Chapter 4 - UNCLE JULIAN'S SMILEJulian Vale smiled too much.
That was Emma's opinion.
I agreed.
Adults always told children not to judge people by appearances.
Then adults bought expensive clothes for interviews.
So clearly appearances mattered sometimes.
Julian entered Mom's room carrying white roses.
Mom hated white roses.
I knew because she once called them funeral flowers.
Julian placed them beside her bed.
“I can't believe it,” he said.
Mom stared at him.
“Try harder.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Julian didn't.
“I heard about the accident.”
“Six weeks ago?”
“I was overseas.”
“You own a phone.”
Julian looked at us.
“And these must be the famous twins.”
Emma hid the pink phone behind her back.
Julian noticed.
I noticed him noticing.
Adrian moved between them.
“Why are you here?”
“My brother nearly died in a park.”
“You didn't visit me.”
“I was told you recovered.”
“But you visit Claire.”
Julian's smile returned.
“Family history.”
Mom's monitor beeped faster.
I climbed closer to her.
Julian saw.
Something cold moved through his eyes.
Then it vanished.
“Adorable,” he said.
I didn't like him.
Emma definitely didn't.
Adrian walked Julian into the hallway.
They argued quietly.
Grandma immediately took the pink phone.
“Bathroom,” she said.
“What?”
“Now.”
We followed her.
Grandma locked the door.
Mom couldn't come because she was still weak.
Grandma opened the battery compartment.
She removed the memory card.
Then she stared around the bathroom.
“Where do we hide it?” Emma whispered.
Grandma looked at us.
I had an idea.
“No.”
“I didn't say it.”
“I know that face.”
“What face?”
“The face you had before you put a frog in Pastor Williams's piano.”
“It was hot outside.”
Grandma closed her eyes.
“What is your idea?”
I pointed to my shoe.
Ten minutes later, the memory card was beneath the foam insert of my left sneaker.
The phone was empty.
Julian returned.
He stayed fifteen minutes.
When he left, Adrian came inside.
“He knows,” Mom said.
Adrian nodded.
“I think so.”
“Your brother tried to kill me.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You don't know that.”
Mom laughed bitterly.
“Twelve years later, you're still saying that.”
The words hurt him.
Good.
Sometimes people need words that hurt.
Adrian sat beside her.
“I won't make the same mistake.”
“You already did.”
“How?”
“You came here.”
He stared at her.
Mom's eyes filled.
“The girls saved you. You followed them. You upgraded my care. You put security around us. You told everyone watching exactly who matters to you.”
Adrian went quiet.
Mom whispered, “You painted targets on my daughters.”
That night, someone broke into Grandma's house.
Nothing was stolen.
Except Emma's old tablet.
The one synchronized with the pink phone.
Adrian moved us to his home before sunrise.
It wasn't a house.
It was a building pretending to be a house.
There were gates.
Cameras.
Guards.
Emma counted seventeen rooms before breakfast.
I stopped at twelve.
Mom came in a private medical vehicle.
Adrian turned the library into a recovery room.
Grandma complained.
Adrian ignored her.
Mom complained.
Adrian listened.
Then ignored her.
For three days, we lived in Adrian Vale's mansion.
On the fourth morning, Emma disappeared.
I found her in Adrian's office.
She was sitting beneath his desk.
“What are you doing?”
“Research.”
“You can't research under a desk.”
“You can if you're hiding.”
She pointed at Adrian's computer.
A video was playing.
Security footage.
The park.
The day Adrian collapsed.
We watched him walk.
Stop.
Touch his chest.
Fall.
Then a man appeared at the edge of the screen.
He watched.
He didn't help.
I recognized him.
My blood turned cold.
“Emma.”
“I know.”
May you like
The man was Julian.
And he had been standing in the park before Adrian collapsed.
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