CHAPTER 8 — "The Brother Everyone Trusted"
Against every warning, Edward drove alone.
No bodyguards.
No police.
No weapons.
Only the faded photograph of Amelia resting on the passenger seat.
The GPS coordinates led him to an abandoned lakeside mansion once owned by the Ashcroft family decades earlier.
The place had been empty since their father's death.
Or so everyone believed.
The front door slowly creaked open.
Inside, candles illuminated the enormous hallway.
William Ashcroft stood waiting.
Perfectly dressed.
Calm.
Smiling.
As though he had been expecting this reunion for years.
"You finally came."
Edward's jaw tightened.
"Where are they?"
William ignored the question.
Instead, he poured two glasses of whiskey.
"I've imagined this conversation for twenty-two years."
Edward stepped closer.
"I didn't come to drink."
"I came for my family."
William laughed quietly.
"Family?"
"Now you suddenly care about family?"
Edward's fists clenched.
"You stole mine."
William's smile faded.
"No."
"I protected what should have been mine."
His voice hardened.
"Our father built an empire."
"But from the day you were born..."
"He stopped seeing me."
"I became invisible."
"Everything was always..."
'Edward this.'
'Edward that.'
"The brilliant son."
"The chosen heir."
"I spent my life living in your shadow."
Edward stared at him in disbelief.
"So you destroyed innocent lives because you were jealous?"
William's eyes flashed with bitterness.
"I wanted you to feel what I felt."
"To wake up every morning..."
"...missing someone you could never have."
Silence filled the room.
Then William slowly placed a thick folder on the table.
"I suppose it's time you learned the whole truth."
Edward opened it.
Inside were official birth records...
hospital files...
and one document that made his heart stop.
It was another DNA report.
This one listed three names.
Edward Ashcroft.
Noah Brooks.
And...
William Ashcroft.
Edward looked up in confusion.
"What is this?"
William smiled.
"The first DNA test was real."
"But it wasn't the complete story."
He leaned forward and whispered the words that shattered everything Edward thought he knew.
"Noah isn't only your son..."
"He's mine too."
At that exact second, a frightened voice echoed from somewhere deep inside the mansion.
"Dad!"
Edward spun toward the sound.
It was Noah.
Then a loud explosion shook the entire building.
May you like
The lights went out.
And the mansion burst into flames.
