Cradle to the light

Chapter 2

The salt wind whips across the deck of the speedboat, cold and sharp, slapping my face like it’s trying to wake me up from a dream I don’t want to leave, knuckles white, staring at the horizon where the sky meets the sea in a thin, trembling line. Marcus is right beside me, shoulder to shoulder the way we’ve always been, his big hand gripping the rail next to mine. The same hand that used to hold mine when we crossed busy streets as kids.

I can still hear the exact moment he burst through our apartment door three weeks ago, eyes wild, voice cracking with something between joy and disbelief.

“Alex—f**k—Alex, sit down, sit the hell down!”

He slammed the door so hard the pictures rattled. I was on the couch, half-asleep, and I bolted upright like I’d been shocked.

“What? What happened?”

He paced like a caged animal, hands shaking as he shoved his phone in my face. The screen glowed with an email—plain black text, no logo, just numbers that didn’t make sense at first.

“Some men in suits came to the garage today. Real suits, Alex. Not the knockoff s**t. They knew my name. They knew about the debt, about Mom’s hospital bills, about Lily’s tuition waiting list. They said there’s this… opportunity. Ten billion dollars. Ten f*****g billion dollars!”

His voice cracked on the last word, high and raw, like he couldn’t believe he was saying it out loud. He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me, laughing so hard tears leaked from the corners of his eyes.

“Ten billion, little bro! We could change everything! We could be someone! Finally! Mom never has to work another shift. Lily gets the best doctors, the best school, a real house! I get to be a father she can be proud of.

I stared at him, heart hammering so loud I could barely hear the rest. He kept talking, words tumbling out faster than I could catch them—private island, one week, survival game, winner takes all. Legal. Confidential. The suits had handed him a contract right there in the garage, thick paper that felt like money already.

“We keep it quiet,” he said suddenly, voice dropping to a fierce whisper. “Nobody knows. Not Mom. Not our friends. Not even Lily. We tell them it’s a fishing trip up north. We hug them extra tight when we leave.

He pulled me into a hug then—hard, crushing, the kind he used to give when we were kids and the world felt too big. I hugged him back, feeling his heart slam against mine, feeling the tremble in his arms that said he was terrified and exhilarated all at once.

We didn’t tell anyone. We lied about the trip. We kissed Mom goodbye like it was just another weekend. We told Lily we’d bring her the biggest stuffed bear in the world.

And now here we are.

The boat bounces hard over a wave and Marcus steadies me with a quick grip on my arm, the same protective reflex he’s had since we were kids. His jaw is set, eyes locked on the distant lights of the airstrip, but I know him better than anyone. Underneath that tough-guy mask, he’s still buzzing with that same electric hope from three weeks ago. He hasn’t let it go.

“You good?” he asks, voice low under the engine roar.

I nod, forcing a grin even though my stomach is flipping. “Yeah.”

Marcus’s expression cracks into that wide, boyish grin—the one that only comes out when he’s picturing his daughter.