The terminal had been abandoned for nine years.

Rusted cranes loomed over black water.

Broken windows stared across the docks.

Marcus rode in another vehicle.

Evelyn had insisted on coming too.

No one had been able to stop her.

Police surrounded the warehouse.

Detective Moreno turned toward me.

“You stay in this vehicle.”

“My husband is inside.”

“And running into a hostage scene gets him killed.”

That sentence kept me seated.

Barely.

Officers entered.

One minute.

Two.

Three.

Then gunshots cracked through the rain.

Evelyn screamed.

I opened the door.

Detective Moreno shouted something, but I was already running.

I reached the loading bay as officers dragged a man in black tactical clothing outside.

Another officer shouted:

“Victim located!”

My heart nearly stopped.

I followed the voices.

Inside the terminal, water dripped through holes in the roof.

Police lights flashed against wet concrete.

Then I saw him.

Daniel.

Still tied to the chair.

Alive.

“Daniel!”

His head lifted.

“Claire?”

I ran.

An officer cut the restraints.

Daniel collapsed into my arms.

I held his face.

He was bruised.

Bleeding.

Cold.

But alive.

“You idiot,” I sobbed.

His arms wrapped around me.

“I know.”

“You absolute idiot.”

“I know.”

“I thought you were dead.”

His laugh broke into a groan.

“I apparently have paperwork proving it.”

I kissed him.

For several seconds, the terminal disappeared.

The funeral disappeared.

Thomas disappeared.

There was only Daniel.

Alive beneath my hands.

Then Daniel looked behind me.

His expression changed.

“Where’s Marcus?”

“Here.”

Marcus approached slowly.

Daniel stared at his bloody nose.

“You look terrible.”

Marcus laughed.

“You got kidnapped.”

“Yes, but I wear trauma better.”

They embraced.

Not like business partners.

Like family.

Daniel pulled back.

“You told her?”

Marcus looked at me.

“No.”

“Told me what?”

Daniel closed his eyes.

“Apparently today is confession day.”

“What now?”

He glanced toward Marcus.

“Marcus isn’t just my business partner.”

Marcus stiffened.

Evelyn had entered the terminal behind us.

Daniel saw her.

His expression softened.

“Mom.”

She crossed the room and held him so tightly that he gasped.

“My baby.”

“I’m okay.”

“I buried you.”

“Technically you almost buried Jacob Mercer.”

“Not helping.”

Daniel managed a weak smile.

Then Evelyn looked at Marcus.

“What did Claire mean?”

Marcus glanced at Daniel.

Daniel nodded.

Marcus swallowed.

“My mother was Sarah Hale.”

Evelyn went still.

Thomas’s former executive assistant.

I remembered the name from something Daniel had once told me.

Sarah had died when Marcus was seventeen.

Evelyn stared at him.

“No.”

Marcus’s voice was quiet.

“Thomas Reeves was my father.”

Silence.

Daniel continued for him.

“We confirmed it with DNA three months ago.”

Marcus looked down.

“Daniel and I are half-brothers.”

I remembered Daniel’s words.

Closest thing I have to a brother.

He had known when he said it.

Evelyn sat heavily on a wooden crate.

“Thomas had another family?”

“No,” Marcus said.

“He had an affair.

My mother never told me who he was.

I found out after she died.”

“And you joined his company?”

“I joined Daniel’s company.”

His voice hardened.

“I wanted proof.”

Daniel touched his shoulder.