Chapter 15 - The Brother in the Mirror
Gabriel Romano.
The name spread through the room like poison.
Ethan sat motionless.
Thomas spoke through the phone. “Gabriel was raised outside New York by a Providence contractor.”
“Who?” Ethan asked.
“Colonel Adrian Mercer.”
Daniel went pale.
I noticed. “You know him.”
Daniel nodded. “He founded Meridian.”
Thomas continued. “Gabriel inherited it.”
Ethan laughed without humor. “So while I was learning to run my father’s empire, my brother was building his own.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know about me?”
“Always.”
“Did I know about him?”
“No.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “That wasn’t rhetorical.”
Thomas sighed. “No.”
I took the phone. “Where is Noah?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Claire?”
“With Gabriel, probably.”
“Alessandra?”
“Safe.”
“For how long?”
“If Gabriel wants her, not long.”
“Why did she call you?”
“She recognized him from the hospital camera.”
Ethan looked up. “How?”
“She saw him once. When you were children.”
Silence.
Thomas said, “Gabriel was brought to New York when you were five.”
“Why?”
“To compare developmental outcomes.”
I watched Ethan absorb that.
Two brothers.
Two childhoods.
Two experiments.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Ethan attacked him.”
Ethan laughed softly. “At five?”
“You broke his nose.”
For the first time, he almost smiled. “That tracks.”
Thomas continued. “Alessandra demanded Gabriel be removed from the program. She believed he was dangerous.”
“More dangerous than me?”
Thomas hesitated. “Yes.”
Ethan’s smile vanished.
We arranged to meet Thomas at an abandoned marina in the Bronx.
Agent Cole objected.
We went anyway.
Alessandra was there.
Alive.
She embraced Ethan.
He stood stiffly for half a second, then held her.
I looked away.
Some reunions deserved privacy.
Thomas handed us a file.
GABRIEL MERCER.
Photographs from childhood to adulthood.
At thirty, he looked terrifyingly similar to Ethan.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
But where Ethan’s face carried emotion beneath restraint, Gabriel looked polished and empty.
A corporate version of a weapon.
“He knows Noah is his nephew?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why take him?”
Thomas looked at Ethan. “Because he believes the trust should belong to him.”
Ethan laughed. “Inheritance?”
“He wants legitimacy.”
“What does that mean?”
“Gabriel considers himself the true Romano heir.”
Alessandra’s face hardened. “He is not.”
Ethan glanced at her. “Biologically, apparently he is.”
“No.”
She turned to him. “You are my son because I raised you.”
“That logic makes Isabella Catherine’s daughter.”
He looked at me and realized what he had said.
“Sorry.”
“No. You’re right.”
Alessandra looked at me. “Catherine is your mother.”
“I know.”
The word surprised me.
But it was true.
Biology had become paperwork.
Love was the thing that stayed.
Daniel studied Gabriel’s file. “Meridian owns several facilities.”
“Which one can process identity transfer?” Cole asked.
Thomas pointed to a coastal property. “Black Harbor.”
“Where?”
“Long Island.”
Ethan stood. “We go now.”
“No,” Thomas said.
Ethan turned. “Why?”
“Because Gabriel expects you.”
“Good.”
“He wants you alive.”
“Less good.”
“He needs a genetic acknowledgment.”
“For what?”
“The trust contains a dispute mechanism. If a second Romano claimant proves direct lineage, control freezes.”
Victoria frowned. “So Gabriel can stop Noah’s inheritance.”
“Yes.”
“Why take Noah?”
“Leverage.”
I stood. “Then we use me.”
Ethan stared. “No.”
“Gabriel wants family legitimacy. I’m Noah’s mother.”
“No.”
“I can get close.”
“No.”
“Can you say anything else?”
“No.”
I folded my arms. “Watch me.”
Alessandra touched Ethan’s arm. “She’s right.”
He turned on her. “Of all days to start supporting my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” I said.
Alessandra looked at me. “No.”
I blinked.
She almost smiled. “Technically still wife.”
Ethan looked pleased.
“Do not enjoy this.”
“Impossible.”
We built a plan.
A bad one.
The kind of plan desperate people call clever.
I would contact Gabriel using Meridian’s open channel and offer a trade.
Me for Noah.
Ethan hated it.
That was almost a bonus.
We sent the message.
The response arrived three minutes later.
BLACK HARBOR. MIDNIGHT. ISABELLA ALONE.
Ethan read it. “No.”
I smiled. “Predictable.”
At 11:58 p.m., I walked into Black Harbor alone.
At least, that’s what Gabriel believed.
The facility sat above the Atlantic, all glass and concrete. Waves slammed black rock below.
A man waited inside.
For one irrational second, my heart reacted as if it were Ethan.
Then he smiled.
Wrong smile.
“Isabella.”
“Gabriel.”
“You look exactly like the photographs.”
“I wish I could say the same. You look like my husband with fewer morals.”
He laughed. “Oh, I understand why he married you.”
“Where is Noah?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
He gestured.
Claire entered carrying my son.
My entire body moved toward him.
Gabriel blocked me.
“Not yet.”
Claire’s eyes were red. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ll deal with you later.”
Gabriel smiled. “Good. Anger is useful.”
“Give me my baby.”
“First, something else.”
He opened a door.
Inside sat a second bassinet.
A baby slept beneath a blue blanket.
I stared.
“The other Providence child?”
“Yes.”
“Who are his parents?”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared. “That’s the interesting part.”
He turned toward Claire. “Tell her.”
Claire looked away.
“Tell me what?”
Her voice was barely audible.
“The mother is Victoria Sinclair.”
My breath caught.
“And the father?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Ethan Romano.”
Before we sent the message to Black Harbor, Alessandra asked Ethan to walk with her along the marina dock. I stayed close enough to see them but far enough not to hear every word. Later, Ethan told me what she said.
“I should have searched for him,” Alessandra had whispered.
“You thought he was dead.”
“I accepted what I was told because it was easier than reopening the wound.”
Ethan looked across the black water. “If Gabriel hates me, I understand.”
“No.” Alessandra gripped his sleeve. “Understanding pain does not require excusing what someone does with it.”
That sentence followed Ethan back to me.
“Your mother is right,” I said.
“I hate when that happens.”
“You don’t owe Gabriel guilt for surviving the childhood you were given.”
He looked toward the horizon. “Maybe not. But I owe him the truth.”
“And Noah?”
May you like
His expression hardened. “Noah gets his father.”
There was no arrogance in it. Just certainty. For once, I was grateful for that part of him.
