I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 25
Joshua ordered everyone to remain behind the vehicles, but Raina could not look away from the gun pointed across the burning factory yard. Walter held Coco with one arm and aimed with the other, using the metal case between them as bait.
“The lost daughter finally came home,” Walter called. Age had thinned his face, yet resentment kept his eyes sharp. “Tell me, Raina, was the Lincoln fortune worth all those tears?”
Raina refused the premise. She told him no fortune could repay a stolen childhood, and no grievance justified using infants as revenge. Her answer angered him because it denied the righteousness he had built around his crime.
Coco tried to pull free. Walter tightened his grip and accused her of betraying him after years of secret payments and information. She shouted that she had only used him to protect herself. Their alliance collapsed into mutual blame.
Theo moved along the line of parked cars, seeking an angle to reach Raina if Walter fired. Noah noticed and joined him. Neither trusted the other’s plan, but both understood the same priority.
Inside the factory, flames spread through old paper stock. The metal case likely held the original hospital records, and heat was already warping its edges. Walter threatened to throw it inside unless the Lincolns transferred money to an offshore account.
The demand exposed his confession as performance. He still wanted wealth from the people he condemned for possessing it. Raina pointed out the contradiction, keeping him talking while Joshua’s team closed around the yard.
Walter swung the gun toward her. “You sound like your father.” The distraction allowed Coco to drive her heel into his injured leg. He staggered, and the metal case fell open.
Documents scattered across the wet pavement. Coco dove for them at the same moment Walter fired. Theo knocked Raina behind a vehicle, while Noah tackled Walter from the side. The bullet struck metal and ricocheted into darkness.
Joshua restrained Walter with brutal efficiency. Police rushed forward as Noah kicked the gun away. For a heartbeat, relief swept the yard—until someone noticed Coco was no longer among them.
She had gathered several pages and run into the burning factory. Whether she intended to save or destroy them remained unclear. Raina saw her silhouette vanish behind smoke and made a decision before anyone could stop her.
She followed, covering her mouth with her sleeve. Theo shouted her name and entered behind her, unwilling to let history repeat with Raina alone inside a fire.
Coco stood near the old office, clutching the pages as flames blocked the nearest exit. Terror stripped away her arrogance. “I did not mean for this,” she said. “I only wanted proof that I had a place somewhere.”
Raina told her they could argue after surviving. She remembered the airflow pattern from Theo’s childhood accident and searched for a lower passage. A maintenance door appeared beyond fallen shelving.
The ceiling cracked. Theo reached them and lifted the burning beam enough for both women to crawl beneath it. His injured arm buckled, but he refused to release the weight until Raina and Coco were clear.
Outside, the Lincolns watched in horror as smoke thickened. Joshua prepared to reenter when the maintenance door burst open and Coco stumbled out. Raina followed, supporting Theo as he coughed beside her.
Mrs. Lincoln embraced both girls without hesitation. Coco froze in her arms, confronted by the love she had repeatedly treated as worthless. For once, she had no cruel answer.
Paramedics examined them while police collected the surviving documents. The pages Coco carried confirmed Walter paid the nurse and falsified the wristbands. Both families were legally cleared of arranging the switch.
Walter was led away in handcuffs, still blaming everyone but himself. Raina watched until the police car disappeared. The truth had survived, but truth did not restore years or erase the choices made after them.
As paramedics loaded Theo for observation, he lost consciousness from smoke inhalation. Raina climbed into the ambulance beside him, gripping the silver star necklace. The last time fire connected their lives, he had awakened without knowing her name; this time she feared he might not awaken at all.
