My Brother's Terrible Secret

Amelia drove straight to her brother's apartment.

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel as the unknown sender's message replayed in her mind.

He knows about the agreement. He helped create it.

Daniel had always been the person she trusted most. When their parents died, he had promised to protect her. When she married Alexander, Daniel had warned her that billionaires never gave anything without expecting something in return.

But he had never told her that he might be part of a secret that could destroy her marriage.

When Daniel opened the door, his smile disappeared as soon as he saw her face.

"Amelia? What's wrong?"

She walked past him into the living room.

"Tell me what happened five years ago."

Daniel went completely still.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend you don't understand!" Amelia pulled out her phone and showed him the message. "Someone says you helped create a secret agreement connected to my marriage. Is it true?"

Daniel read the message.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he slowly sat down.

"Oh, Amelia," he whispered. "You weren't supposed to find out like this."

Her heart sank.

"So it's true?"

Daniel rubbed his face with both hands.

"Five years ago, our family business was on the verge of collapse. We owed money to people who were threatening to take everything we had. I was desperate, and Alexander's company offered a way out."

"What did Alexander want in return?"

Daniel looked at her.

"You."

Amelia stared at him in disbelief.

"That makes no sense. Alexander and I met years later."

"I know."

"Then explain!"

Daniel stood and walked toward the window.

"The agreement wasn't originally about marriage. It was about a business investment. Alexander's company would rescue our family business, and certain assets would be transferred under specific conditions."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Your name was included because you were one of the legal beneficiaries of our parents' estate."

Amelia shook her head.

"But I never agreed to any of this."

"I know," Daniel said quietly.

The room seemed to tilt around her.

"Did you sign my name?"

Daniel couldn't look at her.

That was answer enough.

Amelia stepped away from him.

"You forged my signature?"

"I was trying to save our family!"

"By using me without my permission?"

"I thought the agreement would never become important. Alexander's lawyers handled everything, and I believed the matter was finished."

"Then why did Alexander marry me?"

Daniel's face changed.

"I don't know everything about his reasons. But I do know that when he first met you, he already knew who you were."

Amelia felt a cold chill run through her.

Alexander had known her identity from the beginning.

Had their romance been planned?

Had every loving word, every promise, every moment they shared been part of something she couldn't see?

"Did he ever love me?" she asked.

Daniel moved toward her.

"Amelia—"

"Answer me!"

"I don't know."

She swallowed the pain rising in her throat.

Her phone rang.

Alexander.

She stared at his name until the call stopped.

A message arrived moments later.

Alexander: Your brother doesn't know the whole story. Meet me tonight, and I'll tell you what the agreement really means.

Amelia looked at Daniel.

"What else are you hiding from me?"

He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, someone knocked sharply on the apartment door.

Daniel's face went pale.

"Stay here," he whispered.

He approached the door and looked through the peephole.

Then he turned back to Amelia.

"It's Vanessa."

Amelia's stomach tightened.

"Who?"

"Vanessa Cole. Alexander's fiancée."

Before Amelia could respond, Vanessa's voice came through the door.

"Daniel, I know Amelia is inside. Open this door. We need to talk about the woman Alexander was supposed to marry before he ever met her."

Amelia froze.

The woman Alexander was supposed to marry?

Vanessa wasn't the beginning of the secret.

She was only another part of it.

And Amelia was beginning to realize that her entire marriage might have been built on a truth everyone else knew except her.

END OF CHAPTER 4