Chapter 7 - BELLWEATHER LODGE
Bellweather Lodge stood at the edge of a frozen lake, surrounded by dark
pine trees.
The main building was closed, but smoke rose from a chimney at the rear
cottage. Adrian stepped out of the car and approached the door alone.
He knocked.
A voice came from inside.
“Who is it?”
Adrian froze. He knew that voice.
“It’s Adrian.”
Silence.
Then the door opened a few inches.
A man stood behind it, thinner than Adrian remembered, with a pale scar
crossing his temple. He leaned slightly on a wooden cane.
But his eyes were the same.
“Jamie,” Adrian whispered.
James stared at him.
Then his expression broke.
“Little brother.”
Adrian crossed the threshold and pulled him into an embrace. James
winced, but held on.
“I buried you,” Adrian said.
“I know.”
“I mourned you.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you come home?”
James looked toward the lake.
“Because every time I tried, someone reminded me what would happen to
Emma.”
Adrian stepped back. “She has a daughter.”
James’s face changed.
“Nora?”
“She’s five.”
James closed his eyes.
“I held her when she was so small she fit against my chest. I wanted to
stay.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Victor’s men were outside the apartment. They made it clear that if I
stayed, they would take her. I thought leaving was the only way to keep
her alive.”
Adrian’s anger softened into grief.
“You could have trusted me.”
“I wanted to. But Victor showed me messages supposedly sent by you. They
said you believed I had stolen money and betrayed the family. He made me
think you had chosen him.”
“I never saw those messages.”
“I know that now.”
James explained that after leaving Emma, he tried to gather proof.
Victor’s people found him again, and he was held in a private facility
under a false name. When he escaped, he was too weak to travel and had
no way to know who was watching.
“How did you get here?” Adrian asked.
“An old doctor helped me. I changed locations twice. Then I heard the
Northstar account had been accessed. I knew someone was finally
looking.”
Adrian sat opposite him.
“Come home.”
James’s eyes filled.
“Is Emma there?”
“Yes.”
“And Nora?”
“Yes.”
James covered his face.
May you like
For five years, he had imagined this moment. He had never imagined the
hardest part would be believing it was real.
