Chapter 7 - The Brother at the Gate
Declan arrived at the mansion alone.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Begging.
Norah watched him through the security monitor.
"Don't let him in."
Leo nodded.
Then Declan looked directly at the camera.
"Norah, Dad's going to kill me."
Her stomach twisted.
For years, Declan had been one of her tormentors.
Now he looked small.
She hated that part of her still remembered the boy who once carried her home after she scraped her knee.
"Why should I care?" she whispered.
Declan heard through the intercom.
His face collapsed.
"You shouldn't."
That answer changed something.
He admitted everything.
Arthur had forced him into the first crimes as a teenager.
Later, Declan stopped needing force.
He liked the money.
Liked the power.
Liked having someone weaker than himself.
Norah.
"I hurt you," he said. "I can't undo it."
"No."
"I know."
No excuses.
That was new.
Then Declan gave them what they needed.
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Arthur was planning to destroy Pier Seventeen.
And he intended to make Norah disappear with it.
