“You knew his name.”
“Ryan wasn’t using his real name.”
I threw the folder onto the desk.
“Then explain.”
Christopher looked exhausted.
“My father was not a good man.”
I said nothing.
“Everyone remembers Arthur Bennett as a visionary. A developer. Philanthropist. He built hospitals and schools.”
His voice hardened.
“He also laundered money for organized crime.”
I stared.
“Ryan discovered it.”
“How?”
“He worked for one of our construction companies.”
That made sense.
Ryan had been an electrician.
“He noticed invoices for materials that never arrived. Properties purchased through shell companies. Payments routed offshore.”
Christopher continued.
“He tried reporting it internally.”
“And?”
“My father found out.”
My stomach twisted.
Christopher looked toward the window.
“Ryan was offered a choice. Disappear or die.”
I whispered, “So he disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And the body?”
“Someone else.”
I covered my mouth.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was a kid trapped inside my father’s world.”
“You were twenty-three.”
“Yes. And terrified.”
I looked again at the photograph.
“What happened after this?”
“Ryan worked with federal investigators.”
My heart pounded.
“He was a witness?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Christopher said nothing.
“Where is my brother?”
“I don’t know.”
I leaned closer.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
He took a breath.
“In 2014, Ryan vanished from witness protection.”
My knees weakened.
“What?”
“No one knew whether he ran or was taken.”
“And the locket?”
Christopher touched it.
“He gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“Because I helped him escape my father.”
The room became silent.
I stared at Christopher Bennett, the arrogant billionaire I had been bathing and feeding for weeks.
“You saved him?”
“He saved me first.”
Christopher looked down.
“In 2010, my father discovered I had copied financial records. He planned to send me away.”
“Send you where?”
“Somewhere I wouldn’t come back from.”
I felt cold.
“Ryan found out.”
Christopher smiled sadly.
“He put me in a truck and drove me across three states. He risked his life for me.”
I looked at the locket.
“Why give you that?”
“Ryan said if anything happened to him, I should find Rachel Morgan.”
My breath stopped.
“What?”
“He told me you were his little sister.”
I began crying.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because my father found me first.”
Christopher’s voice cracked for the first time.
“He threatened everyone I cared about. Ryan disappeared. I was forced back into the company.”
