Chapter 16 #2
Hector shifted subtly, his attention sharpening, and his hand instinctively closer to where a weapon would be if needed. But then the door opened. And everything stopped.
Hector saw him immediately.
Evan.
He stood in the doorway like a man who had been pulled abruptly from a different life, unshaven, with disheveled hair, and wearing simple clothes. There was no immediate sign of injury, no visible restraint, and nothing that suggested captivity or recent violence.
Just shock. Pure, stunned recognition. His gaze swept the group and locked instantly on Colin. For a fraction of a second, Evan did not move. Then he crossed the threshold in a rush that was almost unsteady, like his body had made the decision before his mind caught up.
“Colin!” The name broke.
Colin moved forward at the same time. They collided in an embrace so tight it looked less like a reunion and more like clinging to one another for survival.
Evan’s arms wrapped around him immediately, one hand gripping the back of Colin’s coat as though anchoring him there. His voice came in fragments against Colin’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry…God, I’m so sorry…I thought…I didn’t think they would go after you, I didn’t…”
Colin shook his head quickly, clutching Evan just as tightly. “It’s all right,” he said, his voice thick. “It’s over. I’m here. It’s over.”
Evan trembled slightly, as if the relief itself was too large to contain.
“I tried to keep you safe,” Evan whispered. “I tried to disappear, as I said. I thought if I stayed away…”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Colin said firmly, pulling back just enough to look at him. His eyes were red-rimmed, exhausted, but steady. “You’re here. I’m here. That’s what matters.”
Evan’s hands tightened once more, then slowly loosened, as if he was afraid Colin might vanish if he let go too quickly.
Behind them, Hector remained still. He had seen reunions before, but none had been like this. Never had he seen this level of raw, unguarded relief. There was no pretense or performance. This was simply two people who had been forced apart by consequence rather than choice.
Jane stood slightly to his left now, watching quietly. Hector felt her presence beside him without needing to look. Evan finally drew back, still holding Colin by the shoulders, his eyes scanning him as though verifying every injury, every bruise.
“You’re hurt,” Evan said immediately.
“I’ll be all right,” Colin replied.
Evan shook his head, anger flashing briefly beneath relief. “I shouldn’t have let this happen. I should have…”
Colin interrupted him gently. “You couldn’t have stopped it.”
A silence followed, heavy with worry and unspoken things. Evan’s gaze softened again.
Then, slowly, his attention shifted past Colin to the others. He saw Jane first. Then Hector. His expression changed, confusion first, then caution.
Colin noticed immediately. “Evan,” he said quickly, “you know my sister, Jane.”
Evan blinked. Something like recognition flickered at Jane’s name, though it was more from context than familiarity. Hector did not think they had ever been formally introduced.
Jane stepped forward slightly, composed despite the intensity of the moment. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said quietly.
Evan hesitated, then gave a small, uncertain nod. Then his gaze swept to Hector, his eyes guarded. Hector stepped forward. There were so many things that he wanted to say to his younger brother, but he could not get the words to form. Instead, he just nodded.
“Evan,” he said.
Then Evan nodded once. “Thank you,” Evan said simply. “For bringing him back.”
Hector inclined his head. “We were not the only ones involved.”
Evan’s eyes lingered on him a moment longer, as if trying to place him in a story he had not yet heard fully. Then Colin let out a breath, leaning slightly into Evan again.
“Can we… sit?” Colin asked quietly. “Just for a moment.”
Evan nodded immediately. “Yes. Of course.”
He guided Colin gently back toward the cottage doorway, still keeping a hand on him as if afraid to lose contact again. Jane followed at a slower pace, watching them carefully.
Hector remained just long enough to confirm what he already knew. They were safe. For now. And then he stepped forward too, into the threshold of the small cottage where everything that had been fractured between brothers had, at last, been found again.
The cottage felt smaller once all of them were inside.
Not cramped exactly, just charming in a way that spacious London houses rarely were.
One main room served as both kitchen and living space: a worn table, a small hearth, shelves with mismatched cups.
A single door led to what must have been the bedroom, half-hidden behind a hanging cloth that had once been white.
Everything here had the quiet permanence of something built for necessity, not comfort. Evan moved first, almost instinctively taking charge of the space.
“Sit,” he said gently, guiding Colin toward the table. “Please. All of you.”
Colin obeyed without argument, still clinging to Evan’s presence like a lifeline that might slip away again if he wasn’t careful. Jane remained near him, hovering between giving him space and refusing to leave his side entirely.
Evan moved to the hearth, checking it quickly, then returned with a slight hesitation in his step, as if he wasn’t sure what role he was supposed to play now that there were witnesses to his real life.
Hector did not sit. He watched. For a moment, no one spoke. Then Evan turned, and his eyes landed on Hector properly for the first time since they had entered.
Something shifted in the air immediately. Hector stepped forward. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Evan blinked, as if he had expected many things, but not that tone. Jane shifted slightly, but said nothing.
Colin looked down at the table. Evan held Hector’s gaze. Hector’s voice rose, just slightly.
“I am your brother,” he said. “And you let me believe you were gone. You let me think…” He stopped, as if the thought itself was too volatile to finish. “You let me think the worst.”
Silence pressed in hard. Evan did not flinch. If anything, he looked… tired.
“I didn’t do it to hurt you,” Evan said quietly.
Hector let out a short, humorless breath. “It did not avoid hurting me.”
Evan nodded once, accepting that without resistance. Then he stepped closer, not challenging, just closing the distance. “I couldn’t tell you,” Evan said simply. “Not all of it.”
Hector’s brows tightened.
Evan continued. “You know what you are like when you care too much,” he said, a faint, almost sad edge to his voice. “You would have followed me immediately. You would have pulled every connection you have, every resource, every influence you possess.”
Hector did not deny it.
Evan nodded slightly, as if that silence was confirmation enough. “And Strachan was already watching me,” he went on. “Closely. Too closely. If you had involved yourself, he would have seen you too. And then Colin. And then all of it would have collapsed before we had any control over it at all.”
Hector’s expression tightened.
Evan held his gaze steadily. “I was trying to keep him focused on me alone,” Evan said. “If I could keep the attention narrow, contained, then Colin had a chance. A real chance.”
Colin’s fingers curled slightly against the edge of the table, but he did not speak.
Evan’s voice softened further. “But I was wrong in the way I went about it,” he admitted. “I know that now. At the time, it felt like the only way to keep either of you alive.”
He looked down briefly. “I thought if I disappeared long enough,” Evan said, “he would lose interest. Move on. Find someone else to fixate on. I underestimated him.”
Hector’s jaw clenched again, but the sharpness bled out of him. He could not be angry with his brother for long. Here he was, alive. No matter what he had done, the disappearing, the deceit, Evan was alive.
Evan lifted his gaze again. “And I am sorry,” he said. “For all of it. For making you believe I was gone. For what it cost you while you were searching. For what it cost Colin.”
Colin shook his head slightly, as if he didn’t want that apology to stand alone.
Evan’s voice lowered. “For everything that happened because I thought I could control it.”
The room fell quiet again. Even the fire seemed subdued. Hector stared at him for a long moment. Something in him was still braced, unsure what to do with all the tightly wound energy. But beneath it there was relief. Raw, unfiltered, almost disorienting relief.
Hector exhaled slowly. When he spoke again, it was quieter. “You are alive.”
Evan blinked slightly, caught off guard by the simplicity of it.
Hector’s voice tightened just a fraction. “That is all you had to say.”
As if the rest of it—anger, questions, and explanations—could not compete with that one fact. Evan’s expression changed then. And without warning, he stepped forward and pulled Hector into an embrace.
Hector froze for half a second, entirely unaccustomed to this kind of contact from Evan in any context that wasn’t childhood chaos or the aftermath of an argument.
Then Evan’s arms tightened slightly. “I missed you,” Evan said quietly into his shoulder.
Hector hesitated. Then, awkwardly, stiffly, he lifted a hand and patted Evan once on the back.
“I missed you as well,” Hector said, his voice rougher than intended.
From the side, Jane exhaled faintly, and Colin let out a small, broken laugh that sounded like it hurt and healed at the same time.
And now, the room no longer felt like it was holding its breath. The mood began settling into something that might finally, carefully, begin to resemble peace.