Chapter 8 - The Brother Who Came Back From the Dead
Willa stared at Caleb's photograph until the world blurred.
Six years.
Six years of graves without bodies.
Birthdays she refused to remember.
Every dark-haired stranger on a subway platform.
Every unknown number that made her heart stop.
Every dream in which Caleb walked through a door and asked why she had stopped looking.
Alive.
He was alive.
Kendrick stood beside her.
"Willa."
She couldn't answer.
"Look at me."
Her eyes lifted.
"We don't know when this was taken."
"Three months."
"We don't know whether he's with Barrett willingly."
The words cut.
"He works for me now."
"Barrett wrote that."
Willa shook her head.
"What if it's true?"
"Then we find out why."
"What if he helped kidnap Penny?"
Kendrick didn't answer quickly enough.
Willa stepped away.
"Say it."
"I don't know."
"Say what you're thinking."
"If Caleb has been under Barrett's control for six years, we cannot assume anything."
"Control?"
"He was seventeen."
"He's twenty-three now."
"Exactly."
Kendrick lowered his voice.
"Six years is a long time to turn a frightened kid into whatever you need him to become."
Willa hated him for saying it.
Mostly because she knew he might be right.
Titan lay nearby while a veterinarian examined his leg.
Nothing broken.
A deep bruise.
Penny refused to leave his side.
Willa watched them through the glass wall of Kendrick's private medical suite.
Kendrick followed her gaze.
"She loves you."
Willa stiffened.
"Don't."
"What?"
"Don't make this harder."
His expression shifted.
"I wasn't trying to."
"Your daughter loves people quickly because she's lost people."
"No."
He shook his head.
"Penny doesn't love people quickly."
Willa looked at him.
"She hasn't let another adult besides me hold her since Celeste died."
That landed somewhere dangerous.
"Kendrick..."
"I'm not asking you for anything."
"Good."
"But I won't pretend what happened tonight didn't happen."
Willa remembered his forehead against hers.
Penny between them.
Safety.
Warmth.
A feeling she'd wanted so badly it terrified her.
"We were trying not to die."
"I've tried not to die with many people."
Despite herself, Willa laughed.
He stepped closer.
"I've never felt like that with one."
Her smile disappeared.
"This is a terrible time."
"Probably."
"Your daughter was kidnapped."
"I noticed."
"My brother may work for the man who murdered your wife."
"Also noticed."
"I'm technically living under a fake identity."
"That part I knew."
Willa looked away.
Kendrick touched her chin gently and turned her face back.
"If you tell me to stop, I stop."
Her heartbeat became unbearable.
She should say it.
Stop.
Simple.
One word.
Instead she whispered, "You should."
"That's not the same thing."
Before she could answer, Penny called from the other room.
"Willa!"
The moment broke.
Willa stepped away first.
"Saved by your daughter."
Kendrick watched her go.
"Temporarily."
By morning, they had traced the photograph.
Caleb had arrived at a private airfield outside Montreal three months earlier under the name Cole Barrett.
Not subtle.
Willa stared at the passport image.
"He gave him his surname."
Kendrick nodded.
"Possession."
Her stomach turned.
"What else?"
"A second flight."
"Where?"
"New York."
She stood.
"He's here."
"He was."
"Was?"
"His trail disappears seventeen days ago."
Willa looked at Kendrick.
"What happened seventeen days ago?"
He thought.
Then his expression changed.
"The bride ceremony was announced."
Everything connected.
Barrett hadn't discovered Willa by accident at the ballroom.
Maybe he had known she worked there.
Maybe the entire night had been designed to pull her into the Ashford world.
"But why?"
Willa whispered.
Kendrick looked at the photograph.
"The key."
"Celeste gave it to me three years ago."
"Barrett knew she gave something to someone."
"But not whom."
"Until recently."
Willa's skin went cold.
"Caleb."
Kendrick nodded.
"He may have identified you."
The possibility hurt more than anything else.
Her own brother.
The person she had spent six years mourning.
Maybe he had led Barrett directly to her.
Willa turned away.
Then Penny spoke behind them.
"Caleb?"
Both adults froze.
Penny stood in the doorway.
"What did you say?" Willa asked.
Penny pointed toward the photograph.
"I saw him."
Willa rushed toward her.
"When?"
Penny looked at Kendrick.
"In house."
Kendrick crouched.
"Our house?"
She nodded.
"When, sweetheart?"
Penny struggled.
"Before party."
Willa's heartbeat exploded.
"How long before?"
Penny held up two fingers.
"Two days?"
Nod.
"What was he doing?"
Penny looked frightened.
Titan limped toward her and pressed against her side.
She touched his head.
"Talking Uncle Barrett."
Kendrick and Willa exchanged a look.
"Did Caleb see you?"
Penny nodded.
"What did he do?"
"He cried."
Willa's breath caught.
"Cried?"
Penny nodded.
"He said..."
She frowned, trying to remember.
"Sorry."
Willa covered her mouth.
Kendrick rose.
"Caleb wasn't here willingly."
Hope hurt.
It was almost worse than grief.
Penny continued.
"He gave me this."
From the pocket of her pajamas, she removed something tiny.
A metal button.
Willa stared.
A compass was engraved across it.
Her mother had sewn those buttons onto Caleb's favorite denim jacket when he was fifteen.
He'd worn it constantly.
Willa took the button.
Her hands shook violently.
"He wanted me to find him."
Kendrick looked at it.
"Maybe more than that."
The compass needle wasn't decorative.
It moved.
Willa turned the button over.
Tiny numbers had been scratched into the back.
40.7033.
-74.0170.
Coordinates.
Kendrick entered them into his phone.
A location appeared.
Brooklyn waterfront.
An abandoned cold-storage facility.
Willa stood.
"I'm going."
"So am I."
"No."
Kendrick almost laughed.
"You're trying that with me now?"
"This is my brother."
"And Barrett is my problem."
"Caleb might panic if he sees you."
"Then you walk in first."
Willa searched his face.
"You'd let me?"
"No."
He grabbed his coat.
"I'm coming close enough to prevent you from doing something heroic and stupid."
They arrived after midnight.
The warehouse appeared deserted.
No cars.
No lights.
Willa entered alone through a side door.
Kendrick and two guards waited outside.
Titan remained with Penny.
Inside, old refrigeration units hummed.
"Willa?"
A voice came from the darkness.
She stopped breathing.
No one had called her that way in six years.
Not Willa.
Willow.
With the second syllable almost swallowed.
Exactly as Caleb used to.
"Caleb?"
A man stepped into the light.
Older.
Thinner.
Scarred.
But her brother.
Willa broke.
She ran.
Caleb caught her.
They collided so hard they nearly fell.
Willa buried her face against his shoulder.
"You were alive."
"I'm sorry."
"You were alive."
"I know."
She hit his chest.
Once.
Twice.
Then clung to him again.
"I waited."
Caleb sobbed.
"I know."
"Why didn't you come home?"
"I couldn't."
"Six years!"
"He had you watched."
Willa pulled back.
"Barrett?"
Caleb nodded.
"He told me if I ran, he'd kill you."
Willa stared.
"He showed me pictures every month. Your apartments. Your jobs. He always knew where you were."
Her blood turned cold.
"I was never hidden."
"No."
Caleb looked toward the door.
"We don't have much time."
"Come with me."
"I can't."
"Why?"
His eyes filled.
"Because Barrett didn't kidnap Penny to get the key."
Willa frowned.
"What?"
"He already knows what's in Celeste's vault."
"Then why—"
"He wanted Kendrick to open it."
"Why?"
"So Kendrick would find the Bennett evidence."
Willa stared.
"That doesn't make sense."
Caleb grabbed her shoulders.
"Barrett doesn't want to destroy Kendrick."
His voice shook.
"He wants to start a war."
"With whom?"
"Every family on the East Coast."
Willa stopped.
Caleb continued.
"The files make Barrett look guilty."
"He is guilty."
"Yes."
"But?"
"He wasn't alone."
Willa felt dread rising.
"Who else?"
Caleb looked toward the entrance.
Then whispered:
"Kendrick's father."
She shook her head.
"Silas is dead."
"That's not what I mean."
Caleb swallowed.
"Silas knew Barrett was stealing."
"Then why protect him?"
"He didn't."
Caleb's face twisted.
"He was stealing too."
Willa stared.
"The Bennett execution wasn't just Barrett protecting himself."
Caleb's voice broke.
"Your father discovered the entire Ashford empire was built on a betrayal."
A sound came from the darkness.
Caleb froze.
Too late.
A red laser appeared on his chest.
Willa screamed.
"Down!"
May you like
A shot cracked through the warehouse.
And Caleb fell into her arms.
