Chapter 3 - The Yellow Envelope
Eli looked down at his worn-out sneakers, his small shoulders slumping.
“He can’t come anymore,” Eli whispered, his voice cracking with raw, unfiltered grief.
Mack understood before the boy even finished the sentence. His massive hand tightened painfully around the edges of the photograph.
“He got sick last winter,” Eli continued, tears finally welling in his bright eyes. “He kept this lunchbox hidden under his bed. Three weeks ago… he passed away.”
Nobody at the booth moved a single muscle. The massive biker beside Mack slowly reached up and removed his leather cap, placing it respectfully on the table.
Eli reached into the lunchbox and pulled out the small yellow envelope. “He told my mom I had to bring this exactly to this diner if anything ever happened to him.”
Mack looked at the boy, his protective instincts instantly flaring. “Your mother knows you’re talking to us?”
Eli nodded and pointed toward the diner entrance. Standing in the shadows by the door was a young woman in her late twenties. She looked incredibly nervous, terrified, and deeply exhausted. She was clutching a cheap coffee cup, and even from across the room, Mack could see the dark, purple bruise fading on her cheekbone.
Mack’s jaw locked. He turned back to Eli, taking the yellow envelope. “This part is for you,” Eli said.
Mack tore it open. Inside was a single sheet of notebook paper. The handwriting was strong at the top but shook violently toward the bottom, the desperate scrawl of a dying man.
Mack read the first sentence, and his blood turned to absolute ice. The biker beside him leaned in. “What is it, Mack?”
Mack didn't answer. He read the final line of the letter, and a cold, lethal fury ignited in his eyes.
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“Take care of the boy if I can’t. And take back what is his.”
👉 What horrible tragedy happened to Eli and his mother after Walter died?
