Chapter 5 - My Husband Came Home After Two Years, But He Told Me the Man Hunting Our Son Was His Own BrotherWe returned to the estate.
David slept for twelve hours.
When he woke, Logan was beside him.
The sight was almost too painful.
Father and son together.
Two years stolen.
We ate breakfast.
No one spoke.
Finally, I asked:
“Thomas.”
David nodded.
“He was my half-brother.”
“How close were you?”
“We grew up together.”
“You trusted him.”
“Yes.”
“Why did he betray you?”
“Because he believed the Circle belonged to him.”
“And you?”
“I wanted out.”
“Out of what?”
“The family.”
“The money?”
“The power.”
“The crimes.”
I stared.
“You wanted a normal life.”
“Yes.”
“So did I.”
He took my hand.
“I know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Of losing you.”
He looked at Logan.
“And him.”
I squeezed his hand.
“I understand now.”
He smiled.
Then Alessandro entered.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Thomas has moved.”
“Where?”
“Baltimore.”
David froze.
“What?”
“He's taken control of your father's old network.”
“Why?”
“To reach the archive.”
“And Logan.”
“Yes.”
David stood.
“I'll go.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You've been imprisoned for two years.”
“I know.”
“You're not going back.”
“Catherine.”
“You came home.”
“I need to protect you.”
“We protect each other.”
He stared.
Then smiled.
“That's why I loved you.”
Alessandro looked away.
I realized something.
The mafia king had been watching us.
He had protected us.
But there was something unspoken between us.
I didn't want to ask.
Not now.
We planned.
Thomas would attack the old Lawson warehouse.
The archive was still there.
David had hidden a decoy.
The real evidence was elsewhere.
In the hospital.
The same hospital where Alessandro had almost died.
That realization made my stomach turn.
We had been walking into a trap from the beginning.
We returned to Baltimore.
The city was quiet.
Too quiet.
The hospital was surrounded by security.
David looked at me.
“This is where it ends.”
“Hopefully.”
We entered through the basement.
The archive room was empty.
Then Thomas appeared on the screen.
He smiled.
“Welcome home, brother.”
David froze.
“Thomas.”
“You look terrible.”
“You're going to prison.”
“No.”
“For murder.”
“No.”
“For kidnapping.”
“No.”
“For what you did to our family.”
Thomas laughed.
“Family?”
“You abandoned me.”
“I tried to save you.”
“By killing me?”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Thomas looked at Logan.
My son was behind me.
“I want the boy.”
“You won't have him.”
“He belongs to the family.”
“No.”
“He carries Father's legacy.”
“He carries my blood.”
“And the key.”
David stepped forward.
“Leave him out of this.”
Thomas smiled.
“You always did choose her.”
He looked at me.
“Did you know your wife was part of the reason David survived?”
I frowned.
“What?”
“She gave birth to the key.”
David shouted:
“Enough.”
Thomas continued.
“She doesn't understand the importance of her family.”
“What family?”
“Her mother.”
I froze.
“My mother?”
Thomas laughed.
“Your mother worked for us.”
My heart stopped.
“She betrayed the Circle.”
“She stole something.”
“What?”
“A biological record.”
“The record that created the key.”
I looked at David.
He nodded reluctantly.
“Your mother knew.”
“How?”
“She was a scientist.”
My mother's secret was bigger than I imagined.
She had helped create the genetic encryption.
She had helped hide it.
She had died—or disappeared—to protect me.
Thomas smiled.
“She left the final code inside you.”
I felt sick.
“What code?”
“Your son.”
I held Logan tighter.
Thomas's image disappeared.
Then the hospital doors locked.
Alarms sounded.
David looked at me.
“This was the trap.”
We were surrounded.
Armed men appeared.
Alessandro raised his weapon.
“Behind me.”
Gunfire erupted.
I grabbed Logan.
David fought beside Alessandro.
Sofia pulled me into a hallway.
We ran.
But Thomas's men were everywhere.
Then one man blocked our path.
Thomas.
Alive.
Standing ten feet away.
He smiled.
“Give me the boy.”
I shook my head.
He raised his gun.
Then a different voice came from behind him.
“Put it down.”
David's father.
Alive.
Older.
But alive.
Thomas turned.
May you like
His expression changed.
“Father?”
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