The rain had slowed by nightfall, leaving Romero heavy with silence. Most of the house was asleep. Arabella had curled up in Bella's bed after a bad dream, Jessy breathing soft in his crib. Bella sat awake, humming faintly to calm them both, her thoughts too restless to quiet.
Down the hall, two brothers faced each other for the first time in nearly two decades.
Chris leaned against the edge of his desk, arms folded, eyes locked on Andrew. The lamp between them cast sharp shadows across the room.
"You should've stayed gone," Chris said flatly. His voice carried no fire, just ice. "You don't get to walk back in after eighteen years and pretend we're family."
Andrew didn't flinch. His hands rested on his knees, scarred knuckles pale in the light. "I'm not pretending. I'm here because I should've been here years ago. But if I came back then, I would've ruined all of you. I wasn't strong enough."
Chris's jaw tightened. "So you abandoned us."
Andrew's lips pressed into a bitter line. "Yes. I abandoned you. Hailey. Imelda. I left you to face them alone. I hate myself for it every day." He met his brother's stare. "But don't think I didn't know what was happening in that house. I saw. I heard. I paid people to send me reports. I knew when Father forced you into the boardroom at twenty-one. I knew when Hailey nearly cracked under the weight of raising Imelda. I knew every scar Cassandra carved into you without lifting a hand. I watched. I just" His voice broke. "I just couldn't touch it without breaking apart."
Chris's eyes burned. He wanted to shout, to strike, to demand why. But the weariness in Andrew's face stopped him. His brother wasn't lying.
"You came back now. Why?"
Andrew leaned forward, his voice low. "Because Cassandra finally crossed the one line even Father won't tolerate. She tried to kill blood."
Chris's chest tightened. He said nothing.
"I have proof," Andrew continued. "I've been pulling strings from the outside for years. Cassandra has men who think they're loyal to her but they're loyal to money. I bought some of them. I know about Clinton. I know about the orders to erase Bella. To erase Jessy. To erase Arabella before the truth could surface."
Chris's fists clenched against the desk. "And you sat on this? You waited until now?"
Andrew's voice hardened. "No. I waited until it was the right time. The Fredericks are desperate, clinging to the engagement for survival. Cassandra is bleeding credibility in the boardroom, even if she hides it. And you, Chris you're stronger now than you've ever been. You're not the boy I left behind. You can destroy them. That's why I came back. To help you finish it."
The room went still. The storm outside had quieted, but inside, the weight of decades pressed down.
Chris stared at his brother. For years, Andrew had been a ghost memory, anger, absence. Now here he was, flesh and blood, offering weapons and truths Chris hadn't known.
"You think you get to help me?" Chris said finally, his voice low, dangerous. "You don't. You earn it."
Andrew nodded, as if he expected no less. "Then let me start by telling you the one thing you don't know yet."
Chris's eyes narrowed.
Andrew's voice dropped to a whisper. "Cassandra doesn't just want control. She wants erasure. She doesn't just fight enemies, she destroys bloodlines. And the Fredericks? They're not her allies. They're her insurance. She's more tangled with them than you realize."
Chris felt the weight of it settle in his gut. He had spent years fighting to control his empire, but now he saw the truth, his war wasn't just with the Fredericks. It was with his own mother.
And for the first time, his brother was standing beside him.
The storm outside beat against the glass walls of the Hampson estate, a low thunder rolling over the city. Inside, the air was heavier than the rain.
Bella sat in the lounge, Jessy dozing in her arms, Arabella curled against her side with crayons and paper scattered on the table. The girl had drawn messy flowers, her tongue poking out in concentration. Every now and then, Bella would lean down and tuck a curl behind Arabella's ear.
Across from her, Hailey and Imelda whispered to each other, though their eyes kept drifting toward the study where raised voices echoed behind closed doors.
"I can't believe he's here," Imelda muttered. Her arms were folded tight across her chest, as if holding herself together. "Eighteen years and not a word. Now he thinks he can walk back into our lives?"
Hailey's expression was harder, her jaw clenched. "We buried him in our minds years ago. Chris bled for this family while Andrew ran away. We were left here with Cassandra and Father... with no protection."
Bella shifted Jessy carefully, rocking him when he stirred. Her voice was gentle, hesitant. "Maybe he had reasons. Pain doesn't always look the same for everyone."
Hailey's eyes flashed. "Reasons don't change what he left us with. Do you know how many nights I sat with Chris when Father tried to break him? Do you know how much he endured because Andrew wasn't there?"
Imelda's voice cracked. "He was supposed to be our shield. Our big brother. And he left."
Bella didn't argue. She just looked at them, her own scars tugging at her heart. She understood running from pain. She understood drowning in it too.
From the study, Chris's voice cut through the storm.
"You had men at the hospital, Andrew. You knew about the baby. Why didn't you tell me? Why keep her hidden?"
A pause. Then Andrew's voice rough, broken. "Because if Cassandra had known that child survived, she would have killed her. Don't you understand? I saved her. I made sure she lived."
The sisters went still. Bella's breath caught in her throat.
Chris's fury cracked like lightning. "You think saving her absolves you? You abandoned us! You left me in that house to fight them alone, while you built a new life across the world!"
Andrew's reply was raw. "You think it was easy? I was dying, Chris. I carved my skin open just to feel something. Father controlled every breath, every move. I ran because it was the only way to survive. I ran with a fake ID, with nothing but desperation and her hand in mine." His voice broke. "If I stayed, I wouldn't be alive now."
Hailey's eyes filled with tears. Imelda's lip trembled.
Bella's heart twisted. She thought of the accident that stole her memories, of the scar she had never questioned. Pain could trap you. Pain could erase you.
Jessy stirred in her arms. Arabella looked up at Bella with wide violet eyes and whispered, "Why are they shouting?"
Bella stroked her hair, the same way she often soothed Jessy. "Because families sometimes hurt. But shouting doesn't mean they don't love each other."
Arabella smiled faintly and leaned against Bella again. Without thinking, Bella hummed a soft tune the same lullaby she always sang to Jessy. To her surprise, Arabella joined in, her tiny voice carrying the melody as if she had always known it.
Hailey noticed. "She's never done that with anyone before," she whispered.
Imelda nodded slowly. "She's different around Bella. Calmer. Like she feels safe."
Bella kissed the top of Arabella's head, her chest aching. "She just needs love. That's all."
The sisters exchanged a look. Imelda quietly slipped her hand into Bella's. Hailey's hard expression softened as she whispered, "Maybe you were meant to be here. With us. With them."
Bella swallowed the lump in her throat. For the first time in years, she felt like she belonged.
Hours later, after the storm quieted, the brothers' voices finally fell silent. The heavy doors creaked open.
Chris stepped out, his face carved with exhaustion and fire. Andrew followed behind, his shoulders slumped, eyes haunted by years of exile. He didn't look like the boy they remembered. He looked older, scarred, fragile.
Hailey stood first, fury breaking through her composure. "You don't get to come back after eighteen years and expect forgiveness. We needed you."
Imelda's voice shook as she added, "Do you know what it felt like to wake up every day without our big brother? To hear Father's rules, Mother's poison, and know you left us to drown?"
Andrew's voice cracked. "And do you think I didn't drown where I went? Do you think running made me free? I lived with shame every day. I've been watching from afar, protecting where I could, because it's all I knew how to do."
Chris's eyes burned into him. "Protecting from the shadows isn't the same as standing beside us. You should have been here."
Andrew's head bowed. "I know. And I can't undo it."
The room was heavy, the silence thick with old wounds and new revelations.
Bella rocked Jessy, her heart pounding. She couldn't take her eyes off Arabella, who had fallen asleep against her Imelda's shoulder, their breaths rising in rhythm.
Later, when the house grew quiet, Bella slipped into her room. Jessy was asleep in his crib. Arabella, too, had been carried to bed. Bella sat on the edge of her mattress, her phone in her hand.
Her thumb hovered over Alexis's name. She hadn't reached out in almost two years. Shame had chained her silence.
But tonight, with everything breaking open, she couldn't stay silent anymore.
I'm back in London. I'm safe. I'm sorry. I hope you're well. —Bella
Her heart pounded as she pressed send.
Across the city, Alexis's phone lit up. She gasped, dropping her glass. Her eyes blurred with tears as she read the message over and over.
"She's back..." she whispered, her voice breaking.
The next day, in the hallway, Chris leaned against the wall, listening to the soft laughter of Bella's voice reading to Arabella, Jessy's cries fading as she soothed him.
Andrew's revelation echoed in his mind Cassandra had ordered his child's death. Andrew had saved her. And Bella had no idea the truth was circling closer.
But for now, Chris allowed himself to listen. To Bella's voice. To Arabella's quiet giggles. To the fragile sound of family in a house built on blood and silence.
It sounded dangerously like hope.