Call anyone.
“Did you know,” Alexander asked slowly, “that someone photographed that lunch?”
Daniel frowned. “What?”
“Pictures were taken. Of you and Maya. Outside. Getting into your car.”
Daniel’s face hardened. “No. I didn’t know that.”
“Did Marcus Whitman know who you were?”
Daniel leaned back, confusion giving way to something sharper. “Marcus? Your brother?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward the conference room door, then back at Alexander. “He should have.”
“Why?”
“Because he came by the restaurant.”
Alexander’s blood went cold.
Daniel continued, each word striking like a hammer. “He stopped at the table. Maya introduced us. He said he was passing by and recognized her through the window. He shook my hand. I told him I was her cousin from Milwaukee.”
Alexander did not speak.
Daniel’s expression changed as understanding dawned.
“Oh my God,” he said softly. “He used that against her, didn’t he?”
The attorneys returned.
Alexander stood.
“We’ll reschedule,” he said.
One of the lawyers started to protest, but Alexander was already walking out.
He went straight to Marcus’s office.
Marcus was on a video call, laughing, his sleeves rolled up, a whiteboard behind him covered in campaign slogans. When he saw Alexander, he muted himself and smiled.
“Give me five?”
“No.”
Marcus’s smile slipped.
Alexander closed the door. “End the call.”
Marcus studied his face for one second too long. Then he clicked his laptop shut.
“What happened?”
“Daniel Brooks.”
Marcus did not move.
Alexander stepped closer. “You told me five years ago you didn’t know the man in those pictures.”
Marcus looked toward the window.
“You knew him.”
“Alec—”
“You met him at the restaurant.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“You shook his hand,” Alexander said. “He told you he was Maya’s cousin.”
Marcus exhaled and gave a small laugh that had no humor in it. “So this is where we are now? You’re taking some stranger’s word over mine?”
Alexander stared at him.
The old loyalty rose by instinct, wounded and automatic. Then Maya’s face rose beside it. Pregnant. Begging. Disbelieved.
“No,” Alexander said. “I’m taking the truth over yours.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
The mask did not fall all at once. It cracked at the edges first. The charming brother disappeared, and underneath him was someone tired, resentful, and cornered.
“You were going to ruin everything,” Marcus said.
Alexander felt the words enter him slowly. “What?”
Marcus laughed again, bitter this time. “You don’t even see it. You never see it. You built the company, so everyone worshiped you. You married the perfect woman, so Mom looked at you like you hung the moon. Then Maya got pregnant, and suddenly there was going to be a little heir, a perfect little family, and where did that leave me?”
Alexander could barely recognize him.
“You destroyed my marriage because you felt left out?”
Marcus’s eyes flashed. “You don’t know what it’s like being your brother.”
“I gave you everything.”
“No,” Marcus snapped. “You gave me what made you feel generous. A job. A title. A seat close enough to watch you own every room but never close enough to be you.”
Alexander recoiled as if from a physical blow.
Marcus ran a hand over his face. “I didn’t think you’d leave her forever.”