Chapter 2

Noticing my sudden stiffness, "Leo" looked at me with concern.

"What's wrong, Mason?" he asked, his voice dripping with worry. "Is the PTSD kicking in? I know the pressure of the last few years has been insane."

Looking at the genuine concern in his eyes, I forced myself to relax slightly.

My parents and his parents had been partners on the force. They were brutally tortured and killed by the cartel when we were young. Since then, I had suffered from severe insomnia and clinical anxiety.

But I had Leo. Even though we were the same age, he was always the mature one, the strong one.

With his help, I slowly put my shattered mind back together.

Only Leo knew about my mental struggles.

And I knew his face better than my own. The man standing in front of me looked exactly like my best friend. Even the tiny, faint scar near the corner of his lip was identical.

Maybe he was just overwhelmed by the end of the mission? Maybe he actually forgot our secret code in the excitement?

I decided to test him. "I'm fine. It's just... when you mentioned the oak tree, I felt a pang of guilt."

"During the months you went missing, some cartel clean-up crew tracked down our old place and set it on fire. I was too busy preparing for my own undercover deployment to notice. The fire killed the tree. It burnt to ashes."

His eyes widened in shock. "Burnt? But our parents’ ashes were buried under it! Mason, did you manage to save them?"

The burial of our parents' ashes was a secret.

No one in the world knew about it except the real Leo and me.

My heart eased slightly. I was just about to answer when "Leo" rubbed his red eyes and sighed.

"Forget it. What's done is done. Don't beat yourself up, Mason. We brought down the cartel. We got justice for them. Their spirits will understand."

He smiled warmly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Besides, we are blood brothers. Whether the tree is there or not, we are brothers forever."

The words I was about to say choked in my throat like a fistful of dry gravel.

He said it again. *Blood brothers.*

If he had forgotten the code the first time, there was no way he wouldn't have remembered it now.

This was the sacred oath he made me swear the night before we entered the academy.

It was about life, death, revenge, and our absolute core belief. We had branded those words into our very souls.

"Yeah," I forced a smile, my voice barely a whisper. "We'll always be brothers."

"Leo, today is your birthday. Let’s not talk about sad things."

I subtly stepped back, breaking his touch, and pulled out the watch I had customized for him.

Suddenly, my hand slipped. The watch hit the hard tile floor.

The glass shattered.

"Oh, damn it!" I gasped. "I am so sorry, Leo. Let me get this fixed. I'll get you another one."

He waved his hand, smiling. "It’s fine, man. I don't care about material stuff."

But I insisted. I told him I couldn't leave the country without giving him a proper gift. I canceled our flight tickets.

I needed to find my best friend on his birthday.

Dead or alive.

***