Chapter 491

Chapter 490:

“You want to know my methods,” Justin said at last. “You want to know if I played fair p>

“I want to know,” Gaston said, “if she’s going to wake up in six months and realize she’s trapped — and if that realization is going to blow back on this family in ways you haven’t considered p>

“She won’t wake up,” Justin said. His voice had changed, dropping into a register Gaston recognized immediately — the voice he used in closed-door sessions, in back rooms, in places where the standard rules ceased to apply. “Because she’s not asleep, Gaston. She knows exactly what this is. She chose it. She chose Aaden over her freedom, and she’ll choose him again every day for the rest of her life. That’s not trapping someone. That’s giving them exactly what they want p>

Gaston’s fingers tightened on the phone. “You sound very certain p>

“I am certain.” Justin paused. “As certain as you were, I imagine, when you convinced Jocelyn Wolfe that you were someone else entirely. When you let her believe you were gay, when you maneuvered her into a marriage she thought was temporary, when you p>

“That’s different,” Gaston said sharply.

“Is it?” Justin’s voice was gentle, curious, and absolutely lethal. “You spent ten years watching her, learning her, positioning yourself to be exactly what she needed at exactly the moment she needed it. You let Kieran Douglas believe that Aspen Schneider was the girl from the attic — when you knew, when you had always known, that it was Jocelyn. You manipulated his perception, his memory, his entire understanding of the past, to clear your path to her. And now you sit in judgment of me p>

Gaston’s blood had gone cold. His hand was white-knuckled around the phone, the plastic creaking faintly under his grip.

“How do you know about that?” The words came out flat and dangerous.

“I know everything, Gaston.” Justin’s voice was almost kind. “I’m your older brother. I was protecting this family while you were still learning to walk. The private investigator you hired to dig into the Schneider family history — the one who found the old housekeeper? An excellent choice. So excellent, in fact, that I made him a better offer the moment my sources flagged his inquiries. He has been on my payroll since the day after you hired him p>

𝖱еa𝘥 о𝗻 а𝗻𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝗏іс𝖾 𝗼𝗇

Gaston closed his eyes. He felt the floor shift beneath him, the careful architecture of his secrets suddenly revealed as transparent, fragile, and utterly exposed.

“If you tell her—” he started.

“I won’t tell her,” Justin said. “Just as you won’t tell Carmen the full extent of what I’ve done. We are brothers, Gaston. We are the same, you and I. We see what we want, and we take it. We use the tools available to us — money, power, information, time. And we do not apologize for the happiness we create, even if the foundation is—” He searched briefly for the word. “—complicated p>