Chapter 15 - The Ghost Brother
Arthur stumbled out of the bunker into the bright afternoon sunlight, clutching the test results in his fist.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis.
Julian had been the golden child, the brilliant heir to the Vance shipping empire before his plane disappeared over the Atlantic.
Arthur had spent years living in his brother’s shadow, carrying the weight of his family’s grief.
When Arthur met Eleanor three years after Julian’s death, she was a quiet, grieving painter with a fractured memory from a car crash.
They had built a life together on the ashes of their mutual sorrow.
Or so Arthur had believed.
His phone rang violently in his pocket, shattering the silence of the ruins.
He snatched it out, staring at the screen.
The caller ID displayed Eleanor’s number.
Arthur pressed answer, holding the phone to his ear with a trembling hand.
"Arthur?"
The voice on the other end was not Eleanor.
It was deeper, smoother, and terrifyingly familiar.
"Julian?" Arthur breathed, his voice barely a croak.
A low, dry chuckle echoed through the receiver.
"You always were slow to catch up, little brother," Julian said. "Did you really think a few gallons of gasoline could erase what we built down there?"
"Where are they?" Arthur roared, his fear instantly morphing into blinding rage. "Where is Eleanor? Where is my daughter?"
"She's not your daughter, Arthur," Julian said smoothly. "She never was. Look at the paper in your hand."
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"You're dead!" Arthur shouted. "I buried your empty casket!"
"You buried what Father told you to bury," Julian replied coldly. "Now, if you want Eleanor and Lily to survive the evening, you will return home and do exactly what I tell you."
