Chapter 14 - THE LAST THING MY FATHER LEFT ME
Cross's men surrounded the cemetery.
Arthur stepped in front of me.
Cross laughed.
“Still protecting her.”
Arthur raised his gun.
“Always.”
Cross shook his head.
“You could have ruled the city.”
“I never wanted the city.”
“Then why build an empire?”
“To keep worse men from building one.”
Cross smiled.
“That sounds noble.”
Arthur answered,
“It isn't.”
Gunfire erupted.
Arthur fired back.
Evan dragged my mother behind a stone wall.
I grabbed the metal cylinder.
Inside was the final letter.
I opened it while bullets struck marble around us.
Norah,
There is one thing I could never tell you.
Arthur didn't kill me.
He saved me.
The man they buried was another.
A body double.
I nearly dropped the letter.
My father was alive?
I looked at my mother.
She stared at the page.
“No.”
I read the next line.
I have been dead officially because it was the only way to protect you.
My father had survived.
For years.
Hiding.
Watching.
Protecting.
Then the final line.
When the time comes, find the basement wall behind the furnace.
The truth is there.
I crawled toward the boiler room access near the cemetery mausoleum.
Arthur shouted,
“Norah!”
I ignored him.
Behind the furnace wall was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a phone.
Old.
Prepaid.
One contact.
I pressed call.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then someone answered.
I heard breathing.
My voice broke.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Then,
“Hello, sweetheart.”
I collapsed.
My father was alive.
Arthur heard him through the speaker.
His eyes closed.
“Thomas.”
My father's voice changed.
“Arthur.”
Arthur looked away.
“You kept her safe?”
“I tried.”
“Then you did better than I did.”
I cried.
“Where are you?”
“Not far.”
“Why didn't you come back?”
“Because the moment I did, they would know I was alive.”
“Who?”
My father paused.
“Vale.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“Where is he?”
“With me.”
Everyone went silent.
Then my father's voice said,
“I've been waiting for you.”
The phone call ended.
Cross's men closed in.
Arthur grabbed my hand.
“We have to go.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I know where Dad is.”
Arthur stared.
I showed him the phone.
“He wants us at the Black Room.”
Arthur's expression hardened.
“He knew we'd find it.”
We escaped through a tunnel beneath the cemetery.
It led directly back to the Costello estate.
The mansion was empty.
No guards.
No staff.
No lights.
Only silence.
We descended beneath the boiler room.
The Black Room door opened.
My father stood inside.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
One hand resting on a cane.
I couldn't speak.
He looked at me.
Then smiled.
I ran to him.
He held me like I was still six years old.
“I've missed you.”
I cried into his shoulder.
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I had to.”
I pulled away.
“What happened?”
He looked at Arthur.
“Everything.”
Then Vale stepped out of the shadows.
He was holding a gun.
But he wasn't aiming at my father.
He was aiming at Arthur.
Vale smiled.
“Thomas made one final mistake.”
My father looked at him.
“No.”
He raised his eyes.
“He made one final choice.”
May you like
A shot rang out.
Arthur fell.
