Chapter 10 - The Foundation
Two weeks later.
The sun was shining over the Rocky Mountains, casting a warm golden light into the backyard of the new house. It was a modest cabin, far away from the city, far away from the memories of the pristine, blood-stained house in the suburbs.
I sat on the wooden deck, watching Ethan. He was kneeling in the grass, intensely focused on a stray caterpillar crawling across a leaf.
The police investigation had been closed. Victoria was officially listed as a missing person, presumed dead after fleeing a cartel hit. Evelyn Vance was currently under federal indictment; David had anonymously forwarded a very real file of her financial complicity to the IRS, effectively freezing her assets and tying her up in court for the rest of her miserable life.
The cartel kept their word. We were ghosts to them. We were free.
The screen door creaked open, and David walked out, handing me a bottle of cold beer.
"Just got off the phone with Ramirez," David said, leaning against the railing. "Border patrol found a shallow grave outside Juarez. Dental records match. It’s done, Marc. It's really over."
I took a slow sip of the beer. I didn't feel joy. I didn't feel sorrow. I just felt... quiet. The relentless, crushing weight that had been on my chest since that midnight drive from Denver was finally gone.
"How's he doing?" David asked, nodding toward Ethan.
"He slept through the night," I smiled softly. "First time in two weeks. He hasn't mentioned the blood. Hasn't mentioned her. We start therapy on Tuesday."
Ethan stood up, holding a piece of paper. He jogged over to the deck and handed it to me.
It was a drawing in crayon. A house. But not the old house. It was a drawing of a fortress. High walls, a big moat, and two stick figures standing at the top of a tower. A big one and a little one.
"It's a castle, Dad," Ethan said, looking up at me with clear, bright eyes. "So the monsters can't get in."
I pulled him into my lap, wrapping my arms tightly around him, feeling the steady, rhythmic beat of his heart against my chest.
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"It's a beautiful castle, buddy," I whispered into his hair. "And you're right. No monsters are ever getting in here. I promise."
I looked out over the treeline as the sun dipped behind the mountains. I used to build houses for a living. Empty shells made of wood and glass. But sitting there, holding the only thing in the world that mattered, I finally understood what it meant to build a home.
