Chapter 10 - The Brother Who Pulled the TriggerNathan stared at the photograph.
His hand tightened around the paper until the edges bent.
“Tell me what happened,” he said.
Thomas leaned on his cane.
“Daniel wanted freedom. He believed the only way to escape this family was to make the world believe he was dead. He arranged the explosion, planted the device, and disappeared.”
Nathan shook his head.
“That's not possible.”
“Why? Because you loved him?”
“Because Daniel hated violence.”
Thomas laughed.
“You knew the boy. You never knew the man.”
The words struck Nathan harder than any weapon could have.
I watched his face, searching for the son Thomas kept trying to summon from the past.
Nathan lowered his gun slightly.
“If Daniel planted the bomb, why did you disappear?”
“Because I discovered his plan.”
“You could have stopped him.”
“I could have killed him.”
Thomas tapped his cane.
“Instead, I let him believe he had escaped. I allowed him to build a new life. Then I found him, and he discovered that his freedom had always been an illusion.”
Nathan raised his weapon again.
“You used him.”
“I protected what belonged to me.”
“Daniel isn't your property.”
For the first time, Thomas's face became genuinely angry.
“He is my son.”
“And so am I.”
Thomas stared at him.
Then he smiled sadly.
“That's precisely the problem.”
Before Nathan could respond, the lights went out.
A gunshot erupted from the darkness.
Someone grabbed my arm.
Emily screamed.
I dropped to the floor as bullets tore through the warehouse walls. Nathan shouted my name, but the sound was swallowed by the chaos.
A hand seized my shoulder.
“Move!”
I fought instinctively.
The man dragged me toward a side exit. I struck him with my elbow, twisted free, and stumbled into a stack of wooden crates.
A second man appeared.
He raised his weapon.
Then Emily smashed a metal chair against his knees.
He collapsed with a curse.
“Run!” she shouted.
We sprinted through the side door into the freezing night.
Behind us, the warehouse erupted in gunfire.
Nathan emerged seconds later, bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow.
He caught my arm.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Emily?”
“She saved me.”
He looked at my sister.
For a moment, something like gratitude softened his expression.
Then he pulled us toward the waiting vehicles.
Calder opened the rear door.
“Sir, we've lost two men. Thomas escaped through the north exit.”
Nathan climbed inside.
“Follow him.”
“Sir, the route is compromised.”
“Follow him!”
Calder hesitated.
Nathan's voice dropped.
“That's my father.”
“And he's counting on you to forget that you're a commander, not a grieving son.”
The words landed.
Nathan stared at him.
Then he looked toward the dark warehouse.
Slowly, he lowered his weapon.
“Fall back.”
Calder nodded.
The car pulled away.
I sat beside Emily, holding her hand while she struggled to breathe.
“Tell me what happened,” I whispered.
She shook her head.
“Not here.”
“Emily, please.”
She looked toward Nathan.
“He'll hear everything eventually.”
Nathan glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
“I'm listening.”
Emily swallowed.
“Daniel didn't want to kill anyone. He planted the bomb in a vehicle that was supposed to be empty. Thomas discovered the plan and ordered his men to move a driver into the car before the explosion.”
Nathan's face went rigid.
“He killed an innocent man.”
“Yes.”
“And let me believe my brother died with him.”
Emily nodded.
“When Daniel learned what happened, he tried to expose Thomas. But Thomas had already arranged evidence making Daniel look like the person who had murdered him.”
I stared at her.
“Why were you involved?”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Because I was working at the hospital where Daniel was being treated after the explosion.”
“What?”
“He wasn't dead. He was badly injured, but he survived. I recognized his name when the paperwork came through. A few weeks later, I realized someone was paying the hospital to keep him hidden.”
She looked at me.
“I wanted to help him. I thought I could get him somewhere safe.”
“And then?”
“Thomas found out.”
Her voice trembled.
“He took me because I knew the truth. He wanted to know who else had seen Daniel alive.”
I felt sick.
“You could have told me.”
“He threatened to kill Lily if I did.”
The words silenced me.
Emily gripped my hand.
“I thought if I stayed away, he would leave you alone. But when he discovered Lily was Nathan's daughter, everything changed.”
Nathan turned from the window.
“What changed?”
Emily looked at him.
“Daniel told Thomas that Nathan had a child. He said he wanted to meet her.”
Nathan's expression became unreadable.
“Daniel knew about Lily?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Emily hesitated.
Then she reached into her coat and removed a small object.
A silver pendant.
The same kind of pendant she had worn in the video.
She pressed its edge, and a tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a miniature photograph.
Nathan stood outside St. Catherine's Hospital, holding a blanket-wrapped newborn.
Lily.
He wasn't smiling.
He was crying.
I stared at the image.
“That photograph was taken the night Lily was born.”
Nathan took the pendant.
His fingers trembled.
“I never held her that night.”
Emily's face crumpled.
“No.”
“Then who took this?”
She looked toward the window.
“Daniel.”
The car suddenly slowed.
Calder spoke through the partition.
“Mr. Blackwood, we've got company.”
Two black SUVs had appeared behind us.
Their headlights flooded the rear window.
Nathan drew his weapon.
“Get us off the main road.”
The driver swerved into a narrow side street.
One SUV followed.
The other pulled ahead, blocking the intersection.
Calder shouted an order.
The driver slammed the brakes.
I grabbed Emily as the car lurched to a stop.
A figure stepped out of the leading SUV.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Wearing a long black coat.
He approached our vehicle with both hands visible.
Nathan raised his gun.
The man stopped beside the window.
Then he leaned close enough for us to see his face.
Daniel Blackwood.
Alive.
Older, thinner, and carrying a pale scar across his cheek.
He looked at Nathan.
“I know you have questions.”
Nathan's voice was barely audible.
“Five years of them.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
He looked at me.
Then at the place where Lily should have been.
His expression broke.
“Is she safe?”
Nathan's weapon remained raised.
“Answer one question first.”
Daniel waited.
Nathan's eyes filled with five years of grief and disbelief.
“Why did you let me bury you?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Because our father told me that if I returned, he would kill you.”
May you like
He opened them again.
“And now he's found your daughter.”
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