A young nurse cared for a comatose man, but one day, when she opened the covers, she was completely shocked by what she found.

The night shift in the intensive care unit of a Chicago hospital was always the longest and quietest for Emily, a young nurse who had been on the job for less than two years. She was accustomed to the strong smell of disinfectant, the flashing of monitors, and the steady breathing of comatose patients.

Among the patients Emily cared for was a man in his thirties who had been admitted to the hospital after a serious traffic accident. He had not regained consciousness for more than a month. His medical records were sketchy: the name Michael Carter, no relatives, no identification other than an empty wallet and a few messy pieces of paper.

Shocking discovery

That night, Emily did her usual routine: checking temperature, changing IV fluids, adjusting the breathing tube. But when she opened the blanket covering the patient to wipe him, her eyes suddenly stopped.

On the man’s left chest, just below the collarbone, there was a long, thin scar. What stunned Emily was not the scar, but the faint tattoo underneath: a strange symbol, like three letters intertwined.

Emily was stunned. It was the tattoo she had seen… on the arm of her brother who had disappeared many years ago – Daniel Miller.

Memories flooded back

Emily trembled as she pulled the blanket back, her heart pounding wildly. Memories from ten years ago came flooding back: the day Daniel left home to work the night shift and disappeared without a trace. The family searched everywhere, the police also got involved, but in the end they received a notice to stop the investigation.

She had never forgotten that strange tattoo, because she and Daniel had drawn it when they were children, considering it their “secret mark”.

The person lying on the hospital bed, could it not be Michael Carter, but Daniel – her real brother?

A mysterious clue

Emily secretly investigated. In the hospital records, the driver’s license with the name “Michael Carter” had an ID number that did not match any data in the state system.

In the wallet kept by the hospital, in addition to the fake ID, there was also a blurred magnetic card, which seemed to be the access card of a large transportation company. Emily investigated and discovered: that company had been suspected of money laundering through fake transportation contracts.

The deeper she dug, the more she shivered. It seemed that Daniel was forced to live under a false identity and the recent accident was not entirely accidental – but a purge.

Danger lurks

One evening, Emily discovered a strange man sneaking into the hospital room, holding a syringe. Without thinking, she screamed. He panicked and ran away, leaving behind a syringe containing a cloudy white liquid – most likely poison.

Emily trembled as she realized that her brother was being hunted.

The truth was revealed

Emily secretly asked a former family investigator. After many days, the truth was revealed: Daniel had been a middleman driver for a transnational smuggling ring. But he was not the mastermind – in fact, he had secretly cooperated with the FBI to denounce them. That was why he became the target of the hunt.

Emily was heartbroken to know that her brother had lived in the dark for ten years, alone and dangerous. But she was also relieved to know that he still kept his integrity intact.

The moment of reunion

The day Daniel opened his eyes, his weak eyes met Emily’s tearful gaze. Without a word, both of their tears flowed.

The pain of the past had never gone away, but the family bond was still intact.

Emily knew: the road ahead was still full of danger, as long as the underground gang out there had not been destroyed. But at least now, she and her brother are no longer alone.

And the truth, though cruel, is still the light they need to start over – in a world that has never stopped being dark.