CHAPTER 17 — THE BROTHER WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
The rain fell over Paris again.
Just like the day everything began.
The day a small piece of cake changed two lives.
The day Lucas met Subi.
The day an old necklace revealed a secret buried for years.
But this time...
The rain didn't bring a beginning.
It brought a warning.
Because somewhere in Paris...
Another Laurent existed.
Another heir.
Another person carrying the same blood.
And unlike Lucas...
This person had spent their entire life knowing they were hidden.
Lucas couldn't sleep.
The words from Elise Laurent's journal kept repeating in his mind.
"I gave birth to twins."
Twins.
Two children.
Two heirs.
One family.
One secret.
He looked at himself in the mirror.
For years, he had searched for answers about who he was.
Now he finally knew.
But instead of feeling complete...
He felt like another piece was missing.
A piece that had always been there.
A brother.
Alexander found him sitting alone in the library.
The same place where they had discovered the first secrets.
"You should be sleeping."
Lucas looked up.
"You too."
Alexander smiled faintly.
"Fair enough."
He sat beside him.
For a moment, they said nothing.
Then Lucas asked:
"Do you think he's alive?"
Alexander knew exactly who he meant.
The other Laurent child.
"I don't know."
Lucas looked at the journal.
"But someone sent us this."
He touched the old pages.
"They wanted us to know."
Alexander nodded.
"Which means they are watching us."
The next morning...
Elena returned with more information.
She had spent the entire night searching old Laurent archives.
"There is something strange."
Alexander looked at her.
"What?"
"Elise Laurent's records."
She placed several documents on the table.
"Officially, she had one child."
Lucas frowned.
"But the journal says twins."
"Exactly."
Elena continued.
"Someone changed the records."
Again.
Another erased truth.
Another hidden identity.
The Laurent family had become a museum of secrets.
Then Elena revealed something else.
"I found the name of the doctor who delivered the babies."
Alexander looked at her.
"Where is he?"
"Dead."
Silence.
"How?"
Elena hesitated.
"An accident."
Lucas immediately understood.
"Not an accident."
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
People connected to Laurent secrets had a habit of disappearing.
That afternoon...
A new message arrived.
Not by mail.
Not by phone.
It appeared on the old computer inside the Laurent archive room.
Only one sentence:
"If you want to know who I am, come to where the Laurent Empire began."
Attached was an address.
The old Laurent factory.
The place where the family built its first business.
Alexander wanted to bring security.
Lucas refused.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"I need to know."
Alexander shook his head.
"Lucas..."
"I spent my whole life running from a truth I didn't know."
He looked at his father.
"I'm not running anymore."
Alexander saw something in his eyes.
The frightened child was gone.
The boy who survived alone was still there.
But now he had something he never had before.
A family.
They arrived at the abandoned factory at sunset.
The building was old.
Broken windows.
Rusting machines.
A place forgotten by the world.
But not by the Laurent family.
Inside, a single light was on.
They followed it.
Until they reached the old production room.
And there...
Someone was waiting.
A man stood with his back turned.
Around the same age as Lucas.
Same height.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Lucas stopped breathing.
The stranger slowly turned.
For a moment...
Nobody spoke.
Because looking at him was like looking into a mirror.
A different life.
A different path.
But the same blood.
The same face.
The stranger looked at Alexander.
"Father."
The word destroyed the silence.
Alexander froze.
Lucas looked at him.
The stranger continued:
"You don't remember me."
Alexander stepped back.
"No..."
The man's expression hardened.
"My name is Adrian."
Everyone froze.
Because that name belonged to Lucas.
The name stolen from him.
The name he was born with.
The stranger smiled bitterly.
"The name you gave me."
Lucas couldn't move.
The world felt unreal.
There was another Adrian Laurent.
Another child.
Another son.
Alexander looked completely broken.
"I don't understand."
The stranger laughed quietly.
"No."
His voice carried years of pain.
"You don't."
The man walked closer.
"My mother told me everything."
Lucas stared.
"Who is your mother?"
The stranger looked toward the old factory walls.
"The woman who saved me."
A pause.
"The woman everyone forgot."
Then he said her name.
"Elise Laurent."
The truth began to unfold.
According to Elise's journal...
The twins were born on the same night.
But the family made a choice.
Only one child could be recognized publicly.
One child would inherit.
One child would disappear.
And the person who made that decision...
Was not Sebastian.
Was not Victoria.
It was the Laurent family's founder himself.
Alexander shook his head.
"My grandfather?"
The stranger nodded.
"He believed the empire could not survive with two heirs."
Lucas looked at him.
"So he erased you."
The stranger looked at Lucas.
"No."
His eyes became cold.
"He erased both of us."
Lucas felt something unexpected.
Not anger.
Not jealousy.
Pain.
Because this man wasn't his enemy.
He was another victim.
Another child who lost everything.
Another person who grew up wondering why he wasn't chosen.
The stranger approached the table.
On it was the other half of the blue necklace.
He placed it beside Lucas's pendant.
The two pieces connected perfectly.
A complete symbol.
A complete history.
Then he said:
"Our family has been lying for generations."
He looked at Alexander.
"And you inherited an empire built on a stolen truth."
Suddenly...
The factory lights went out.
Everyone froze.
A sound echoed from the darkness.
Footsteps.
Someone else was inside.
Alexander immediately moved toward Lucas.
But before anyone could react...
A voice spoke.
"You finally found each other."
The voice was familiar.
Too familiar.
Lucas turned.
And his heart stopped.
Because standing in the shadows...
Was the person who had sent the journal.
The person who knew every secret.
The person who had been controlling events from the beginning.
Victoria Laurent.
Nobody moved.
Lucas stared at her.
"You knew?"
Victoria stepped forward.
"I knew everything."
Alexander's expression hardened.
"You let this happen?"
Victoria looked at him.
"No."
A pause.
"I waited for the right moment."
Lucas looked confused.
"Why?"
Victoria looked at the two brothers.
The two lost heirs.
Then whispered:
"Because the truth about the twins is only the beginning."
She opened an old folder.
Inside was a document.
A birth record.
A document that could change everything.
Victoria placed it on the table.
"The real reason your grandfather separated you..."
She looked at Lucas.
"...was not because there were two heirs."
Everyone became silent.
"Then why?"
Victoria answered:
"Because only one of you was born a Laurent."
The room froze.
Lucas looked at the document.
Alexander's face turned pale.
The stranger stared.
The final secret.
The secret that had been hidden for generations.
The secret that could destroy the Laurent Empire forever.
May you like
Was written on one page.
And nobody was ready for what it revealed.
