Chapter 1 - The Broken Promise
I stared down at Eli and promised him I would not let his grandfather win.
He nodded weakly and closed his eyes as the nurse adjusted his heavy blanket.
I stepped out of the hospital room and approached the uniformed officer standing guard by the door.
His name tag read Miller, and he looked far too young to be dealing with a fractured, violent family.
I told Officer Miller I needed to retrieve a vital piece of evidence from the crime scene before it disappeared.
He warned me that leaving the hospital would violate standard protocol for the guardian of a minor victim.
I ignored his warning and handed him my driver’s license.
I instructed him to shoot anyone who tried to enter Eli’s room without a hospital badge.
Miller looked at my identification and his eyes widened in sudden recognition.
He asked if I was the same man who had been heavily investigated during the waterfront corruption scandal five years ago.
I did not answer his question.
I turned around and sprinted down the sterile hospital corridor toward the exit stairs.
My mind raced as I navigated the evening traffic toward my father’s suburban neighborhood.
The sun had finally set, casting long, menacing shadows across the manicured lawns.
I parked three streets away from the house to avoid being spotted by my brother.
I crept through the damp grass and slipped into my father’s backyard.
The rusted latch on the laundry room window was completely snapped, just as Eli had described.
I squeezed my shoulders through the narrow frame and dropped silently onto the cold concrete floor.
The basement was pitch black and smelled heavily of bleach and old copper.
I turned on my small penlight and swept the beam across the room.
My heart pounded when I saw Eli’s small, dirt-covered shoe resting on the floor.
It was exactly where he said he had jammed it.
But the shoe was no longer wedged beneath the heavy wooden panel.
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The secret door had been slammed completely shut.
Someone stepped out from the shadows behind me and coldly pressed the cold steel barrel of a revolver against my spine.
