Chapter 7 - The Dead Uncle Who Wasn’t Dead“Owen is dead.”
Landon said it flatly.
Wyatt stepped inside.
“I thought so too.”
Melanie moved away from him.
Wyatt noticed.
“That’s fair.”
“Don’t talk to me.”
He nodded.
Landon closed the door.
“Our uncle died in Costa Rica.”
“That’s what Dad told us.”
“We had a funeral.”
“No body.”
“We had ashes.”
Wyatt laughed bitterly.
“A box.”
Landon remembered.
Owen Reed had always been the family problem.
Everett’s younger brother.
Charming.
Unreliable.
Constant business failures.
Constant arguments with Everett.
Then, three years earlier, Everett called Landon and Wyatt into his study.
Owen had died in a boating accident near Costa Rica.
Recovery impossible.
Authorities presumed death.
A memorial followed.
Everett never spoke about him again.
“You’ve talked to Owen?”
Wyatt nodded.
“For four months.”
Landon stared.
“How?”
“He contacted me.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew I was angry about Dad’s will.”
Landon almost laughed.
“Convenient.”
“I know.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That Dad stole the company from him.”
Melanie listened from across the kitchen.
Wyatt continued.
“Owen said Reed Development started with money their mother left both of them.”
“That isn’t true.”
“That’s what Dad told us.”
“Grandma left Dad the business property.”
“Owen says she left it to both.”
Landon shook his head.
“And you believed him?”
“I believed enough to listen.”
“Because you wanted Dad to be the villain.”
Wyatt’s face hardened.
“Maybe.”
That admission helped more than denial.
Wyatt continued.
“Owen told me Dad had been hiding transfers through Orchard Holdings for years.”
“So you needed the archive.”
“Yes.”
“And Melanie.”
Wyatt looked toward her.
His face changed.
“I didn’t start sleeping with her for access.”
Melanie laughed.
“Should I feel better?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Wyatt looked at Landon.
“The affair was already happening.”
“Wonderful.”
“Owen learned about it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“He blackmailed you?”
“Not exactly.”
“What then?”
“He said Melanie could help.”
Melanie looked disgusted.
“And you let him use me.”
Wyatt’s jaw tightened.
“I used you too.”
The honesty was ugly.
But Landon preferred it now.
Melanie crossed her arms.
“Why fake messages making Landon look unfaithful?”
Wyatt didn’t answer.
“Why?”
“Because you kept trying to end it.”
Landon looked away.
Melanie’s face crumpled.
“So you made me think my husband was cheating.”
“Yes.”
“So I’d stay with you.”
“Yes.”
“And then you used me to steal from him.”
“I didn’t steal money.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You just stole everything else.”
Wyatt took that without defending himself.
Landon interrupted.
“Where is Owen?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You were supposed to meet him.”
“At an old Reed property near Joliet.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“Why are you here?”
Wyatt looked at the phone on the table.
“Because he knows about Eli.”
Landon became still.
“What about Eli?”
“Owen asked whether the kid had seen me.”
Landon’s voice lowered.
“What did you tell him?”
“That Eli opened the closet.”
“And?”
“Owen said children remember details adults miss.”
Melanie went pale.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Landon picked up his phone.
He called Carol immediately.
She answered.
“Everything okay?”
“Is Eli with you?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In the kitchen.”
“Lock the doors.”
“What?”
“Mom, do it.”
Carol heard his voice.
“Okay.”
“Don’t let anyone in except police or me.”
“What’s happening?”
“I’ll explain later.”
He ended the call.
Melanie stared.
“You think someone would hurt Eli?”
“I don’t know.”
Wyatt said:
“Owen is dangerous.”
Landon turned.
“You met him?”
“Once.”
“Where?”
“A parking garage.”
“What did he look like?”
“Older.”
“Helpful.”
“Thin. Gray beard. Same eyes.”
Landon remembered Owen’s eyes.
Green.
Like Everett’s.
Like Wyatt’s.
“Why stay hidden if he’s alive?”
“He says Dad tried to have him declared incompetent.”
“Why?”
“Because Owen knew something.”
“About Orchard?”
“About Dad.”
Wyatt walked toward the table and opened one of the archive photographs.
The birth certificate.
“Olivia Mercer.”
Landon nodded.
“Who was she?”
“Owen says she worked for Dad.”
“When?”
“Early nineties.”
“Pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“By Dad?”
Wyatt hesitated.
“I asked.”
“And?”
“Owen said no.”
Landon studied his brother.
“But you don’t believe him.”
“No.”
Melanie looked at the photograph.
“What does this have to do with the company?”
Wyatt answered:
“Orchard Holdings was formed the same year Olivia disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“That’s what Owen says.”
Landon felt unease.
Another family woman.
Another hidden history.
“What happened to her?”
“No idea.”
“And the child?”
“Owen wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“He said I needed to find the full birth record.”
Landon stared.
“Maybe because he wanted you inside the archive.”
“Probably.”
“You realize that now?”
“Yes.”
The front windows reflected morning light.
Everything seemed absurdly normal.
Landon picked up Wyatt’s second phone.
“Owen wants the archive card.”
“Yes.”
“So we give it to him.”
Wyatt frowned.
“What?”
“Not alone.”
“You calling police?”
“Yes.”
Wyatt shook his head.
“He’ll vanish.”
“Good.”
“No.”
Wyatt stepped closer.
“If he disappears again, we never learn what Dad was hiding.”
Landon stared.
“You’re still chasing that?”
“Yes.”
“After what this has already done?”
Wyatt’s eyes flickered toward Melanie.
“This didn’t happen because of Owen.”
“No.”
Landon’s voice hardened.
“This happened because you wanted what was mine.”
Wyatt flinched.
For the first time, Landon saw shame rather than anger.
“Maybe.”
Melanie looked away.
Then Landon’s phone rang.
Carol.
He answered immediately.
“Mom?”
Her voice was shaking.
“Landon.”
“What?”
“Someone was outside.”
His blood went cold.
“Where’s Eli?”
“With me.”
“What happened?”
“A man came to the door. Said he was from the gas company.”
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“But Eli saw him through the window.”
Landon’s chest tightened.
“And?”
Carol hesitated.
“Eli says he knows him.”
Nobody in the kitchen moved.
Landon put the phone on speaker.
“From where?”
Carol asked Eli.
The child’s voice came faintly through.
“He came with Uncle Wyatt.”
Wyatt’s face drained.
Landon stared at him.
“When?”
Eli answered before Wyatt could.
“The day Uncle Wyatt told me not to tell Dad about the basement.”
Melanie turned slowly toward Wyatt.
“What basement?”
May you like
Wyatt said nothing.
And Landon realized his six-year-old son had just uncovered another secret.
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