What will happen if I say, ‘Archer, get over yourself. It’s time to go home.’?
His brothers and sister will accept him. They miss him. His ladybug has been waiting for him so fucking patiently, knowing he was still alive. Piper wasn’t wrong, even when everyone thought she was just holding onto some stupid hope.
“About last night,” he says.
“Yes?”
“Don’t mention me to his family, please.” Those gray, cold eyes, devoid of any emotion, remind me this man doesn’t know what it is to be Archer St. James.
He doesn’t remember me or everything that we lived through together.
We were best friends.
No, we were brothers, and now… if this hurts me so badly, Teddy will be devastated. What am I supposed to say? “Hey, your brother is alive, but he doesn’t want you in his life.”
This isn’t much different from losing him all those years ago. Is there a way to help him recover his memory?
There has to be a part of Archer inside of this man, but can we bring him back?
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say, what the fuck happened to you, Archer? But I remember it too well, and it was my fault. Today, I loathe myself even more than I did when I thought he died because of me.
When I see all the men who’ll be going to The Organization, I gulp. Dad is not going to like it. “Do you want us to fly two different planes?”
Finnegan shakes his head. “No. You can be my copilot. We’ll take one of the big planes.”
I send a quick text to Beacon letting him know there are more people arriving than we expected—and to prepare my father.
After landing, I head to the door of the plane. Finnegan might think he’s in charge, but my people won’t like to see so many strangers in our facilities. Dad is at the bottom of the stairs. The tension in his face and shoulders melts as I approach him.
“You’re okay,” he sighs with relief, hugging me and patting my back.
“It’s good to know I was missed.”
He looks over his shoulder and says, “Are you sure we can trust them?”
“We have the same goal. There’s just one thing—”
“Archer?” Dad mumbles.
“He can’t remember anything, so be gentle and let him introduce himself.”
Dad nods, swallowing hard.
Finnegan looks from my father to me a couple of times before saying, “I see the resemblance.” He extends his hand. “Finnegan Gil.”
“Mason Bradley,” Dad shakes it. “It’s… thank you for helping us.”
“Don’t mention it. Shall we get started? We don’t have much time to set up.”
Lang, who is usually reserved and quiet, runs to Archer when he sees him. “Thank fuck, it’s you. You’re alive.”
Derek shakes his head and places himself between Archer and Lang, stopping him from getting too close to his cousin. “If I were you, I wouldn’t get close to the boss.”
Lang blinks twice looking at me.
“A word,” I say, tilting my head toward the conference rooms.
“What’s wrong with him? He looks at me like he wants to kill me just for getting close.”
I take a deep breath knowing this is the first of many times I’ll have to give the news to the St. Jameses. “He doesn’t remember anything.”
Lang stiffens, closes his eyes, and he’s back to the cold persona he likes to show when we’re at The Organization’s facilities. “Meaning?”
“All I’ve gathered is that he lost his memory, the Z’s made him believe he was someone else, and since he escaped them, he’s been trying to eliminate them.”
He lifts his chin looking up to the ceiling then says, “We can find him the best neurologist in the world. Beacon’s brother-in—”
“Don’t. Instead of trying to fix him, why don’t we show him he can trust us?”
He scrubs his face with one hand. Once he calms down, we join the group. Everyone stares at Finnegan, dumbfounded, as he speaks. I doubt many are paying attention. Most of them are perplexed as they look at the man everyone has missed for years but who doesn’t recognize us.
Once the first meeting is adjourned, Dad and his partners leave with Finnegan. They’ll show him part of the facility and the rooms where they’ll stay for the next couple of days.
“It is him,” Grace mumbles. “He looks so much like his brothers but…”
“This must be hard on you. It might explain why Piper is having an existential crisis and disappeared.” Then she hugs me tightly. “I’m glad you’re okay. The next time you decide to be the bait, take more people with you.”
“Maybe it’s time to start a new team.”
She frowns and shakes her head. “I knew it. You’ve been waiting for him.”
What can I say? I had hoped, but clearly, he’s not the same person, and I… I still need to figure out what I want for my future.
Looking at Lang, I say, “For now, it’ll be best if we don’t mention to his family that we found him.”
Lang squeezes his eyes.
“Fuck, you already told them, didn’t you?” Beacon, who knows him best, almost growls at him. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” He rubs his temples. “What if we convince him to—”
“He’ll shut us down. It bothers him to not remember anything from his past, but it upsets him when people remind him that he was someone else.”
“So what’s the plan?” Beacon asks.
“End the Z’s and hope for the best.”
None of them look happy. At least I’m not the only one who’s having trouble with this new reality.
But maybe it’s time to move on and close the chapter.
Chapter Twenty-One
Seth
Dad summons me to the main office. I expect him to be with Finnegan and his business partners for a long time, but it seems I was wrong.
When I wiggle the door handle and enter, I’m ready for him to at least chide me or fire me. Instead, I find Mom waiting for me. Her green eyes are red and filled with moisture.
“Seth,” she whispers before she begins to cry.
“Hey, lady,” I greet her, giving her a big hug and lifting her slightly from the floor. “How’s the best mom in the world?”
“You were gone for too long,” she says between sobs. “I was so worried. We didn’t know…”
My poor mom cries harder. Dad takes her into his arms and asks, “Did you stay for him?”
“To some extent,” I confirm and sigh because as much as I hate to report my every move, this time I have to do it.
I tell him what I remember happened to me during the attack in San Francisco and finish with what I’ve been doing for the past months. The latter isn’t in much detail though. He doesn’t say anything, so I shrug and say, “I had to figure out what the angle of our savior was. The moment I came face to face with him… I had to know why he never came home.”
“Who?” Mom asks.
She’s one of the few who knows how much his death affected me. She was there during my worst nightmares. I take a deep breath and say, “Archer is alive, but he has amnesia.”