Chapter 12 - midnight at the railway station)
The old Haven railway station had not seen a passenger train in forty years.
Broken windows lined the brick building.
Weeds covered the tracks.
At eleven fifty-eight, Maya’s car arrived.
Charles watched from inside the station.
Ethan sat in the passenger seat.
Maya opened his door.
She placed the wheelchair beside him.
Hidden agents watched from the woods.
Others waited inside abandoned freight buildings.
Every movement had been planned.
Except Ethan’s heartbeat.
Maya helped him into the chair.
“You stay in this unless I tell you otherwise.”
“I know.”
“If anything changes, we leave.”
“I know.”
“No heroics.”
Ethan almost smiled.
“You sound like Nia.”
“That should worry both of us.”
They approached the station.
Charles appeared beneath the broken awning.
He looked thinner.
His suit was wrinkled.
He held a pistol.
Maya stopped.
“Where is Amelia?”
“Send Ethan forward.”
“No.”
Charles raised the weapon.
“Send him.”
Ethan pushed the joystick.
Maya grabbed the handle.
He looked back.
“It’s okay.”
It was not.
But he moved forward.
Charles watched him approach.
For one strange second, Ethan saw his father as he used to.
The man who taught him chess.
The man who carried him upstairs when he was five.
The man who sat beside him after nightmares.
Then Ethan remembered the pills.
The lies.
His mother trapped in a clinic.
Three stolen years.
“Where is she?”
Charles motioned toward the station.
Inside, Amelia sat tied to a chair.
Ethan stopped breathing.
“Mom.”
Her head lifted.
Their eyes met.
Neither spoke.
They did not need to.
Amelia began sobbing.
Charles pointed the gun at Ethan.
“Give Maya the flash drive.”
“What flash drive?”
“The one Crane gave you.”
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
Charles knew.
“How?”
“I know everything that happens around my family.”
“Not anymore.”
Charles stepped closer.
“Do not test me.”
Ethan reached into his pocket.
He held up the drive.
A duplicate.
Agents had copied everything.
“Let her go.”
“Throw it.”
Ethan threw the drive onto the platform.
Charles picked it up.
“Now the trust.”
“I don’t have it.”
Charles looked toward Amelia.
“She does.”
Amelia laughed bitterly.
“You still don’t understand.”
Charles turned.
“Where is it?”
“You could have had everything.”
“I built everything.”
“No. Your father built it. Then you spent your life convincing everyone you were entitled to own people.”
Charles raised the gun toward her.
Ethan shouted.
“Stop.”
Charles looked back.
Ethan slowly moved his feet from the wheelchair footrests.
His father frowned.
Ethan gripped the armrests.
Then stood.
Pain tore through his legs.
His knees shook.
But he stood.
Charles stared at him.
The pistol lowered.
“No.”
Ethan took one step.
Charles’s face became pale.
“No.”
Another step.
“You told me I couldn’t.”
Charles backed away.
Ethan took a third step.
“You made sure I couldn’t.”
“No.”
“You drugged me.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
“From becoming her.”
Charles pointed toward Amelia.
“Unstable. Reckless. Ready to destroy everything.”
Amelia stared at him.
“You almost killed our son.”
“I never wanted him hurt.”
“You ordered men to stop our car.”
“I ordered them to stop you.”
“They hit us.”
“That was not the plan.”
Silence.
Charles realized what he had said.
Hidden microphones captured every word.
Maya spoke calmly.
“Keep talking, Charles.”
His head snapped toward her.
Then voices came from every direction.
“Federal agents. Drop the weapon.”
Charles grabbed Ethan.
It happened too quickly.
One arm wrapped around Ethan’s chest.
The gun pressed against his shoulder.
Ethan’s legs gave way.
Charles held him.
“Back off.”
Agents surrounded the platform.
Amelia screamed.
Charles dragged Ethan toward the tracks.
“You did this,” he whispered into Ethan’s ear.
“No.”
“You destroyed your own family.”
“No.”
“You think that girl cares about you?”
Ethan looked toward the dark freight building.
A small figure stood behind an agent.
Nia.
She was not supposed to be there.
But she had come.
She met Ethan’s eyes.
Then she pointed down.
Ethan understood.
His father’s feet were beside the old rail.
Ethan let his body go completely limp.
Charles lost balance.
His foot slipped.
The gun moved away.
Ethan dropped.
Agents fired no shots.
They rushed forward.
Charles was tackled onto the platform.
The gun skidded away.
Maya pulled Ethan back.
Amelia screamed his name.
Agents cut her restraints.
She stumbled toward him.
Ethan tried to stand.
He could not.
So he crawled.
Amelia fell to her knees.
They reached each other in the middle of the broken station.
For the first time in three years, Ethan felt his mother’s arms around him.
She smelled different.
She looked different.
She was thinner.
Older.
Scarred.
But when she kissed his hair, she whispered the same words she used every night when he was small.
“Where you are, I have a haven.”
Ethan buried his face against her shoulder.
Charles Vale was taken away in handcuffs.
For the first time, he looked small.
But before agents put him in the car, Charles turned toward Amelia.
“You haven’t told him, have you?”
Amelia went still.
Charles smiled.
“About the other beneficiary.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
Her arms tightened around him.
“What does he mean?”
May you like
Amelia did not answer.
And Charles began laughing.
