Chapter 17 - THE BROKEN BROTHER
Footsteps crunched against the wet shell-strewn gravel.
Daniel stumbled around the corner of the boathouse, his face pale, clutching his left shoulder. Dark blood was seeping through his fingers.
"Daniel!" Claire gasped, reaching for him.
"Grazed me... sniper on the roof," Daniel gasped, sinking to his knees behind the skiff. He looked at Theo, his eyes wild with grief, confusion, and agony. He reached out with a trembling, bloodstained hand, hovering inches from the boy’s cheek, terrified to touch him. "Theo... buddy..."
"Daniel, don't look at him like that," Claire hissed fiercely, grabbing Daniel’s uninjured arm. "He is your son. Do you hear me? You taught him how to walk. You held him through every fever. You are his father!"
"I don't have his blood, Claire!" Daniel broke down, tears mixing with the sea spray on his cheeks. "My whole life was a setup! Eleanor kept me around as a backup organ bank for Julian, and when I couldn't save him, she used my marriage to breed a replacement! Every time I look at him now, I see Julian's eyes!"
"Look at his heart, Daniel!" Claire shook him violently, forcing his gaze back to hers. "Look at who he loves! He loves *you*! Blood doesn't rescue people, remember? You told me that! Now get up, because Julian is coming down this pier, and if we don't fight right now, neither of us will have a son to love!"
Theo reached out, his tiny fingers wrapping around Daniel's blood-soaked hand. "Daddy, your hand is cold. Don't be sad. I'm brave, like you."
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Daniel let out a shattered breath, closing his eyes as a sob racked his frame. When he opened them, the doubt and self-pity were gone. What replaced them was the lethal, ancestral fury of a man who had nothing left to lose.
He squeezed Theo’s hand. "I’m not sad, buddy. Daddy's going to finish the game."
