Page 11 of Redemption
I have a mother. And she loves me. She never stopped looking for me.
It’s like something out of a fairy tale, which is one thing my life has never been. It’s hard to believe that it could turn into such a thing now, but I can’t argue with the reality of what’s unfolding today.
I have a brother. A twin brother.
During the drive over, Keira told me what she read online, and it took everything I had to keep the car on the road.
I wasn’t unwanted. My mother didn’t leave me on the steps of a church. Someone took me from her.
It’s the kind of story I’ve always wished were true, in the darkest hours of the night, when I lay, unable to sleep out of fear or hunger. The fact that the fantasy I never told anyone about might actually be true is beyond mind-blowing. It’s … unbelievable.
“Get yourself together, Mount. Get yourself together.” I slow my breathing, taking one deep breath at a time.
And then it hits me—I might actually find out my real name. It’s one thing that Keira didn’t tell me on the way over. It wasn’t in the articles she had pulled up. I was always referred to as “the missing twin” or “the son of Alessandro Giordano.”
I force my attention to the road ahead of me and focus on driving to the airport. It seems like it takes a year to get there even though it’s less than a half an hour away.
What if she doesn’t?—
I cut off the thought. My mind wants to go a million different ways, trying to run with scenario after scenario of how this could play out, but I shut it down every time.
I don’t want to think about it or imagine it. I want to experience the reality of it. I want to see her reaction to me. I want to see the expression on my mother’s face. I want to know … if she loves me.
One thing I would never let anyone know is how deeply it affected me not to have a mother, a father, or a family. Instead, I became strong and ruthless, taking the city of New Orleans as my own. But inside, in the darkest depths of my soul, part of me has always been a little boy who wondered if a mother could love him.
A snorting breath escapes my nostrils. “What would my enemies think if they knew that? They’d crucify me.”
The thought helps center me and bring me back into my body. I grip the steering wheel harder with my fingers before relaxing them one at a time, as if the focus will help me not to fall apart again today. I’ve never allowed myself such a weakness before, but now … it seems that all bets are off.
When the airport comes into view, I have to remind myself that I could be driving into an ambush.
My brother might mean me no harm, but what if he’s working for someone? What if he’s the perfect bait for an elaborate trap?
For the first time in my life, I don’t really care. If it is a trap, then it’s an excellent one, and I’ll undoubtedly be caught in its snare. I never would have thought that I’d be willing to take such a risk—to risk leaving this world and my wife and daughter behind—but I have spent my whole life needing answers to these questions. Where did I come from? Who am I?
If there’s a single chance that this is for real and he’s telling the truth, then I can’t miss the best opportunity life has ever given me to shine light on the darkness of my past. I’m highly conscious of the fact that this chance might only come once in my lifetime. I have no choice but to seize the moment. Something more than logic or curiosity drives me. I couldn’t stop myself from going even if I wanted to. I need answers. I have to know.
Thankfully, I’m very familiar with the airport, as my own jet is hangared here. Hangar six is for transients, so at least that lines up with my brother’s story.
My brother.
The reality of the thought is almost too unbelievable to be real. But I saw him. His face. My face. I felt him. I shook his hand. He was real. It was all real.
And my mother is inside that hangar.
But I can’t abandon my self-preservation instincts completely even if I wanted to. Old habits die hard after all. I block the opening of the hangar with my Bentley. The plane won’t be able to leave until I’m ready for it to do so. I’m strapped with forty rounds of armor-piercing bullets in shoulder holsters, another seven rounds at my ankle, and eighteen at the small of my back.
If this turns into a war, then I’m ready. But my instincts say it won’t come to that. Not a single shot will be fired. I’d bet my empire on it.
Ironically, a war would be easier for me to handle. It’s what I know. All I’ve known for years. But a family reunion? That I don’t know how to handle. I’m completely out of my depth here.
I climb out of the car, letting the heavy door slam loud enough so that anyone in the hangar will know I’m here. There’s no sneaking around. Still feeling like a lamb possibly being led to slaughter, I walk around the long front end, keeping the engine block between me and the stairs of the plane.
“I’m here,” I call out, wanting to see who appears so I know exactly what I’m getting into—sooner rather than later. If I’m wrong and it’s an ambush, I still have a chance of getting out of here alive.
My twin’s head emerges from the open door of the jet. He takes in where the car is parked and where I stand. A smile spreads over his lips—not a smile like the cruel ones of my enemies, but one that says all my precautions are unnecessary.
He steps out of the jet with his palms out. “I promise you have nothing to fear, brother. You have my word of honor. You’re safe here. Perhaps safer than you’ve ever been in your entire life.”
