Chapter 3: The Brother Who Was Never Supposed to Exist
I stepped out of Lily's room into the hallway and pressed the phone harder against my ear.
"Who is this?"
A pause.
Then: "My name is Daniel.
I think you already know that now."
I leaned against the wall.
My legs didn't feel entirely solid.
"Where are you?"
"Hospital." His voice scraped at the edges.
"I've been here four days.
They're not sure about the next four."
"What happened to you?"
"That's a long conversation." A breath.
Careful and slow.
"Is Mia okay?
Is she with you?"
I looked back at Lily's room.
Through the open door I could see the old man sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Mia had moved out of the passage and was leaning against his arm.
Lily had pressed herself against the opposite wall, watching Mia with the steady, serious attention that only very small children and very old souls can manage.
"She's okay," I said.
"She's with a man.
Older.
Gray hair."
"That's Walter.
He was our father's — " He stopped.
Corrected himself.
"He was your father's lawyer.
He's been looking out for Mia since I went in."
The word our sat between us like something neither of us knew how to pick up.
"Daniel." I kept my voice low.
"Emily knew about you.
Before we were married.
She told me just now."
Silence.
"I know," he finally said.
"You know."
"I asked her not to tell you.
At first."
I pushed off the wall and walked three steps down the hallway and back.
"Why."
"Because of what I was involved in.
I didn't want it near you." Another careful breath.
"I thought I could fix it before you ever had to know I existed."
"Fix what?"
He didn't answer immediately.
When he did, his voice had dropped lower.
"The people who separated us.
They're not all g*ne, Ryan.
Some of them are still very much here.
And one of them found out that I'd been looking."
The back of my neck went cold.
"Found out how?"
"Through Emily."
I stopped walking.
The hallway felt suddenly very narrow.
"What did you just say?"
"I'm not saying she meant to.
I don't believe she did." His words were measured, deliberate, like a man who'd had a long time lying in a hospital bed to choose them carefully.
"But someone close to her has been watching her for years.
Watching both of you.
And when she started asking questions on my behalf — trying to find out if it was safe to tell you — they noticed."
I turned and looked back toward the bedroom door.
Emily was standing in the frame now.
She wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at the floor.
May you like
"Ryan," Daniel said quietly.
"Be careful what you say inside that house tonight."
