CHAPTER 4 — The Brother Who Was Supposed To Stay Dead
Mason broke Eli’s chains with his bare hands.
But Eli was too weak to walk.
His body was covered in old injection marks. His ribs showed beneath his skin. Someone had kept him alive just enough to suffer.
“Who did this?” Mason asked.
Eli gripped his arm.
“Marcus was only the guard dog.”
Mason froze.
“Then who?”
Eli’s eyes filled with terror.
Before he could answer, the prison speakers crackled.
Marcus’s voice echoed through every hallway.
“Mason Kane. Return Prisoner 731 immediately… or every inmate in Cellblock C dies before sunrise.”
Red lights flashed.
Steel gates slammed shut one by one.
Mason lifted Eli onto his shoulder and ran.
But when they reached the tunnel exit, Daniel Cross appeared from the shadows, holding a guard’s pistol.
Mason raised his fists.
Daniel whispered, “I didn’t betray you. I came back because Eli asked me to.”
Eli coughed violently.
“Mason… listen to him.”
Daniel slowly lowered the gun.
“There’s a file hidden in the warden’s office. It proves your brother was never a criminal. He was a witness.”
“A witness to what?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“To the massacre your unit was blamed for.”
Mason’s world tilted.
The massacre had destroyed his military career. It had sent him to prison. It had turned him into a monster for men like Marcus.
Then Eli whispered the twist that shattered him completely.
“The man who framed us…”
He swallowed painfully.
“…was our father.”
At that exact moment, the tunnel lights went out.
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And from the darkness, a familiar old voice said,
“Hello, sons.”
