Then I looked back at Mason.
“Yes,” I said. “I am.”
For one second, my brother was a child again.
For one second, I saw the whole map of our ruined family.
Dad’s silence.
Mom’s tired hands.
My departures.
His resentment.
All of it standing between us in a dark bar while false cops broke through the door.
Then Mason nodded.
Small.
Sharp.
Marine.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The door glass shattered.
The first fake officer reached in for the lock.
I moved before he found it.
The pool cue cracked across his fingers.
He cursed and fired blind through the door.
The sound punched the room flat.
Civilians screamed.
Maddox shouted, “Move!”
The Marines and civilians surged toward the kitchen.
Mason hesitated exactly once.
I saw it.
I also saw him overcome it.
He ran.
That was the second mini-payoff.
Not him saving me.
Him obeying.
Sometimes that was harder.
