Chapter 14
Fire climbed the wall.
Silas screamed.
Not from pain.
From loss.
The tokens burned.
Rings blackened.
Wooden toys curled into flame.
Leather collars shrank.
The physical proof of his lifelong ownership disappeared.
Silas pushed Donna aside.
Dominic caught him.
Adrian seized the old man’s other arm.
Peter pulled Donna toward the stairs.
Smoke filled the room.
Silas struggled.
“Fools!”
Dominic dragged him upward.
“You wanted to die with your shrine?”
“I built you!”
Dominic laughed.
“No.”
They reached the yard.
Adrian shoved Silas to the ground.
The old man coughed.
Still furious.
Still proud.
Donna stood beside Peter.
She looked tired enough to collapse.
Dominic moved toward her first.
Not Silas.
That choice mattered.
He wrapped his coat around his mother.
“You came.”
Donna touched his face.
“You always do eventually.”
Pain.
Truth.
Forgiveness not yet.
Behind them, Adrian stood over Silas.
Silas looked up at the first boy he had raised.
“Adrian.”
No answer.
“I saved you from Richard.”
“You saved me for yourself.”
“Your father would have destroyed you.”
“Maybe.”
Adrian crouched.
“But you never gave me the chance to find out who I was without hating him.”
Silas stared.
Adrian stood.
“I’m done.”
He walked away.
Silas looked toward Dominic.
“You think this ends because toys burned?”
“No.”
“You think Michael won’t betray you again?”
“No.”
“Peter?”
“No.”
“Hattie?”
“No.”
Dominic’s expression stayed calm.
“I think people remain dangerous after confession.”
That was more honest than redemption.
Silas smiled faintly.
“Then you finally learned.”
“No.”
Dominic looked down at him.
“I learned that from everyone you failed to break.”
A vehicle approached.
Michael.
He had disobeyed.
Dominic’s face hardened.
Michael stepped out.
“Hattie is gone.”
Of course.
“Where?”
“She took one of the cars.”
“Why did you leave?”
Michael held up a phone.
“She called from the old hunting lodge.”
Dominic stared.
“She said she found something.”
Silas began laughing.
Everyone turned.
Not surprise.
Triumph.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Silas coughed.
“Hattie finally became useful.”
Michael stepped toward him.
“What did you tell her?”
Silas looked at Donna.
“The old woman kept one secret even from you.”
Donna went pale.
Dominic saw it.
“Mother.”
She did not answer.
Silas continued.
“Richard did not die protecting a key.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“What then?”
“Ask Donna what he gave her before Samuel arrived.”
Donna closed her eyes.
Silas smiled.
“You burned the room too soon.”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“What did Father give you?”
Her hands began shaking.
“A ring.”
“What ring?”
“Not his.”
“Whose?”
Donna whispered:
“Adrian’s.”
Adrian froze.
Silas’s laughter stopped.
Dominic stared.
“Why?”
Donna looked at Adrian.
“Richard told me Adrian was innocent.”
Silence.
“He had discovered something.”
“What?”
“Silas wasn’t acting alone.”
The yard went quiet.
Silas’s face changed.
Real fear.
For the first time.
Dominic noticed.
“Who?”
Donna shook her head.
“Richard never said the name.”
“But the ring?”
“He told me the man would recognize it.”
“Where is it?”
Donna looked toward Michael.
“Hunting lodge.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“Hattie.”
Silas tried to rise.
Adrian shoved him back down.
Dominic understood.
Hattie had gone not because she escaped.
Silas had directed her.
Toward the last secret.
He looked at Michael.
“We go.”
Silas laughed again, but weaker.
“You still chase.”
Dominic looked down.
“No.”
May you like
Then toward his brothers.
“This time we arrive together.”
