Chapter 15 - THE TREE NEVER WONThomas wanted to return home.
Maya took him there.
On his final afternoon, they sat beneath the oak tree from her childhood.
Its branches stretched across the September sky.
Thomas stared upward.
“You really climbed that with a broken arm.”
“I was five.”
“You were insane.”
“You encouraged me.”
“I absolutely did not.”
Maya laughed.
For a while they simply sat.
No conspiracies.
No classified files.
No Ghost.
Just a father and daughter attempting to fit decades into an afternoon.
Thomas finally spoke.
“I thought disappearing made me a good father.”
Maya looked at him.
“I know.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“You could pretend to disagree.”
“I've lost enough time lying.”
Thomas nodded.
Then he handed her a small oak-leaf pendant.
“Your mother gave me this before Ghost 1.”
Maya closed her fingers around it.
“What does it mean?”
“Nothing.”
She frowned.
Thomas smiled.
“That's why I like it.”
No secret code.
No coordinates.
No mission.
Just something her father had carried.
Three weeks later, Thomas Reeves died.
Maya sat beside him.
Her mother held his other hand.
His final words were barely audible.
“Tree never won.”
Maya cried.
But grief felt different now.
May you like
It was no longer an empty grave.
It was proof someone had been there.
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