Chapter 41

Anderson POV

My younger brother.

For years, he’d battled mental illness, a diagnosis that tore through our family and left him isolated. I remembered the hospital visits, the quiet phone calls from Mom, the way his name became something we whispered. The last I’d heard, he was in therapy and planning to study nursing. He’d talked about helping people, about turning the pain into something useful. Now, here he was, a police officer. How had that happened? When did he switch paths? When did he stop telling me anything?

And yet, what unsettled me most was the way he looked at me. No warmth, no recognition. Just cold detachment. His eyes moved over my face like I was a stranger he’d pulled over for speeding. As if we weren’t brothers. As if I didn’t exist.

I couldn’t shake the memory of his blank expression. It was burned into me now. Had he forgotten me, or was it intentional? Guilt crept in, tightening its grip around my chest until breathing felt like w