Chapter 11 - The Man at the Gate
My mother fainted.
Not dramatically.
Her knees simply folded.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor.
I stood there staring at the security monitor.
The man outside the gate was maybe forty-five.
Michael would have been forty-one.
His face was wrong.
But his eyes—
His eyes looked like mine.
I walked toward the door.
Security blocked me.
“No.”
“He says he’s my brother.”
“He could say he’s the President.”
Adrian handed my mother to Cassandra and came beside me.
“We verify first.”
The man at the gate raised both hands toward the camera.
Then he held up a scar on his right palm.
A crescent-shaped burn.
Michael got that scar when we were kids.
He had grabbed a hot pan because I was about to touch it.
My chest stopped working.
“That’s him.”
Adrian looked at me.
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
That was the terrible answer.
Security brought the man into the garage and searched him.
No weapon.
No phone.
No wallet.
Just a folded photograph.
He gave it to me.
It showed us as children on a beach.
I had never seen the picture before.
“You hated the sand,” he said.
My hands shook.
“Who are you?”
His eyes filled.
“Emily.”
“Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say my name.”
He nodded.
“My name is Michael Hart.”
I slapped him.
Nobody moved.
He accepted it.
“You’re dead.”
“I know.”
“My mother buried you.”
“I know.”
“She buried an empty coffin?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
He looked at my mother, who was awake now and sitting on the couch.
“There was a body.”
My mother started crying again.
Michael sat across from us.
“The crash was real. I was driving. A truck forced me off the road. I went through the windshield before the car burned.”
Adrian said, “How did you survive?”
“A state trooper found me in the ravine. I had no identification. I was unconscious for six weeks.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“I woke up with memory loss. Partial at first. Then pieces came back. Names. The lab. Charles Vale.”
“You’re his daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Michael continued.
“He said my family died in the crash trying to reach me. He showed me forged records. Obituaries. Photos.”
“Why?”
Michael stared at it.
“You had it the whole time.”
Security shouted.
Michael stood.
“Down!”
I dropped.
May you like
A red laser dot slid across the wall.
Then stopped on Adrian’s chest.
