Chapter 13 - Two Brothers, One Face
Daniel finally confessed.
Nineteen months earlier, he found Samuel alive.
Not by accident.
Samuel contacted him.
They met secretly in Milwaukee.
Samuel revealed Meridian had used his identity for decades.
He wanted out.
He wanted evidence destroyed.
Daniel agreed to help.
Then Samuel told him about me.
About Ava.
I stared at Daniel.
“You knew before she was born.”
“Yes.”
I wanted to hate him.
I did hate him.
But the story continued.
Meridian discovered the meeting.
Four men attacked.
Samuel escaped.
Daniel was injured.
A body burned inside the vehicle.
The corpse later identified as Daniel.
That part was deliberate.
Daniel used the attack to disappear and investigate Meridian.
But Samuel had another problem.
Thomas threatened me.
Not directly.
A photograph.
My apartment.
My pregnant stomach visible through the window.
Samuel left Phoenix that night.
He believed staying away would keep me invisible.
Same mistake.
Different brother.
Then Daniel said:
“I promised him I’d protect you if anything happened.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You people have an interesting definition of protection.”
“Yes.”
At least he had learned.
Samuel sent a location.
He wanted to meet me.
Reed opposed it.
I went anyway.
Abandoned train terminal outside Chicago.
Snow blowing through broken windows.
Samuel stood beneath the old clock.
For half a second, my body recognized him before my mind did.
Evan.
The man who held me after nightmares.
Who kissed my stomach when I told him I was pregnant.
Who vanished.
He looked at Ava.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Hi.”
I slapped him.
Apparently this family inspired consistency.
He accepted it.
Then I hit his chest with both hands.
“You left us!”
“I know.”
“I thought you hated her!”
“Never.”
“You let me believe I wasn’t worth coming back for.”
His voice broke.
“I came back seven times.”
I stopped.
What?
He had watched from across streets.
Hospital parking lots.
Ava’s first pediatric appointment.
My apartment.
He never approached.
Thomas’s people followed every suspected movement.
“If I came near you, they came near you.”
“They came anyway.”
“Yes.”
That destroyed whatever justification he had left.
Samuel looked at Ava.
“I was wrong.”
Not noble.
Not romantic.
Wrong.
That mattered.
Then Reed and Daniel emerged from the shadows.
Samuel almost smiled.
“Both brothers. Very subtle.”
Reed ignored him.
“Thomas says you stole Meridian money.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To fund exits for people Meridian controlled.”
Witnesses.
Employees.
Families.
Samuel had been dismantling the organization quietly.
The missing millions weren’t his fortune.
They were escape money.
Then he looked at me.
“Your mother started the same thing before she died.”
Sarah had created a list of people Meridian endangered.
Samuel found it.
Continued her work.
Suddenly he wasn't innocent.
But he wasn't the villain Thomas described either.
Then Ava reached toward him.
Samuel froze.
I hesitated.
Then allowed him closer.
He touched her hand.
She grabbed his finger.
Just like Reed.
Just like Daniel.
Three Callaway men staring at one baby as if she had rewritten gravity.
Then a gunshot cracked somewhere outside.
Everyone dropped.
No one was hit.
A speaker above us suddenly activated.
Thomas’s voice.
“Beautiful reunion.”
Tommy looked around.
His father had followed us.
Thomas continued:
“Now perhaps Mara can make the decision Sarah refused to make.”
“What decision?”
“Who controls Meridian.”
I shouted:
“Nobody.”
Thomas laughed.
“Then everyone dies with it.”
Lights came on across the abandoned terminal.
Dozens of monitors.
Live video feeds.
Judges.
Police officials.
Executives.
Callaway businesses.
My apartment.
Mrs. Perez.
Callaway’s restaurant.
Thomas had prepared simultaneous releases.
Reed whispered:
“He’s going to expose everyone.”
“No.”
May you like
Samuel stared at the feeds.
“He’s going to make it look like Mara did.”
