I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 23
The Grand Brookfield glittered beneath chandeliers and camera flashes on the night of the investors’ banquet. Raina arrived with her parents and five brothers, no longer disguised as a struggling family. The crowd fell silent as the Lincoln name moved through the ballroom like a change in weather.
Noah wore the authority of Lincoln Group’s chief executive openly for the first time beside his sister. Henry’s familiar face triggered excited whispers, while Joshua, Luke, and Mathew drew recognition from military, gaming, and business guests. Raina finally saw how much power her brothers had hidden.
She did not feel dazzled. Their wealth explained many secrets but did not define the way Henry had served lunches or Joshua had stood between her and danger. Those choices mattered more than titles, though forgiveness remained a work in progress.
Coco entered on Jeffrey’s arm, dressed to attract every camera. Her criminal investigation had not yet reached trial, and she treated bail as vindication. When she saw Raina surrounded by the Lincolns, envy twisted beneath her smile.
“You clean up well for a street vendor,” Coco said. Raina answered that honest work had never embarrassed her. Several workers invited as her guests applauded, denying Coco the humiliation she intended.
Theo arrived moments later and greeted Raina before anyone else. He did not take her hand until she offered it. The small gesture was captured by every camera, but this time Raina refused to retreat.
Jeffrey began the evening with a speech about Smith Group’s future. Investors expected a partnership announcement involving Jones Group. Instead, Theo announced that no agreement would proceed until the company’s historic financial records were examined.
Alarm spread across the room. Coco accused Raina of sabotaging hundreds of employees to settle a family grudge. Raina took the microphone and stated that the investigation concerned potential fraud and the kidnapping of two infants, not revenge.
Noah confirmed Lincoln Group would protect innocent employees if wrongdoing threatened Smith Group. His pledge removed Coco’s strongest weapon: the claim that truth would destroy ordinary livelihoods.
From a service corridor above the ballroom, a limping man watched through the security feed. Walter had spent decades imagining the Lincolns ruined by grief. Seeing them united around Raina turned his old revenge into fresh hatred.
Luke traced the listening device’s signal to a locked control room. He alerted Joshua without disrupting the banquet. The brothers moved separately, their practiced coordination invisible to most guests.
Coco unveiled Raina’s old hospital photograph on the ballroom screen, claiming the scar proved nothing because records could be purchased by the Lincolns. Her attempt to discredit Raina instead exposed the copied wound on her own arm when Theo requested both scars be examined.
A physician attending the banquet confirmed Coco’s mark was recent. Gasps spread as she insisted Raina had forced her to copy it. Theo produced messages from the practitioner showing Coco arranged the procedure herself.
Jeffrey looked at his daughter with naked disappointment. Mrs. Smith wept quietly. For the first time, Coco’s parents did not rush to explain away her deception.
Raina asked the crowd to stop treating pain as entertainment. She did not excuse Coco, but she refused to celebrate the exposure of a wounded young woman. Her restraint won more respect than any public punishment could.
In the control room, Joshua found the operator unconscious and a timer running beside the ballroom’s lighting system. Walter had wired the chandeliers to overload during the presentation. Hundreds of guests stood beneath suspended glass.
Luke cut the remote connection while Mathew ordered a silent evacuation through hotel staff. Noah guided Raina toward an exit without revealing the danger, but she noticed panic beneath his calm and refused to leave without an explanation.
Before he could answer, the ballroom lights flickered. One chandelier shuddered overhead, crystals chiming against one another. Theo pulled Raina close as guests finally began to scream.
Joshua severed the main circuit seconds before the rig released. Darkness swallowed the room. Emergency lights rose along the walls, revealing a figure slipping through the service doors with a pronounced limp.
Jeffrey saw the man’s face and called, “Uncle Walter!” The figure turned, smiled directly at Raina, and vanished into the hotel corridor—leaving behind a recording scheduled to expose the entire birth-switch conspiracy before midnight.
