“So you remember.”
Elias stumbled backward.
Samuel.
His younger brother.
The boy who had disappeared in the fire.
The boy everyone had told him was dead.
Elias sat down heavily.
For eleven years he had carried guilt for abandoning his brother.
For eleven years he had believed there was nothing left to save.
But now a child stood in front of him.
A child who knew Samuel's name.
A child who carried Samuel's eyes.
Elias looked at Maribel.
“Tell me everything.”
She shook her head.
“Not tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because you're injured.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
He stared at her.
“You don't understand.”
Maribel's voice softened.
“I understand more than you think.”
She walked toward the door.
“Rest.”
“Maribel.”
She stopped.
“Where did you find him?”
She did not turn.
“In the desert.”
“I mean before that.”
Silence.
Then:
“He found us.”
The door closed.
Elias remained alone.
That night, sleep refused to come.
He listened to the wind.
He listened to footsteps outside.
He listened to Mateo moving through the house.
Every sound pulled another piece of the past from the grave.
At dawn, Maribel entered with a cup of coffee.
“You need to eat.”
“Where is Mateo?”
“Outside.”
“Why won't you tell me?”
“Because you don't know what you're asking for.”
“I've been asking for eleven years.”
She placed the cup beside him.
“You asked the wrong question.”
“What question should I have asked?”
Maribel looked at him.
“Why did Samuel disappear?”
Elias stared.
“He died.”
“No.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
“Then tell me.”
Maribel sat across from him.
“Samuel was alive when you left Black Hollow.”
Elias's hands began shaking.
“Why didn't he come after me?”
“He couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because someone made sure he couldn't.”
Elias stood too quickly.
His wound pulled.
He nearly fell.
Maribel caught him.
“Sit.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Your brother discovered something.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Elias stared at her.
“What kind of ledger?”
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Men who had been stealing land from families around Black Hollow.”
Elias remembered.
His brother had complained about missing records.
He had said powerful men were buying land from desperate families for almost nothing.
Elias had dismissed it.
He had been twenty-six.
He had thought survival mattered more than justice.
Maribel continued.
“Samuel found proof.”
“Where is it?”
“Gone.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because someone is looking for it.”
Elias felt cold despite the heat.
“Who?”
Maribel looked toward the window.
“The same people who burned Black Hollow.”
Elias remembered the fire.