I remembered that day.
Seven months earlier, I’d attended a briefing involving an investigation into compromised communications equipment.
My participation wasn’t publicly announced.
I hadn’t posted about it.
I hadn’t told friends.
I’d barely mentioned it to anyone outside official channels.
Yet somebody had photographed me from across the street.
And now an anonymous sender was claiming that my own brother had sold my location.
I stared at the image until the screen blurred.
Then I called Daniel.
He answered on the first ring.
“Erin?”
“I need you to tell me something.”
My voice was so controlled that he immediately became serious.
“What happened?”
“Did investigators know Michael was receiving money from Helix?”
A pause.
“Why?”
“Because I have a transaction reference for seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And someone just sent me a photograph of myself outside a secure facility.”
Silence.
Then Daniel said, “Don’t forward the image to anyone else yet. Preserve the original message, and let the investigators collect it properly.”
“Was Michael involved?”
“We’ve been examining financial connections.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Erin—”
“Daniel, I buried you.”
The words came out sharper than I intended.
“I stood beside your mother while they lowered an empty casket into the ground. I spent four years believing I’d lost you. I need one person in this room to tell me the truth.”
He exhaled.
“We suspected someone close to your family had been providing information about your movements.”
My eyes closed.
“Michael?”
“We didn’t have sufficient evidence to identify the source.”
“Until now.”
“Possibly. But we need to establish who sent that message and whether the claims are accurate.”
I looked at my grandmother.
She was watching me with tears in her eyes.
“I’m coming back,” I told Daniel.
“Where are you?”
“At the hospital.”
“Stay with your grandmother until the detective arrives. I’ll contact Hayes.”
I ended the call.
Grandma reached for my hand.
“Sweetheart?”
I sat beside her.
“Michael may have been helping Victor.”
She closed her eyes.
“I was afraid of that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about the payment sooner?”
“Because I didn’t know what it meant.”
Her voice broke.
“I didn’t want to accuse my grandson of something terrible without understanding the truth.”
That was my grandmother.
Even after Victor threatened her, she still believed everyone deserved to be judged fairly.
I wished I could be that generous.
But I kept seeing the photograph.
Someone had watched me.
Tracked me.
Perhaps followed me to places where I believed I was safe.
And the one person who might have helped them was my little brother.
The boy I’d taught to ride a bicycle.
The teenager who once begged me to take him to his first baseball game.
The man who had mocked me for sitting alone at Caitlyn’s ceremony.
I wondered when his resentment had turned into something worse.
Michael was waiting outside the conference room when I returned to the naval installation.
He stood beside a vending machine, holding an untouched cup of coffee.
The moment he saw me, he straightened.
“Erin. Finally.”
I stopped several feet away.
“What do you want?”
He frowned.
“What kind of greeting is that?”
“The kind you get when I’ve had enough surprises.”
He glanced toward Daniel, who stood behind me.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
Michael’s expression hardened.
“Seriously?”
“Ask your question.”
He lowered his voice.
“Dad’s falling apart. Mom hasn’t stopped crying. Caitlyn thinks everyone is against her. Somebody needs to act like an adult.”
I studied him.
It was almost impressive.
Our family was drowning in evidence of corruption, and Michael was still trying to make me responsible for everyone else’s feelings.
“What did Helix pay you for?”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“I already told you.”
“Two hundred thousand dollars for legal consulting?”
“Yes.”
“What about the other five hundred and fifty thousand?”
He went still.
I watched his eyes.
He was calculating.
Deciding whether to lie.
Attack.
Or pretend he didn’t understand.
“What are you talking about?”
“Project Sparrow.”
The coffee cup slipped slightly in his hand.
Daniel saw it too.
Michael looked toward the hallway.
“Where did you hear that?”
I felt something inside me harden.
“So it’s real.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
He stepped closer.
“Erin, you need to understand how these companies operate. They pay consultants for strategic analysis. They use project names. They handle confidential information.”
“Did your confidential analysis include my whereabouts?”
His face drained.
“Who told you that?”
I stared.
“Michael.”
He shook his head.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Then why did someone photograph me seven months ago?”
“I don’t know!”
His voice echoed down the hallway.
Several people turned.
Michael lowered it immediately.
“Listen to me. You’re being manipulated.”
“By whom?”
“Whoever sent you that message.”
I folded my arms.
