Chapter 5 - The Brother in Queens
Declan found Jamie at the garage just before noon.
The young man was changing a tire when two men in plain clothes approached and identified themselves as members of Declan's security team.
Jamie grabbed a wrench.
“Stay back.”
One of the men raised his hands.
“We're not here to hurt you. Your sister asked us to make sure you're safe.”
Jamie's expression changed.
“Sadie?”
“She is receiving medical treatment.”
“What happened to her?”
The men exchanged a glance.
“We'd rather take you somewhere safe before explaining.”
Jamie stepped away from the car.
“If she's hurt, I'm going to her.”
“That's the plan.”
Within an hour, Jamie was reunited with his sister at the estate.
Sadie cried when she saw him.
He tried to hide his own tears, but his voice cracked as he hugged her.
“You idiot,” he whispered. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because they threatened you.”
“You should have told me.”
“Then they would have hurt you.”
Jamie pulled back and looked at her bandaged arm.
His face went white.
“Who did this?”
Sadie shook her head.
“I don't know all their names.”
Declan stood several feet away, giving them privacy.
Jamie eventually noticed him.
“You're Watcher?”
“Yes.”
“My sister says your people did this.”
“Someone connected to my organization was involved. I'm investigating it.”
Jamie glared at him.
“That's a convenient answer.”
“It is an honest one.”
“Honesty doesn't fix her arm.”
“No,” Declan replied. “It doesn't.”
The admission seemed to catch Jamie off guard.
Declan continued.
“But the people responsible will be identified, and the evidence will be given to the authorities. Your sister will receive treatment. You will both have protection if you want it.”
Jamie looked at Sadie.
She gave him a small nod.
He reluctantly agreed.
Later, when Jamie was resting in another room, Sadie told Declan about the last thing their father had said before his death.
“He told me that if anyone ever asked about a blue envelope, I should say I had never seen it.”
Declan's face became still.
“A blue envelope?”
“I thought it was nonsense. I was twelve.”
“Did you ever find one?”
Sadie shook her head.
“Not until last week.”
She explained that after her apartment had been searched, she returned to collect a few belongings and discovered a blue envelope hidden inside the lining of an old suitcase.
Inside was a photograph of her father standing beside Victor Watcher.
On the back, someone had written:
If Daniel is gone, the ledger is with the girl.
Declan read the sentence twice.
The ledger.
The same ledger Sadie had photographed at the warehouse.
Her father had not merely discovered Victor's criminal activities.
He had been collecting evidence for years.
And somehow, before he died, he had made certain that part of it would survive.
Declan looked at Sadie.
“Your father knew he was in danger.”
She nodded.
“I think he did.”
“Why didn't he tell you?”
“Maybe he wanted us to have a normal life.”
Declan's expression softened.
“Maybe he wanted you to have a choice.”
Sadie looked at the blue envelope.
For the first time, she wondered whether her father had been hiding something more important than money.
May you like
Perhaps he had been trying to protect the only people he had left.
And perhaps, fifteen years later, that protection had finally led her to the one man who could help finish what Daniel Miller had started.
