After I Refused to Save My Ex-Wife’s Brother, She Went Crazy Chapter 06

After I Refused to Save My Ex-Wife’s Brother, She Went Crazy Chapter 06

But by morning, my answer had changed.

It wasn’t for money, and it wasn’t because of her threats.

At sunrise, Vince came in with weather data.

He spread the map on my table and tapped a line.

“Level-twelve sandstorm. Expected to hit the deep basin within forty-eight hours.”

His voice was heavy.

“If Leo’s still alive, he has maybe three days at this dehydration rate. Once that storm hits, satellite tracking will be useless.”

I closed my eyes for a moment.

“This storm is just like the one eight years ago.”

Vince’s words cut into a wound I’d kept sealed for eight years.

I pushed the map aside and walked out.

Claire’s people had set up a row of canopies outside camp, with tables, laptops, and AC units humming beneath them.

She sat in the shade drinking iced water.

I walked over. She set the cup down and looked up.

“Changed your mind?”

“I have conditions.”

“Name them.”

“I go alone. None of your people, no GPS, no gear from you. I take my own route, my own way.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because in eight years, no one has died in this desert under my watch.”

She held my gaze for a long time.

“Fine.”

I turned toward my trailer.

She called after me. “Why did you change your mind?”

I didn’t look back.

I took a few steps, then stopped.

“Not because of you or your brother.”

Then I kept walking.

Vince was already inside the trailer, waiting.

I packed.

Three canteens. A knife. A compass. A pack of energy bars. A roll of gauze.

He checked the seals on the canteens, twisting each cap twice.

“Seriously—why’d you change your mind?”

I crouched and laced my boots.

“Eight years. Not a single body left in this desert.”

“So?”

“So I’m not letting it start with me.”

He opened his mouth, but no words came.

“Even if it’s Leo Rhodes.”

I stood and slung the pack over my shoulder.

“I’m not doing it for him or for It was Claire. I’m doing it so I can still look at myself in the mirror and feel human.”

Vince didn’t answer. He slipped an old two-way radio into my side pocket.

“Channel seven.”

“Yeah.”

I stepped out of the trailer and nearly ran into It was Claire.

She was standing right outside. I didn’t know how much she’d overheard.

A complicated look crossed her face.

I walked past her. She reached out and grabbed my left arm.

I pulled back and kept walking.

Claire stared at my back for a long moment.

Then she fumbled for her phone and dialed.

At that same instant, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out, saw the number, and ended the call.

Then I turned and looked at her.

Her phone dropped to the ground.

For the first time since she had arrived, she really looked at me.

She stumbled back. Her sunglasses slid off.

Her eyes were wide. Bloodshot.

“Ethan… Ethan Cole?”

She said my name like she’d been punched.

“God—that’s why—that’s why you refused—”

Everyone stopped.

Sully stood frozen with a radio in his hand.

Vince stood in the trailer doorway, one hand on the frame.

Pierce’s mouth hung open over his tablet.

The bodyguards exchanged glances.

Then her phone rang again.

Leo’s voice came through, broken and staticky.

“Sis? Did you find someone? Hurry up, I’m—”

“Leo.”

Claire’s voice cracked.

“How much longer… do you think you can hold on?”

The line went quiet.

Then Leo’s voice shot up, frantic.

“Sis! I can’t hold on much longer! I’m dying of thirst! Get someone out here!”

“I promise… I promise… I’ll get you out.”

The signal cut out. Claire crumpled to the ground.

Vince’s apprentice, Tom, hung back in the crowd and whispered to someone nearby.

“Is Cole doing this on purpose? Revenge?”

Vince slammed a fist into the trailer wall—the metal buckled.

He grabbed Tom by the collar.

“If he wanted revenge, he would’ve done it eight years ago.”

“He’s scared that if he goes back there, he won’t be able to stop himself.”