CHAPTER 6 — “The Secret Witness”
Thomas carefully unfolded the yellowed letter.
Everyone crowded closer.
The handwriting belonged to someone else.
Someone both brothers had loved.
Their father.
The old letter read:
"My sons...
If this letter is ever opened, it means my greatest fear has come true.
One of you has chosen greed over family."
Richard closed his eyes.
He already knew what came next.
Years earlier...
Their father had secretly suspected Richard was becoming obsessed with money.
Without telling either son...
He had hidden evidence in the vault.
Evidence that could expose the truth if the brothers ever turned against one another.
The detective removed a VHS tape from the chest.
An old television was brought into the room.
The tape began playing.
Static flickered across the screen...
Then appeared the image of the brothers' father.
Older.
Weak.
But speaking clearly.
"If you're watching this, then one of my sons has lied."
He lifted a thick folder toward the camera.
"I divided ownership of our invention equally."
He looked directly into the lens.
"And if anyone claims otherwise..."
"...they are stealing from their own blood."
Then came the moment that shattered Richard forever.
The recording switched to security footage from thirty years earlier.
A warehouse.
Late at night.
Young Richard stood outside the building.
He looked around nervously...
Then deliberately chained the warehouse door shut.
Seconds later...
Smoke began pouring through the windows.
Inside...
Thomas could be seen desperately pounding on the locked door.
The ballroom guests who had followed the investigation gasped in horror.
Richard collapsed into a chair, tears streaming down his face.
"I never meant for the fire to spread..."
Thomas stared at the screen in complete silence.
For thirty years, he had believed it had been an accident.
Now he knew the truth.
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His own brother hadn't simply stolen his future.
He had tried to erase him from the world forever.
