Chapter 8 - I couldn't move.The man standing in front of me was older than the father I remembered.
But the eyes were the same.
The same dark eyes that had watched me ride my bicycle for the first time.
The same eyes that had looked at me when I graduated.
The same eyes I had seen through thirty-seven video files.
“Dad?”
My voice cracked.
He nodded.
“Yes.”
I stepped backward.
“You died.”
“No.”
“You died.”
“I needed you to believe I had.”
“Why?”
“Because they were watching.”
I looked at Claire.
Her father stood beside him.
Two men who had spent decades hiding behind dead identities.
My father continued.
“Ethan, listen carefully.”
“I don't want to listen to anything.”
“You have to.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I saved your life.”
“You destroyed it.”
His expression softened.
“I know.”
I wanted to punch him.
Instead, I asked the only question that mattered.
“Why were my children locked in that room?”
He looked at Claire.
“She did what she thought she had to do.”
I turned on her.
“You knew he was alive?”
She nodded.
“From the beginning.”
“Then everything was a lie.”
“Yes.”
“My marriage?”
“I loved you.”
“You were spying on me.”
“Yes.”
“You put cameras in my house.”
“No.”
I froze.
“Who did?”
My father answered.
“The people hunting us.”
I looked at Marcus.
“And him?”
My father sighed.
“Marcus was never your enemy.”
I almost laughed.
“He kidnapped Lily.”
“To force you here.”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“If I had not taken her, they would have.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because they were listening.”
He pointed toward the hidden cameras.
“Every phone. Every room. Every car. They control more than you understand.”
Claire's father stepped forward.
“We discovered the truth years ago.”
“What truth?”
He looked at me.
“Your father built the company with criminal money.”
My father's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“But he tried to dismantle it.”
“Yes.”
“And you were hunted.”
“For twenty-two years.”
I looked at Claire.
“Why marry me?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because your father asked me to stay close to you.”
“That's not love.”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“But somewhere along the way, it became love.”
I wanted to believe her.
Then I remembered Tommy.
The locked room.
The empty bottle.
The mattress.
“You still hurt my son.”
Her face collapsed.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“They threatened Lily.”
I stared at her.
“What exactly did they threaten?”
She couldn't answer.
My father did.
“They took something from her.”
“What?”
“Years ago, they took a photograph.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“They took her image.”
I stared.
Then my father explained.
“They photograph children in families they target. They use those photographs to blackmail parents.”
I looked at Lily.
She was clutching her rabbit.
“What did they want from Claire?”
“Information.”
“About what?”
“Where you kept the trust documents.”
I held up the folder.
“And they got them.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the papers.
“That's a decoy.”
I opened the folder.
My hands trembled.
The final page contained a strange symbol.
A circle with two lines.
“What is this?”
“The real trust is hidden beneath it.”
I stared.
“You mean the money isn't in a bank?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
My father looked at Lily.
“Your daughter knows.”
I frowned.
“Lily?”
The little girl looked up.
She whispered,
“Under the floor.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“In the room.”
“The storage room?”
She nodded.
“Mommy showed me.”
I turned to Claire.
She closed her eyes.
“I didn't think you would ever come home early enough to find it.”
My father stepped forward.
“You have six hours.”
“For what?”
“They are coming.”
“Who?”
“The people who own this city.”
A car stopped outside.
Then another.
And another.
My father looked toward the warehouse doors.
“They found us.”
Marcus pulled a gun.
Claire grabbed Lily.
My father looked at me.
“Take the trust.”
“Where?”
He pointed toward the floor.
“Go home.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because the answer has been under your feet the entire time.”
Outside, headlights flooded through the windows.
The warehouse doors began to shake.
Someone was trying to break in.
My father whispered,
“And Ethan...”
May you like
“What?”
“Don't trust the police.”
Related Stories
