Chapter 6: The Brother I Couldn’t Trust
I wanted to believe Cole.
That was the worst part.
After everything.
After the secrets.
After the lies.
I still wanted to believe him.
Because some people become family long before blood ever enters the conversation.
Cole was there when my father died.
He was there when I built the Iron Saints from nothing.
He was there when I almost lost everything.
And now I was standing in a diner parking lot wondering if the man who stood beside me for twenty years had been the same man who helped destroy my sister’s life.
The photograph shook in my hand.
Cole saw it.
“You think that’s me?””
I looked at him.
“I don’t know what to think.””
That answer hurt him.
I could see it.
Good.
For fifteen years, I was the one carrying pain.
Now everyone else could carry some.
Cole stepped closer.
“I never betrayed you.””
“Then tell me everything.””
He went quiet.
Again.
That silence was becoming his answer.
“Everything,” I repeated.
Cole looked around.
At the other bikers.
At Eli.
Then he lowered his voice.
“Not here.””
I almost laughed.
“Still protecting secrets?””
“No.””
His expression hardened.
“Protecting Eli.””
That stopped me.
I looked at the boy.
He was watching us carefully.
Learning.
Memorizing every word.
Cole noticed too.
His voice softened.
“Somebody has been looking for Nia for years.””
“Who?””
“I don’t know.””
“You keep saying that.””
“Because it’s true.””
I stepped closer.
“Then what do you know?””
Cole looked toward the road.
“The night she disappeared, she came to me.””
My chest tightened.
“Why you?””
“Because she trusted me.””
That sentence hurt.
More than I expected.
“She trusted you.””
“Yes.””
“And you let her go.””
Cole looked down.
“I had no choice.””
I stared at him.
“Everybody says that when they don’t want to admit what they did.””
His jaw tightened.
“You think I wanted to watch her leave?””
“I think you watched.””
The words hit him.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Cole said something quietly.
“She was pregnant.””
The parking lot disappeared.
I looked at him.
“What?””
Cole swallowed.
“Nia was pregnant when she left.””
I turned toward Eli.
The boy was sitting alone by the diner window.
My nephew.
My sister’s son.
A child I never knew existed.
“You knew?””
Cole nodded.
“I knew.””
The anger inside me became something heavier.
“You knew I had family out there.””
“I knew she wanted you safe.””
“Safe?””
My voice cracked.
“She took my sister away from me.””
Cole shook his head.
“No.””
He looked directly at me.
“She saved you.””
I stared at him.
“From what?””
Cole didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said:
“From the person inside this club who wanted you dead.””
The words chilled me.
Not hurt.
Not betrayal.
Dead.
I looked around the parking lot.
At the men I trusted.
At the people who had fought beside me.
“How long?””
Cole looked away.
“Since before she disappeared.””
“Who?””
“I never found proof.””
“Who?””
His face tightened.
“She suspected someone close.””
“That’s not an answer.””
“It’s the only one I have.””
I turned away.
My mind was moving faster than my body.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had been hiding.
Someone knew about Nia.
Someone knew about Eli.
And now someone knew exactly where they were.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Unknown number.
I looked at the screen.
One message.
I opened it.
A picture loaded.
My heart stopped.
It was Eli.
Taken seconds ago.
From outside the diner.
The boy was sitting at the window.
Someone had photographed him.
The message below was short.
“Bring him to me, or your sister disappears again.””
I looked up instantly.
“Eli.””
The chair was empty.
My blood went cold.
I turned toward the window.
The diner booth was empty.
The front door was still open.
And outside, near the motorcycles…
Eli’s small hoodie disappeared behind the row of parked bikes.
I ran.
Behind me, Cole shouted my name.
But I was already moving.
Because fifteen years ago, I lost my sister.
I wasn’t losing her son.
Not tonight.
I reached the motorcycles.
The parking lot was empty.
No Eli.
No stranger.
No sound.
Only the bucket of dirty water beside my bike.
And on the ground next to it…
Eli’s cracked phone.
The screen was still glowing.
One new message was open.
From Nia.
“Bear, if you found this…”
I stared at the words.
Then the rest appeared.
“Don’t let them take him to the old place.””
My breathing stopped.
Because I knew exactly what she meant.
The old place.
The one place connected to the night she vanished.
The one place nobody in the Iron Saints had talked about for fifteen years.
May you like
The abandoned warehouse where everything began.
And where someone had been waiting for us all along.
