Chapter 8 - DANIEL COMES HOME
Home was complicated.
Daniel could not return to the world that disappeared nine years earlier.
Friends had married.
Some died.
Businesses changed.
I had changed.
He moved into a rehabilitation residence first.
Not my mansion.
His therapists wanted independence.
Claire approved.
I did not get a vote.
Annoying.
Correct.
Daniel improved slowly.
Walking short distances with support.
Longer conversations.
Memory returning unevenly.
One afternoon he asked:
“Why you old?”
I stared.
Claire laughed so hard she left the room.
“Nine years.”
Daniel frowned.
“Unfair.”
“Extremely.”
Then he asked about our mother.
Dead four years.
That conversation broke both of us.
There are costs no conviction repairs.
Daniel missed her funeral.
Her illness.
Her final months.
He cried for hours.
I stayed.
No advice.
No deals.
Just stayed.
Later he said:
“Vincent?”
“In custody.”
“Good.”
Then:
“Jon.”
“Yes?”
“Don't become him.”
I looked away.
Because that was the real inheritance danger.
Not money.
Methods.
I had spent years believing fear maintained order.
Vincent believed control justified everything.
The difference between us was smaller than I wanted to admit.
May you like
Daniel survived long enough to make me see it.
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