She remembered a man in a black coat sitting alone in the last booth months earlier, drinking coffee he barely touched while two nervous businessmen whispered across from him.
She had refilled his cup.
He had read her name tag.
Such a small explanation for something that had felt enormous while she was bleeding on the floor.
At minute twenty-three, Rune’s phone rang.
He answered immediately.
Marin watched his face.
Nothing moved for two seconds.
Then his shoulders dropped by perhaps half an inch.
That was enough.
“He’s alive,” Rune said.
Marin’s knees nearly gave out.
Rune caught the chair instead of her, pulling it behind her so she could sit without being grabbed.
She lowered herself into it, shaking.
“Where?”
“East Yard.”
“Can I talk to him?”
“Not yet.”
Panic flashed across her face.
Rune lifted one hand.
“He’s alive.
He’s conscious.
He’s frightened.
They’re getting him out.”
Marin covered her mouth.
The first sob hurt so badly she folded over the table.
Rune stayed across from her.
He did not tell her not to cry.
He did not tell her to be strong.
He simply waited until she could breathe again.
Asa arrived an hour later.
Marin heard the vehicle before she saw him.
She was already standing when the front door opened.
He looked thinner than the brother she remembered.
His hair was longer, his face hollowed by months of bad sleep, and his eyes moved first to the exits before they found her.
Then he stopped.
“Marin.”
She crossed the room too quickly.
Pain ripped through her side, but she kept moving.
Asa met her halfway and caught himself before squeezing her.
He saw the bandages beneath her loose shirt.
His face collapsed.
“What did they do?”
Marin held his shoulders.
“What did they do to you?”
For a moment neither answered.
Then Asa pressed his forehead against hers.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“I thought staying gone would keep you safe.”
The sentence landed like another blow.
Asa told them what Prosser had done.
After he confronted Galt fourteen months earlier, Prosser’s men cornered him before he reached home.
They did not need chains to keep him.
They took his identification, his phone, and every dollar he had.
Then Prosser made the threat simple.
