on the woman’s face.

She looked directly into the lens.

Then she spoke.

“Varek, don’t believe anything this man tells you.”

Jonathan’s smile widened.

“Ask her why she gave birth to three children.”

Varek turned toward him.

“What?”

Jonathan’s eyes glittered.

“Ask her which of those children she watched die.”

The screen went black.

A loud metallic sound echoed behind Varek.

He spun around.

The mausoleum doors had closed.

A red light appeared above the entrance.

Then a voice came through the hidden speakers.

“Security lockdown activated.”

Jonathan calmly placed his hands behind his back.

“You have ten minutes, Varek.”

“Ten minutes for what?”

“To decide which person you want to save.”

He gestured toward two doors on opposite sides of the mausoleum.

“Your brother is behind the door on your left. Your mother is behind the door on your right.”

Varek stared at him.

“And if I choose neither?”

Jonathan’s smile vanished.

“Then both die.”

A digital countdown appeared on the wall.

09:59.

09:58.

09:57.

Jonathan leaned close enough for Varek to hear his whisper.

“Welcome to the Thorne family, my boy.”

Then he delivered the final blow.

“Your grandfather wasn’t the first person to die because of this inheritance.”

His eyes locked onto Varek’s.

“Your real father is still alive, and he is the one who ordered your execution.”