Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE WHERE MY BROTHER WAITED
The red door led to a tunnel.
I ran into it alone.
Eli shouted my name behind me.
I didn’t stop.
The tunnel opened three blocks away through a storm drain beside an alley. A motorcycle waited with a key in the ignition.
Noah knew I was coming.
That terrified me almost as much as losing him again.
A phone was taped to the seat.
One text.
HOME.
I knew exactly which home.
The little blue house on Linden Street where we grew up had been empty since Mom died.
Or since I thought she died.
I rode there through back streets with sirens filling the city.
The front door was unlocked.
“Noah?”
Silence.
I stepped inside.
The house smelled like dust and old paint.
Our height marks were still on the kitchen wall.
MAYA — 11.
NOAH — 14.
A floorboard creaked behind me.
I turned.
My brother stood in the hallway.
Alive.
For seven years, I had imagined this moment in dreams.
In every dream, I ran to him.
In real life, I couldn’t move.
He looked older than the photo. Tired. Scarred. Real.
“Maya.”
His voice broke.
I hit him.
He didn’t defend himself.
I hit his chest again.
“You were alive.”
“I know.”
“You were alive!”
“I know.”
I shoved him.
“You let me bury you!”
“I had to.”
“No, you didn’t!”
“They were watching you.”
“They still are!”
His face collapsed.
Then I was hugging him.
I hated myself for it.
I hated him for how much I needed it.
He held me so tightly I could barely breathe.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I pulled away.
“Start talking.”
He poured two glasses of water with shaking hands.
“Dad built Mercy’s original data system. He thought it was a charity intelligence platform—fraud detection, donor screening, missing-person work. Then he realized they were using it to collect leverage on judges, cops, doctors, politicians.”
“The ledger.”
“Part of it.”
“Why was your name active?”
“Because I went inside.”
“You joined them.”
“I infiltrated them.”
“That’s what Eli says about everything.”
Noah’s eyes hardened.
“Eli is why Dad died.”
“He admitted planting the charge.”
“He didn’t tell you who gave the order.”
“Who?”
Noah looked at me.
“Himself.”
I stared.
“No.”
“Eli wasn’t a foot soldier. He was being trained by Ward. He was supposed to take over the Circle one day.”
“The Circle?”
“That’s what Mercy’s inner network calls itself.”
A car door slammed outside.
Noah turned off the kitchen light.
I moved to the window.
Eli stood on the sidewalk.
Alone.
Hands visible.
Noah pulled a gun.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“I am done standing behind men with secrets.”
I opened the door.
Eli looked at Noah.
Noah looked at Eli.
Neither seemed surprised.
Eli said, “You’re really alive.”
Noah raised the gun.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I’m deciding.”
“About what?”
“Whether to hug you or kill you.”
Noah smiled without warmth.
“Get in line.”
Then a red laser dot appeared on Noah’s forehead.
Eli saw it first.
“DOWN!”
He tackled Noah as a rifle shot tore through the front window.
The bullet hit the wall behind them.
I dropped to the floor.
Noah rolled, fired through the shattered glass, and shouted, “Ward found us!”
Then he looked at me.
“No, Maya. She found you.”
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