Chapter 496 Biological Brother

Chapter 496 Biological Brother

Without a word, Zaid dragged Alice back to the room.

"Alice, get some rest. We'll talk about everything else once we dock." Zaid seemed to be hiding something—his eyes kept darting away, refusing to meet hers.

Alice gripped his arm tightly. "Zaid, what exactly are you keeping from me?"

In just the few minutes it took to walk back, she'd already spotted several red flags.

What had really happened to Michael and Vaughn after she left?

What was wrong with her background? Why had Michael been playing along with Timothy's act all this time? What kind of act?

And why did Timothy say he couldn't explain things to Marcus?

Question after question swirled in her mind until she didn't even know which one to ask first.

Zaid looked into her stubborn eyes and finally let out a helpless sigh before settling into the chair across from her.

"Fine. You're going to find out sooner or later anyway, so brace yourself." He seemed to steel himself for something, his expression turning deadly serious.

Alice quickly sat up straight, terrified of missing a single word.

"I'm your brother."

Zaid's first sentence nearly sent Alice tumbling off the couch.

"What... what did you just say?" She stared at him in shock, her mind spinning in complete chaos.

Was he her brother?

Did that mean Zaid was Marcus's biological son? But wasn't he from the King family?

"Yes, don't doubt it. We've already done DNA testing." Zaid cleared his throat forcefully before launching into the whole story.

He hadn't known about his background either. Back in high school, he'd gotten hurt in a fight with some thugs and was taken to the Johnson family hospital.

Alice, who was already his girlfriend at the time, had followed along out of concern.

Timothy was at the hospital and recognized Alice as a Phillips family daughter the moment he laid eyes on her.

"You inherited the best of both parents. Anyone who knew Marcus could tell your identity at a glance, so during all those years you spent with Michael, people were already watching you."

Zaid's voice carried a note of helpless melancholy.

"My father—Timothy—knew we were dating and was afraid of complications, so he teamed up with Michael to force me to leave."

"That little bastard Michael had his sights set on you way back in high school. Talk about playing the long game!"

Zaid clenched his fists tightly before letting them fall open in defeat.

"At least he's always loved you and been willing to sacrifice everything for you."

Alice stared into his eyes, completely at a loss for words.

She suddenly understood what people meant by "looking like a married couple" and that inexplicable attraction she'd felt.

It had all been because of their blood relationship!

Zaid had been forced to go abroad, heading straight to Marigoldia to take over the consortium their mother had left behind.

"I've been working my ass off all these years, planning to come back and steal you away from him."

"You didn't know about our relationship?" Alice asked hoarsely.

Zaid nodded, then shook his head. "I only found out this year, just a little before you did."

Zaid gave a rueful laugh. "I always thought Michael was deliberately competing with me out of jealousy. I even sabotaged quite a few of his overseas projects behind the scenes. Who would have thought..."

They were actually siblings.

Such a ridiculous plot twist—he didn't even know what expression to make.

"Later, when Jett jumped, the four major families started making moves. Michael was worried he couldn't protect you on his own, so he finally came to me for cooperation." Only then did Zaid bring up current events. "He's powerful, but Serafina isn't easy to deal with either. I have influence abroad, but domestically I can only rely on the King family."

"The two of us working from inside and outside—otherwise there really would have been no way to rescue you."

"So the plan was always to fake my death?" Alice touched her chest, still feeling a dull ache.

Zaid shook his head. "Originally, the plan was for you to marry him. Once you became his wife, you'd be part of their alliance, and theoretically, everything would be over. But the Allen and Torres families kept pursuing relentlessly, and then Serafina stuck her nose in, making everything chaotic."

Add to that Ivy's deteriorating condition later on—everyone had their own schemes, and even Michael couldn't control the whole situation. That's when they resorted to this desperate measure.

"Then why didn't you tell me the truth? If I had known..."

Before Alice could finish, Zaid cut her off.

"Alice, what could you have done even if you'd known the truth? You needed to act completely natural, or an old fox like Harlan would definitely have sensed something was wrong."

"Mr. Torres?" Alice frowned, recalling Harlan's appearance.

She hadn't actually interacted with Harlan many times, but she'd always felt he had a sinister quality about him.

"He's sent assassins after you several times, but Michael blocked them all." Zaid's expression turned cold. "The Torres family has always believed in killing everyone—otherwise, why do you think Mom committed suicide by jumping into the river?"

Because the Torres family would rather kill innocents than let anyone escape.

Anyone who might possibly get their hands on that ledger had to die, including Alice, who hadn't even reached her first month of life.

Alice wanted to say something, but the words stuck in her throat.

So Michael had been protecting her all along. She'd been wrongly blaming him this entire time.

"This time, Michael could only prepare hastily because Harlan had evidence of you killing someone and was already preparing materials to send you to prison."

Zaid took a deep breath. "You should know how Dad died. Even Marcus would die in prison, let alone you."

"What?" Alice's head snapped up as everything suddenly clicked into place.

No wonder Michael had kept asking her whether she'd beaten her kidnappers to death, insisting she think carefully about whether anything else had happened.

The person she'd knocked unconscious had actually died?

Harlan was planning to catch her off guard. Even if she was just detained, it would still be a death sentence.

Once in prison, no matter how powerful Michael was, someone would find a way to exploit the situation.

So Alice had to "die," or she truly would have no way out alive.

She slumped back into the couch, feeling defeated, her ears ringing.

So this was how everything really was?

"Actually, everything went pretty smoothly. We hadn't originally planned to actually shoot you—Michael was always worried it wouldn't be safe. Too bad that David had to get clever." Zaid looked at Alice. "You've gotten smart too, learning how to manipulate people's hearts over the years?"

"Knowing you two were working together, I contacted David immediately. I'd clearly arranged a bulletproof car for him, but the idiot insisted on using a motorcycle!"

A motorcycle might look easier to escape on, but it was actually incredibly dangerous.

With those people wanting Alice dead, forget a motorcycle—even an armored vehicle might not have been enough protection.

Thank God Michael arrived in time, or who knows what the consequences would have been.

"What about the woman who tried to kill me? Was she also Harlan's doing?" Alice remembered David's subordinate saying that the car was supposed to pick up Ivy.

She trusted David, and she trusted David's people, so someone must have known about their plan and deliberately switched in an assassin.

Zaid snorted coldly. "Serafina's work. She's no saint."