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Amelia sat in the passenger seat, jaw set with a tension he knew well.She fiddled with the seat belt strap, gaze alternating between the looming cityscape and the phone in her lap, as though bracing for a call that might never come.Finn glanced at her between shifting gears.
“You okay?”he asked softly.
She nodded, though worry etched her features.“Rob’s message sounded urgent.But I can’t imagine what he and Inspector McNeill would want face-to-face that they couldn’t say over the phone.”
Finn frowned, memory flashing back to the dark hallways of Brynmor Hall, the swirl of ghosts, conspirators, and near tragedy.“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” he said, pressing the accelerator.The day’s light rain streaked across the windshield as they navigated the congested London streets.
Eventually, they pulled up outside a squat, utilitarian government building not far from the Thames.Concrete steps led to double glass doors.Finn parked the Corvette with a squeak of tires, ignoring the drizzle that dotted its bright-red hood.
Amelia unbuckled and hopped out, tugging the hood of her jacket over her hair.“We’d better hurry,” she muttered, shutting the door.Finn locked up and followed her up the steps.
Inside, dull fluorescent lights illuminated a sterile reception area.Rob awaited them by the security desk, tension in his posture.At his side stood Inspector McNeill, who gave a curt nod in greeting.
“There you are,” Rob said, relief flickering in his expression.“Come on.We have a private room.”
He led them down a corridor with worn linoleum floors.Amelia cast Finn a questioning glance, but he only shrugged.Inspector McNeill kept his usual stern air, but even he looked unsettled.
In a small, windowless briefing room, Rob pulled the door shut behind them.An overhead strip light buzzed faintly.A simple table stood in the center, four chairs arranged around it.McNeill gestured for Finn and Amelia to sit.
“Can we get to the point?”Amelia asked, voice tight.“Your text said we needed to come in person.Why the secrecy?”
Inspector McNeill cleared his throat.He slipped a file from under his arm, laying it on the table.“Amelia,” he began quietly, “I need you to answer something directly: do you have any siblings?”
Amelia blinked, confusion mixing with a flicker of apprehension.“No.At least, not that I know of.I was in foster care for a lot of my childhood.I bounced around for years.No one ever mentioned a brother or sister.”
Finn felt a prickle of tension.“Is that what this is about?A lost relative?”
McNeill cast Rob a brief, somber look.Rob exhaled softly, nodding for McNeill to continue.The inspector opened the file, revealing a single photograph.He slid it across the table.Amelia leaned in, and Finn followed suit—his stomach dropped at the image.
It showed a man in a drab room, tied to a chair, face bruised, eyes brimming with terror.Red scrawled letters spanned the photo’s lower corner:IF AMELIA WON’T PAY FOR HER SINS, HER BROTHER WILL.
Amelia’s lips parted, shock blanching her face.“Brother…?That’s impossible,” she whispered, breath trembling.“Who is this man?”
Rob laid a hand gently on the photo’s edge.“His name is Brendan Wilson.We’ve uncovered evidence that he is indeed your brother.You were separated from each other when you were two years old.We believe Wendell Reed discovered this fact—and kidnapped him.”
For a moment, Amelia just stared, the color draining from her cheeks.Her eyes brimmed with a sudden sheen of tears she tried to blink away.“I can’t take this in… Kidnapped?But… I never even knew he existed!”
Finn reached out and clasped her shoulder.He saw her struggling, the swirl of confusion and dread visible in her eyes.He recognized the name that had haunted them: Wendell Reed, Amelia’s old adversary, whose threat at Brynmor Hall had loomed like a stormcloud but never quite came out into the open.
Amelia remembered then, how Wendell Reed had killed the sister of a prison guard he didn’t like, just to prove a point.She shuddered at the thought.
Inspector McNeill’s expression was uncharacteristically sympathetic.“We wanted to verify the details before telling you.We’ve run DNA checks on record—Brendan Wilson is your brother.He’s about five years older.Wendell got wind of it somehow.We suspect he’s using your unknown sibling to force your compliance.”
Amelia choked back a surge of emotion, tears starting to slip free.“He… he said, ‘If Amelia won’t pay for her sins…’ Sins?I— I never did anything to him except put him behind bars once.”Her voice hitched.
Rob stepped closer.“That’s enough for Wendell.He’s threatened you before, tried to isolate you.Now he’s escalated.We found this photo in an envelope this morning, left at the station front desk.We believe he’s holding Brendan somewhere.Amelia, we wanted to deliver this bad news face to face.I’m so sorry.”
Amelia looked stricken, shoulders trembling.“I—I have to help him,” she rasped, voice tight.“Wendell can’t use him as bait.We have to go now and find him before it’s too late!”