I tried to process that. Tried to imagine my brothers—the men I'd grown up with, fought with, bled with—all gathered in Charleston. All here because of a father who'd kept secrets so deep even death hadn't dragged them into the light.
"And you're sure?" I asked, hating how desperate the question sounded. "About Elias? About—about all of them being our brothers?"
"DNA confirmed it," Ethan said. "It's not a mistake, Gideon."
Elias stepped forward, and I saw something in his face soften—not much, but enough to make him look almost human instead of just lethal. "I know this is a lot. Believe me, finding out about seven half-brothers I'd never met wasn't exactly on my bingo card either. But we're family. And family protects family."
The word hung there between us—family—loaded with more weight than it had any right to carry.
I looked at my brothers—Lucas with his blade-sharp grin returning, Ethan with his steady, grizzly-scarred strength—and then at Elias, this stranger who shared my blood whether I was ready for it or not.
Fourteen of us.
The number rattled around in my skull, refusing to settle.
"How did Dad—" I started, then stopped, shaking my head. "Never mind. I don't think I want to know right now."
"Fair enough," Lucas said. "We've got plenty of time for the full story. Right now, we're here for the situation with Sam Jarrow."
The name snapped me back to reality. To the inn. To Hazel inside, watching through the window. To the immediate threat that had brought Elias here in the first place.
"Right," I said, forcing my mind to shift gears. "Jarrow."
"We'll handle it," Ethan said with the quiet certainty of a man who'd handled worse. "But first—" He glanced toward the house, his expression warming. "—maybe it's time for your girl to meet the family."
Your girl.
The phrase sent a different kind of shock through me. I'd been so focused on the revelation about my father, about these new brothers, that I'd almost forgotten Hazel was inside waiting. Watching. Probably confused as hell about why I was hugging strangers in the driveway.
"Yeah," I said, the word coming out steadier than I felt. "Yeah, she'd like that."
She really would.
Hazel, who'd spent most of her life alone. Who'd lost her mother and changed her name and built walls so high even she couldn't see over them sometimes. She'd understand what it meant to suddenly have family appear out of nowhere. She'd know what to do with the weight of it.
And maybe—maybe she'd help me figure out what the hell I was supposed to do with seven new brothers and a father whose secrets kept multiplying even after he was gone.
"Come on," Ethan said, his scarred hand squeezing my shoulder once before letting go. "Let's go inside. Introduce us properly. Then we'll figure out how to keep you both safe."
Lucas fell into step beside me, and for a moment we were just three brothers walking toward a house like we'd done a thousand times growing up. The familiar rhythm of it settled something in my chest, even as my mind still reeled from everything they'd told me.
"She pretty?" Lucas asked, that troublemaker grin firmly back in place.
"Shut up," I said automatically.
"That's a yes." He laughed. "Can't wait to meet her. Been too long since someone made you go all soft and stupid."
"I will break your nose," I warned.
"You can try," he shot back, completely unworried.
Ethan chuckled behind us, the sound rumbling like distant thunder. "Leave him alone, Lucas. Man's been through enough this morning."
"This morning?" Lucas scoffed. "Hell, this week's been a trip for all of us."
I couldn't argue with that.
As we climbed the porch steps, I caught sight of Hazel in the window. Our eyes met, and I saw the question there—Who are these men? Are we safe?
