Chapter 7 - The Man Beneath the MaskWe reached the SUV.
Mara drove.
I sat in the back with Jake.
Christine was beside me.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Then I asked the question that had been poisoning my mind.
"Who is Victor Kane?"
Christine looked out the window.
"Someone Dad trusted."
"That's not an answer."
"He saved me."
"When?"
"Before I met you."
I waited.
Christine finally turned.
"I was seventeen."
Mara glanced at her in the mirror.
"I ran away from home."
"Why?"
"My father wanted to send me somewhere."
"Where?"
Christine's eyes filled.
"A laboratory."
I felt Jake move closer.
"Why?"
"Because I knew too much."
The SUV went silent.
Christine continued.
"I had found documents in Dad's office. Names. Payments. Children."
She looked at me.
"Children like Jake."
My jaw tightened.
"Why did you marry me?"
"I was supposed to watch you."
"Who ordered it?"
"Victor."
Mara slammed the brakes.
The SUV stopped.
"What did you say?"
Christine stared at her.
"Victor Kane recruited me."
Mara's voice became cold.
"Victor Kane died."
"I know."
"Then who trained you?"
Christine whispered.
"His son."
I looked at her.
"Victor had a son?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"Not exactly."
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out an old photograph.
A young man stood beside Victor.
I recognized the face.
My own.
My breathing stopped.
"That's me."
"No," Christine whispered.
"It's your brother."
I stared at her.
"I don't have a brother."
She shook her head.
"You did."
I looked at Mara.
She said nothing.
"How?"
"Your mother was pregnant with twins."
I couldn't process it.
"My mother never told me."
"She wasn't given a choice."
Christine held the photograph.
"Your brother was taken."
"By whom?"
"Walter Mercer."
Everything inside me froze.
"Why?"
"Because your brother had the sequence."
"And I didn't?"
"You did."
"Then why did they take him?"
"Because they thought he was easier to control."
Jake whispered, "Daddy?"
I turned.
"It's okay."
But it wasn't.
Nothing was okay.
My entire life had been built on a lie.
My father's death.
My mother's silence.
My missing brother.
Christine.
Jake.
All connected to the same family.
Mara spoke.
"Your brother disappeared at age six."
I looked at her.
"And nobody found him?"
"We did."
My heart pounded.
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"Mercer Ridge."
Walter's estate.
The place where Jake had been attacked.
My blood went cold.
"Is he alive?"
Mara looked at Christine.
Christine nodded.
"He has been alive this whole time."
I couldn't breathe.
"What's his name?"
Christine whispered the answer.
"Lucas."
The name hit me strangely.
Not because I remembered him.
Because some part of me had.
A toy train.
A blue blanket.
A little hand gripping mine.
A voice calling me brother.
Memories I had spent decades believing were dreams.
I stood abruptly.
"We're going back."
Mara grabbed my arm.
"No."
"My brother is there."
"And that's exactly what they want."
I looked at her.
"Then we'll give them what they want."
"No."
Her eyes hardened.
"You're still thinking like Ethan."
I stared at her.
"Maybe."
She shook her head.
"You're not Ethan anymore."
I looked at Jake.
Then at Christine.
Then toward Mercer Ridge in the distance.
"What am I?"
May you like
Mara's voice dropped.
"The man they were afraid would come back."
