Chapter 41: The Brother in the Doorway

The footsteps moved with slow, deliberate weight.

Not rushed.

Not panicked.

Like whoever was walking already knew they were in control.

Lena’s fingers tightened around the glowing capsule from the necklace. Her heart hammered so hard it hurt. Alexander stepped in front of her, his entire body coiled like a spring, eyes locked on the hallway.

Mrs. Ward whispered, “Alexander… we need to get her to the panic room.”

“There’s no time,” Victoria murmured weakly from the wall. “You brought him here. Now you face him.”

The footsteps stopped.

Just beyond the doorway.

The air thickened.

Then a man stepped into the room.

He wasn’t wearing a mask.

He didn’t need one.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair, a shade lighter than Alexander’s. A faint scar cut through his right eyebrow. His suit was dark, tailored, casual in its power. His eyes — cold, calculating grey — flicked over the room in a single sweep.

They were Alexander’s eyes.

Older. Colder. Emptier.

“Hello, little brother,” he said calmly.

Alexander went utterly still.

“Elias,” he whispered.

The name hung in the air like an accusation.

Lena’s breath caught.

Elias Knight.

The hunter.

The brother.

The shadow behind everything.

Mrs. Ward began to cry silently. “Elias… my God… you’re really… you’re alive…”

Elias gave her a faint smile. “Hello, Martha. You’ve aged well.”

Victoria’s grip tightened on her wound. “You took your time.”

Elias ignored her.

His eyes locked on Lena.

“And you,” he said softly, “must be Lena Carter.”

A chill slid down her spine.

She forced herself to stand straighter, even though her legs felt weak. “You’ve been following me. Watching me.”

He nodded once. “I had to be sure it was you.”

Her voice trembled. “Why me?”

Elias’s gaze dropped to the glowing capsule in her hand.

“Because of that.”

Alexander shifted, placing himself more firmly between them. “You’re not getting near her.”

Elias tilted his head slightly. “Always so dramatic, Alex. Still trying to play the hero in a game you don’t understand.”

Alexander’s jaw clenched. “You’re working with the Split Circle. With the same people who killed our father.”

Elias’s expression didn’t change. “I’m working for myself.”

Victoria snorted. “Don’t lie. You do their bidding like a well-trained weapon.”

Elias glanced at her, a flicker of annoyance crossing his face. “Be careful, Victoria. You’re not in a position to provoke me.”

“Shoot me again and we’ll see,” she muttered.

Lena swallowed hard. “Did you kill my mother?”

The room went dead silent.

Elias’s eyes flicked back to her. They weren’t cruel. They weren’t kind. They were… tired.

“No,” he said simply. “I didn’t.”

Lena’s heart skipped. “Victoria said—”

“Victoria believes many things,” Elias cut in. “Some of them are true. Some aren’t.” His gaze sharpened. “But your mother’s death wasn’t my doing.”

Alexander exhaled shakily, like a weight had lifted — only to be replaced by another.

“Then who killed her?” Lena demanded.

Elias looked at the capsule again.

“You already have the answer,” he said. “You’re holding it.”

Lena glanced down at it. The glow pulsed faintly against her palm — patient, waiting.

Victoria hissed, “You don’t want that opened, do you?”

Elias’s jaw ticked. “I’m here to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

Alexander scoffed. “The Circle’s hands, you mean.”

Elias met his eyes. “Any hands. Including yours.”

Alexander took a step forward. “You hunted me for years. You let me believe you were dead. You tried to kill Victoria. You stalked Lena. And now you expect me to believe you’re protecting anyone?”

Elias’s voice cooled even further. “I don’t expect you to believe anything. You stopped being my concern a long time ago.”

That hurt. Lena saw it in the way Alexander’s shoulders tensed.

Mrs. Ward’s voice broke through in a whisper. “Elias, please… why are you doing this? Your father would—”

“Would approve,” Elias replied sharply. “He created this world. I’m just surviving in it.”

Lena’s fingers trembled around the capsule.

She could feel the moment stretching — a fragile thread pulled between the past and the present.

Her mother.

The Circle.

Elias.

Victoria.

Alexander.

All of it led here.

She lifted the drive slightly. “This file — this is why everyone’s here. Why my mother died.”

Elias nodded. “Yes.”

“Did you know her?” Lena asked quietly.

Elias’s expression shifted — just for a heartbeat. A flicker of something softer.

“Yes,” he said. “She was smarter than most of them. Braver. Reckless, but… right.”

Lena’s throat tightened. “Then why didn’t you protect her?”

His gaze darkened. “Because by the time I knew what she was planning…it was already too late.”

Victoria’s voice cut in, low and bitter. “You watched her die.”

Elias turned to her sharply. “And you helped.”

Her face tightened.

Lena looked between them, horror dawning. “You were both there.”

Elias didn’t confirm.

He didn’t deny.

Alexander stepped closer to Lena. “We’re done letting other people decide what we’re allowed to know.”

He looked at her, eyes fierce, voice low.

“Open it.”

Elias’s voice cut through the air like a whip. “Lena. Don’t.”

She met his gaze. “Why?”

“Because once you see what’s in there,” he said quietly, “you’ll never be safe again. Not anywhere.”

She swallowed hard. “I’m not safe now.”

He paused.

The truth of that settled over all of them.

Lena held up the capsule.

“Alex said this was meant for me,” she whispered. “My mother trusted me with it. I won’t run from it.”

Alexander’s eyes softened proudly. “You’re stronger than you think.”

She brought the drive to her lips.

A tiny needle extended from the side; it pricked her skin, tasting a drop of blood.

The glow shifted — from faint to bright. The capsule clicked, then projected a small, flickering holographic image above her palm.

A woman appeared.

Lena’s heart stopped.

Her mother.

Younger, but unmistakable. Eyes full of warmth and fire.

“Lena,” the recording said.

Lena’s knees nearly buckled at the sound of her voice.

“This means I’m gone,” her mother continued. “And you’ve stepped into the world I tried so hard to keep you from.”

Tears blurred Lena’s vision instantly.

“I’m sorry,” her mother said. “I wanted you to have a normal life. But some truths won’t stay buried.”

The image shifted — showing documents, names, transaction trails, bank accounts, coded messages.

Victoria inhaled sharply. Elias went still.

“This file contains everything I stole from the Split Circle,” Lena’s mother said. “Proof of what they did. Who they paid. Who they killed.”

Lena’s hands shook as the names flickered by.

Politicians. CEOs. Board members.

And then—

Knight, Adrian.
Knight, Elias.
Hale, Marcus.
Hale, Victoria.

Alexander’s breath caught. “Father…”

Elias’s face went stone blank.

Victoria’s eyes burned with fury. “Turn it off.”

The recording continued.

“I thought Adrian would help me,” Lena’s mother said softly. “I was wrong. I thought Elias might protect you if I couldn’t. I was wrong again.”

Lena looked up slowly.

Elias’s gaze slid away for the first time.

Her mother’s final words echoed through the room:

“If you’re seeing this, Lena…

trust your instinct.

Trust your heart.

But do not trust anyone who hides in the shadows — even if they say they’re doing it for you.”

The hologram flickered…

And vanished.

Leaving only silence.

And four people with nowhere left to hide.