Chapter 5 - The Second RichardDaniel chased Vanessa through the underground corridor.
Evan followed.
Lily remained upstairs with a neighbor who had returned after hearing the disturbance.
Daniel reached the end of the corridor.
Nothing.
Then he heard footsteps above.
He ran back toward the basement.
The house was empty.
Again.
No Vanessa.
No sign of her leaving.
But the vault monitor remained on.
Daniel stared at the image of his father.
“Where are you?”
The screen changed.
A map appeared.
A red point blinked on an abandoned Stellan factory outside the city.
Then text appeared.
COME ALONE.
Evan stood beside him.
“It could be a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
“Then don't go.”
Daniel looked at him.
“My father is alive.”
“Maybe.”
“You don't believe him?”
“I believe someone wants you to believe him.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“Either way, I'm going.”
They drove through rain.
The abandoned factory stood beyond an industrial park, hidden behind rusted fences and weeds.
Daniel remembered the place.
As a child, his father used to take him there.
One memory returned.
A locked office.
A red chair.
A strange brass clock.
And his father telling him, “Never trust a room with no windows.”
Daniel and Evan entered through a broken loading door.
The factory smelled of oil and mold.
Their footsteps echoed.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
A man's voice came from the dark.
Old.
Tired.
Familiar.
Richard Stellan stepped into the light.
Daniel's world collapsed.
His father looked older than he remembered.
Gray hair.
Sunken cheeks.
A deep scar across his temple.
But his eyes were the same.
Daniel could barely breathe.
“Dad.”
Richard nodded.
“My son.”
Daniel crossed the room.
Then stopped.
Something felt wrong.
Richard's gaze moved toward Evan.
“You brought him.”
Evan raised his weapon.
Richard smiled.
“You still carry your father's gun.”
Evan froze.
Daniel looked between them.
“You know each other.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“I know his family.”
“What happened to you?”
“I disappeared because the people behind Orpheus wanted me dead.”
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“Because they were watching you.”
“They watched me anyway.”
Richard looked at him.
“Yes.”
Daniel's voice cracked.
“You let them destroy my life.”
“I let them believe you were harmless.”
“That was your plan?”
“It kept you alive.”
“Vanessa?”
Richard looked away.
“She was sent to monitor you.”
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
“She married me.”
“I know.”
“She had Lily.”
Richard's expression changed.
“That was never part of the plan.”
“What changed?”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“You did.”
Daniel frowned.
“You stopped behaving like the obedient son they expected.”
Richard walked toward an old table.
On it were several files.
“The company wasn't merely a technology firm. It was a vault. We stored evidence against the people who funded us.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Money laundering. Illegal weapons contracts. Political bribery. Assassinations.”
Evan's face hardened.
“My father found the records.”
Richard nodded.
“He did.”
“What happened to him?”
Richard's silence answered.
Evan stepped forward.
“You killed him.”
Richard looked at him.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Your father killed himself to protect you.”
Evan lowered his weapon.
“That is not what the records say.”
“The records were altered.”
Richard reached into his coat and placed a flash drive on the table.
“This contains the original ledger.”
Daniel took it.
“Why give it to me?”
“Because I can't protect you anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
Richard looked toward the factory doors.
“They know where I am.”
Gunfire exploded outside.
Windows shattered.
Evan shoved Daniel down.
“Get behind the machines!”
Bullets ripped through metal.
Richard grabbed another weapon.
Daniel crawled toward the flash drive.
Then he heard Vanessa scream.
“Daniel!”
He looked up.
She stood at the far end of the factory.
Two armed men held her.
One pressed a gun against Lily's babysitter, who was being dragged inside.
Daniel froze.
Lily wasn't there.
But they had someone else.
Vanessa looked directly at him.
“Don't give them the drive.”
Richard shouted, “Run!”
A gunshot cracked.
Richard fell.
Daniel screamed.
The lights died.
When they came back on, his father was gone.
Only blood remained on the concrete.
May you like
And a message had been painted across the factory wall.
THE FIRST LIE WAS YOUR FATHER.
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