Chapter 10 - The Brother Who Should Have DiedThe door opened.
A man stepped into the vault.
He was maybe fifty.
Gray hair.
Dark suit.
No weapon visible.
He looked nothing like me.
But my mother recoiled.
Mara whispered a name.
“Michael.”
The man smiled.
“Hello, Mother.”
My blood ran cold.
Mother.
He looked at me.
“You must be Damon.”
I raised my gun.
“Who are you?”
“Your brother.”
“I have one brother.”
“You had one.”
He glanced at Claire and Elias.
“Now you have three.”
I didn't lower the gun.
“You're lying.”
My mother shook her head.
“He is your father's first son.”
Michael smiled.
“Half-brother.”
“Where have you been?”
“Running the part of the family you were never allowed to see.”
“What part?”
“The one that survived.”
He stepped aside.
Behind him stood six men.
Not guards.
Professionals.
Michael looked at Ellie.
“She was supposed to die tonight.”
I fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside his head.
Everyone raised their weapons.
My mother screamed.
Michael laughed.
“You see? That's why Father loved you.”
“Stop calling him Father.”
“He still is.”
“He ruined our lives.”
Michael's smile faded.
“No. Grandpa did.”
The distinction mattered.
I could feel it.
Michael knew things.
Things the others did not.
“Why did Charles attack the warehouse?”
“Because he knows you have the vault.”
“Why does he want Ellie?”
“Because she can activate the trust.”
“Why does she know so much?”
“Because Claire taught her.”
“Where is Claire's father?”
Michael's expression changed.
“Dead.”
“Who killed him?”
“You know.”
“I don't.”
“You watched it happen.”
Another memory flashed.
Fifteen years old.
A basement.
Daniel tied to a chair.
Victor standing behind me.
Someone forcing my head down.
I staggered.
Michael caught me before I fell.
“You're remembering.”
I shoved him away.
“What did they do to me?”
“Not yet.”
“What does that mean?”
He looked toward my mother.
“Show him.”
She hesitated.
Then she removed a small silver pendant from her neck.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed me at fifteen.
Beside me stood Michael.
And another boy.
Three brothers.
The dates were visible.
Michael was twenty.
I was fifteen.
The third boy was twelve.
I stared.
“Who's he?”
My mother closed the pendant.
“Gabriel.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Michael corrected her.
“Missing.”
He looked at Ellie.
“Just like her.”
I turned.
“What does Gabriel have to do with Ellie?”
Michael's face hardened.
“Everything.”
Then the vault lights went red.
An alarm sounded.
Petr shouted from outside.
“Damon! We have a problem!”
Michael looked toward the ceiling.
“The port is burning.”
“What?”
He pulled out a phone.
Live video showed fire spreading across Terminal Four.
Ships were being evacuated.
Police lights flashed.
Containers exploded.
I stared at the screen.
Michael whispered:
“Charles isn't trying to steal the trust.”
“Then what?”
“He's destroying every record connected to it.”
Mara suddenly looked at Ellie.
The child's face had gone pale.
She was staring at a burning container.
“That's mine.”
I crouched.
“What?”
She pointed at the screen.
“That container has Daddy's things.”
Elias moved toward her.
“Which container?”
She pointed.
“Seventeen.”
The same number Adrian had given me.
Room seventeen.
I looked at Michael.
He understood instantly.
“Everything we need is in that container.”
“Then we go.”
Michael shook his head.
“Not you.”
“Why?”
“Because Charles wants you at the port.”
“And?”
Michael looked at Ellie.
“He wants her somewhere else.”
“Where?”
Michael's answer came quietly.
“At the hospital.”
“What hospital?”
He showed me a message.
NORTHWESTERN. PEDIATRIC FLOOR.
A photograph followed.
A little boy lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
Dark hair.
Gray-green eyes.
The same face as Elias.
I looked at my son.
He went pale.
“That isn't possible.”
Michael stared at him.
“It is.”
Elias whispered:
“Claire's son.”
I turned to Ellie.
She was crying now.
For the first time.
“My mommy told me he was dead.”
Michael looked at me.
“She was wrong.”
Then another message arrived.
BRING ELLIE TO THE HOSPITAL.
May you like
Underneath it:
BRING HER ALONE.
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