Chapter 16 - My FatherI couldn't move.
My father stood fifteen feet away.
Older.
Gray.
Scarred.
But unmistakable.
I had spent sixteen years mourning him.
And he was standing in front of me.
“Dad?”
He looked at me.
His eyes filled with tears.
“James.”
I took one step.
Then another.
I wanted to hug him.
To hit him.
To demand answers.
Instead, I asked:
“Why?”
He looked down.
“Because I thought disappearing would save you.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“You let Mom believe it too?”
“She made her own choice.”
I looked at Sarah.
“What about Emily?”
He closed his eyes.
“Emily knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Lily was the key.”
My father walked closer.
“We tried to destroy Black Compass.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because my father had created something too powerful.”
He looked toward the grave.
“So we changed the plan.”
“What plan?”
“We turned the archive against the people controlling it.”
“But people still disappeared.”
“Yes.”
His voice broke.
“Some of them deserved punishment.”
“You don't get to decide who deserves to disappear.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
For the first time, he looked old.
Not powerful.
Not dangerous.
Just tired.
Then he gave me a small metal box.
Inside was a USB drive.
“What's this?”
“The original archive.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Emily.”
I looked at him.
“She never gave it to Edward.”
“Then why does he think she has it?”
“Because she wanted him to.”
My father explained.
The archive had been divided into three parts.
One with Emily.
One with my father.
One hidden inside Lily's DNA.
Edward had spent years searching for the wrong piece.
“But the countdown…”
“Is a decoy.”
I stared.
“Then what happens tomorrow?”
“The real archive opens.”
“At what time?”
“Your grandfather's death.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
My blood ran cold.
The anniversary was eight months after Emily's disappearance.
Exactly.
The same day Ryan was supposed to finalize Lily's guardianship.
Everything had been timed.
My father looked toward the road.
“We need to move.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward knows you're here.”
“How?”
My father looked at the black sky.
“Because he was never following you.”
I frowned.
“Then who was?”
My father pointed at Sarah.
“He was following her.”
Sarah froze.
A laser dot appeared on her chest.
My father shouted:
“GET DOWN!”
A shot rang out.
Sarah collapsed.
I screamed.
Then another shot came.
May you like
My father shoved me aside.
And the last thing I saw before the world went black was my father falling onto the wet grass.
