Chapter 6 - The Brother I Buried
Caleb’s cabin stood deep in the Vermont woods, hidden at the end of a narrow road with no sign and no mailbox.
By the time Tobias pulled into the clearing, snow had covered the tire tracks behind us.
The cabin was small.
One story.
Dark wood.
Smoke rising from a crooked chimney.
It looked nothing like the places Caleb used to dream about when we were kids.
Back then, he wanted fast cars, expensive watches, loud parties, and a life nobody could tell him he did not deserve.
Now he was hiding in the woods like a man already dead.
Tobias killed the headlights.
“Stay in the car,” he said.
I held Leo tighter.
“Absolutely not.”
“Haze—”
“You brought us here. I’m not sitting in a locked car while you walk my son into another secret.”
Tobias looked at me in the rearview mirror.
Then he nodded once.
“Fine. But stay behind me.”
The front door opened before we reached it.
A man stepped onto the porch holding a shotgun.
I froze.
He was thinner than I remembered.
His face was rough with stubble. A long scar cut through one eyebrow. He wore a faded flannel shirt and heavy work boots.
But his eyes were the same.
Caleb’s eyes.
My brother stared at me.
Then he looked at Leo.
The shotgun lowered.
“Haze,” he whispered.
For five years, I had mourned him.
I had imagined his body at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
I had imagined him alone, scared, calling for me.
I had imagined Matteo’s men dragging him to the docks while I stood helpless in that marble mansion.
Now he was standing in front of me.
Alive.
Breathing.
And I hated him for making me miss him.
I crossed the porch in three steps and slapped him across the face.
The sound cracked through the cold air.
Caleb didn’t react.
He just looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“That was for letting me think you were dead,” I said.
Then I hit him again.
“That was for being alive all this time.”
Leo buried his face in my coat.
Caleb looked past me at him.
“That’s him?”
I tightened my arms around Leo.
“Yes.”
Caleb swallowed.
“He looks like Matteo.”
“I know.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Tobias glanced toward the trees.
“We need to get inside.”
Caleb moved aside.
The cabin smelled of coffee, wood smoke, and old books. A fire burned in the stone fireplace. Maps covered one wall, with red circles and notes written in Caleb’s messy handwriting.
Leo stared at them.
“Are those treasure maps?”
Caleb looked at him.
For the first time, something almost like a smile appeared.
“Something like that.”
Leo considered him carefully.
“Are you my uncle?”
Caleb’s face crumpled.
“Yes,” he whispered. “I’m your Uncle Caleb.”
Leo looked at me for confirmation.
I nodded.
Then Leo held out one small hand.
Caleb stared at it before taking it gently.
“Hi, Uncle Caleb.”
Caleb turned away quickly.
He wiped his face with one hand.
I watched him.
The brother I had spent years hating.
The brother I had buried in my heart.
“What happened?” I asked.
Caleb sat at the old kitchen table.
Tobias remained near the window, watching the tree line.
Caleb looked at me.
“Matteo didn’t kill me.”
“I know that now.”
“He was going to,” Caleb said. “At least, I thought he was. I stole from him. I took files. I tried to sell them to the Morettis because I owed people money.”
“You were an addict.”
“I was worse than an addict. I was selfish.”
His eyes moved to Leo.
“I thought I could fix everything with one deal. But I didn’t know the Morettis had been laundering money through shipping companies connected to judges, politicians, and federal agents.”
“The files,” I said.
Caleb nodded.
“I had proof. Not all of it, but enough to get everyone killed.”
“Why did Matteo protect you?”
“Because the Morettis thought I gave you copies.”
I went cold.
“I never had anything.”
“I know. But they didn’t.”
Caleb looked toward Tobias.
“Matteo told them he had kicked you out. Said you were nothing to him. Said he would not protect you.”
The old words returned with brutal clarity.
You were convenient, Hazel.
Caleb’s voice shook.
“He made it sound real because it had to sound real.”
I stared at the fire.
“So he destroyed me to save me.”
“Yes.”
“No,” I said. “He chose to destroy me because he did not trust me with the truth.”
Caleb lowered his eyes.
“You’re right.”
Tobias finally spoke.
“Matteo believed if you knew, you would try to find Caleb.”
“Of course I would.”
“And the Morettis would have followed you.”
“They followed me anyway.”
“Not then,” Tobias said. “Not until I walked into that bakery.”
The room went still.
Outside, wind moved through the trees.
Leo climbed into my lap and rested his head against my chest.
Caleb opened a metal box beneath the table.
Inside were three flash drives, printed bank records, old burner phones, and a sealed envelope.
“This is what everyone wants,” he said. “The original evidence. Moretti accounts. Names. Payments. The people Matteo was trying to keep from finding you.”
“Why not give it to the police?” I asked.
Caleb gave a humorless laugh.
“Which police?”
I understood.
The Morettis had bought too many people.
Maybe Matteo had too.
Tobias’s phone buzzed.
He read the message, then his face hardened.
“What?” I asked.
“Matteo is coming.”
My stomach dropped.
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“You don’t have to agree,” Tobias said. “He’s already on his way.”
“I do not want him here.”
“He knows,” Tobias replied. “But the Morettis found this place.”
Then, from somewhere beyond the trees, an engine growled in the darkness.
Leo lifted his head.
“Mommy?”
I held him tighter.
The snow outside had begun falling harder.
May you like
And through it, headlights appeared between the trees.
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