Chapter 13 - The Brother Who Stayed Quiet
Miles asked us to meet in a public parking garage beside the county courthouse. Theo insisted that we involve investigators rather than attempt a secret exchange. Miles agreed, after a long silence.
He arrived in a battered sedan instead of the silver sports car he'd driven to the wedding. He looked as if he hadn't slept since breakfast.
“Grant says you're destroying our family,” he told me.
“Your brother hit me and forged my name.”
Miles nodded. “I saw.”
“Then why didn't you stop him?”
His eyes filled. “Because I've spent my whole life being afraid of him.”
He handed a sealed packet to the detective who had come to meet us. Inside were copied identification documents, authorization forms, and a spreadsheet listing payments under codes instead of names.
“Mom kept the originals in her safe,” he said. “She made me scan them. I kept copies because I knew she'd blame me when it went wrong.”
“You opened Bayline 47,” I said.
“She said I was helping the family. I was twenty-four. Then money started moving. When I asked questions, she told me I had already signed enough papers to go down with them.”
I wanted to be furious at him. I was. But beneath the anger was the terrible familiarity of someone making excuses for the people who held power over him.
“Why help now?” I asked.
Miles stared at the concrete. “Because when Grant hit you, I saw Hannah. And I realized there'd be another woman after you if nobody stopped him.”
The detective asked him to come to the station and give a full statement. Miles agreed.
As he turned away, he said, “One more thing. Grant met someone from the bank yesterday. He offered to replace the documents before auditors saw them.”
“Which bank?” Theo asked.
Miles named the institution.
Lena went still. “That's the lender reviewing Mara's guarantee.”
Miles asked for a bottle of water and drank half before he could speak. He confessed that Evelyn used to introduce him as the sensitive son and Grant as the capable one.
Her phone rang before anyone moved. She answered and listened.
May you like
Then she looked directly at me.
“They've just marked the guarantee as verified.”
