The road to the lake twisted like a scar through the wilderness familiar but haunted. The closer Arden came, the colder it felt. Pines lined the highway like sentinels, their branches brushing the moonlight, whispering warnings in a language she couldn't quite recall.
Midnight drew close.
She kept checking the rearview mirror.
Still no headlights behind her. No sign of Cole.
But that didn't calm her. It made her wonder if he'd let her go because he knew she wouldn't make it far.
The text burned in her thoughts.
> Don't trust him. Come alone. -Jamie.
Was it real?
Could he really be alive?
Could he have survived the fire and vanished for six years, only to reappear now-when Daniel was unraveling, when the past refused to stay buried?
She wanted to believe. She needed to believe.
But another part of her the bruised, guarded one whispered that this could be a trap.
Still, she went.
The lake emerged like glass under the stars, still and vast, ringed by trees. The bluff where their father taught them poker jutted over the shore like a crumbling memory.
And in the clearing-someone stood waiting.
Arden stopped the car, cut the engine, and stepped out.
"Jamie?"
The figure turned.
The moment froze.
It was him.
Thinner, older, beard covering his jaw, but the eyes-the eyes-were unmistakable. Still fierce, still wild, still full of secrets.
"Arden," he said, voice low and tired. "You came."
She couldn't move. Couldn't speak.
Tears blurred her vision.
"You're alive," she whispered.
He nodded, but there was no joy in it. Only the weight of time.
"I had to disappear. Daniel was going to kill me. Maybe Cole, too. I don't know anymore."
Her stomach twisted.
"You think Cole knew?" she asked.
Jamie looked away. "I think Cole didn't ask enough questions. And now someone else is cleaning it all up."
He stepped closer.
"I left the flash drive so you'd find me. There's more-bank accounts, payoffs, photos of Daniel with the others. He wasn't working alone. He never works alone."
Her voice cracked. "Why didn't you tell me? Why vanish?"
"Because I knew if he couldn't kill me, he'd come for you."
She was shaking now. "You let me grieve you."
"I saved you," Jamie said, eyes fierce. "And I'll do it again."
From the woods, a branch snapped.
Both their heads turned.
Jamie grabbed her arm. "They followed you."
She reached for her phone.
But the signal was gone.
And when she turned back toward the car-
Cole stood there.
Gun in hand.
Expression unreadable.
"I didn't want it to be like this," he said quietly.
Jamie stepped in front of her. "Then drop it. Walk away."
But Cole didn't.
And Arden suddenly knew-
This wasn't the ending.
This was just the turn.
Cole's shadow stretched long beneath the moonlight. The pistol in his hand was steady, but his jaw wasn't. Arden could see the tremor just beneath the surface-regret, maybe. Or something colder.
"Step away from her, Jamie," Cole said, voice flat. "This isn't what you think."
"No?" Jamie shot back. "You working with Daniel? You handing over my sister like she's leverage-that's exactly what I think it is."
"I'm not handing her over. I'm trying to save her."
"By pointing a gun at her?" Arden snapped.
"I told you not to come this far!" Cole's voice cracked under the weight of desperation. "You think I haven't been trying to protect you? Everything I did-lying, hiding-it was to keep Daniel from snapping your spine the way he did to everyone else who stood in his way!"
Jamie moved closer to Arden, blocking her fully. "Let me guess-he promised you immunity? A clean slate if you delivered me?"
Cole's silence was the only confirmation Arden needed.
Her voice came out brittle. "You used me."
"No," Cole said. "I loved you."
The words hit like a bullet. And in that moment, Arden couldn't tell if they were a weapon or a wound.
"Then prove it," she whispered. "Put the gun down."
Cole's hand wavered. Just a fraction.
"I can't," he said. "Not unless I know Jamie's going to give me the rest of what Daniel wants."
Jamie scoffed. "There's nothing left. I burned the evidence-except what I gave Arden. You shoot me now, all you've got is ash."
A gust of wind whipped through the trees.
Cole exhaled. "Then I've already lost."
He lowered the gun.
But before anyone could react-
A second shot rang out.
From the trees.
Cole jerked backward, blood blooming on his shoulder.
He hit the ground hard.
Arden screamed.
Jamie dove, dragging her down behind the bluff's edge.
Gunfire exploded above them.
"Run!" Jamie shouted.
But Arden didn't move.
She looked over the ledge, down at Cole, writhing in the dirt, reaching for his gun again-but his fingers were slick with blood.
And standing just behind him, stepping from the trees-
Daniel.
Elegant. Smiling.
With a rifle in his hands.
"Didn't I say," he murmured, voice silk-smooth, "never trust a man who thinks guilt is the same as love?"
Arden froze. Her entire body screamed to move, to run, but her eyes locked with Daniel's-and she remembered.
The dinners where he held her hand.
The nights he kissed her forehead and murmured lies.
The man she'd married... was a ghost wrapped in charm, smiling like death.
Jamie pulled her backward as another shot cracked through the night, splintering bark inches from her head.
"We have to go," he hissed.
Cole groaned below, dragging himself behind a tree, blood pouring from his shoulder. Daniel didn't even glance at him.
"You always were a terrible partner," Daniel called. "Too much heart. That was your flaw, Cole-you thought loving her made you safe."
Arden felt tears sting her eyes, not from grief-but from rage.
Jamie shoved a path through the brush, leading her around the bluff's back trail. The woods swallowed them, thick with pine and silence except for their gasps.
"Where-" Arden panted, "-where are we going?"
"There's an old hunting shack Dad used to take me to," Jamie said. "It's off the grid. He taught me how to vanish there."
Another shot echoed, far behind now.
They didn't stop running.
Branches scratched their faces. Roots clawed at their ankles. But they didn't stop-not until the trees thinned and moonlight fell across a small, rotting cabin wrapped in ivy.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and memory. Arden collapsed against the wall, chest heaving, heart a war drum in her ribs.
Jamie bolted the door.
"I think he let us go," she whispered.
Jamie didn't answer. He was staring at the floor. At the blood on his hands-some his, some Cole's.
"He wanted to be seen," Jamie said quietly. "Daniel. He wanted you to know."
"He shot Cole."
"Because Cole hesitated."
Arden sank to her knees. The truth pressed down like a stone. "Do you think he's dead?"
"I think," Jamie said slowly, "Daniel leaves bodies for a reason. And he never pulls the trigger unless he's sure."
Arden shut her eyes.
Cole's voice echoed again-I loved you.
But love hadn't been enough to stop him from lying. From manipulating her. From leading her into a trap.
Still, part of her-damn her-still cared.
Jamie crossed the room, crouched beside her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I should've told you I was alive sooner. But I couldn't risk Daniel finding you."
Arden leaned her head against the wall. "We have to end this."
Jamie nodded. "Then tomorrow, we go back. We burn the roots, not just the branches."
"Where?" she asked.
He looked her in the eyes. "To the place it all started."
---
The silence in the shack stretched long after their words had faded.
Arden sat on the creaking floorboards, knees drawn to her chest, Jamie pacing like a caged animal. The lantern flickered, casting shifting shadows across the walls-walls marked by the past, by their father's presence, by secrets steeped in wood and dust.
"Tell me everything," Arden finally said.
Jamie stilled. "Everything?"
"No more lies. No more half-truths. Why did Daniel want you dead? Why the fire?"
Jamie leaned against the table, jaw clenched. "Because I knew what he was doing. I found his offshore accounts. The payments. The women."
Arden's breath hitched. "Women?"
"He wasn't just running money. He was running people. And someone above him-someone big-is still out there, pulling the strings."
"Names," she said. "Do you have names?"
Jamie nodded. "Some. I saved the evidence I could on the flash drive. But he found out. That's why he tried to kill me. And when the fire didn't finish the job, I disappeared."
He ran a hand through his hair.
"I tried to stay away from you. But when I saw your wedding announcement... I lost it. You were marrying him, Arden. Him."
"I didn't know," she whispered. "I didn't see."
"You wouldn't. He's good at masks."
Arden looked at her hands. At the scar on her ring finger-the one Daniel kissed when he slipped the ring on.
"I thought he was my salvation."
Jamie's voice softened. "He was your cage."
She looked up at him. "And you? You... you were gone. I buried you."
"I know." He swallowed. "And I hated myself every day I stayed away."
The crack in his voice undid her. For a moment, the hatred and grief blurred, and all she saw was her brother-the boy who once taught her to climb trees, who shielded her from storms.
"You didn't just disappear," she said. "You left me with him."
Jamie didn't flinch. "I know."
The lantern sputtered again, casting long shadows.
Then Jamie said, "There's more."
Arden's heart thudded. "What?"
Jamie hesitated. Then:
"Daniel isn't working alone. And... there's someone on the inside. In law enforcement. Someone feeding him information."
Her mind reeled. "A cop?"
He nodded. "One with access. Records. Surveillance. That's how he stayed ahead of you."
Arden closed her eyes. "We're not safe anywhere, are we?"
"No," Jamie said. "But we can make it safe."
She looked at him. "You said we go back. Where?"
Jamie's eyes were steel now. "To the cabin in Briar Ridge. The one where he met his contacts. The one he thinks we don't know about."
Arden stood slowly.
"No more running," she said.
Jamie gave a sharp nod. "No more hiding."