Chapter 14 - The Last Person on the ListThe Enemy Was Someone I Had Trusted
The confession gave federal investigators enough to begin dismantling the network.
David was arrested.
Victor was taken into custody.
Martha surrendered voluntarily.
My mother agreed to testify.
But Roman remained silent.
He stood beside the window in the hospital, shoulder bandaged, staring down at the city.
"You're not happy," I said.
He looked at me.
"I spent my life believing I knew who I was."
"You still do."
"Do I?"
He smiled sadly.
"I was raised to protect a family that wasn't mine."
I sat beside him.
"What about Leo?"
Roman looked toward the doorway.
Leo was playing with a toy car.
"I'll protect him."
"You don't have to."
"Yes, I do."
"Why?"
"Because Ethan would have."
The room went quiet.
Then Roman's phone buzzed.
He frowned.
"What?"
He checked the message.
A single photograph.
My apartment.
Taken that morning.
On the back was written:
YOU FOUND THE TRUTH.
NOW FIND THE TRAITOR.
Roman stood.
"Someone is still out there."
We checked every file.
Every witness.
Every account.
Every name.
One remained unexplained.
A person identified only as M.K.
M.K. had arranged the financial transfers.
M.K. had altered records.
M.K. had ordered surveillance.
But neither Victor nor David was M.K.
My mother refused to identify the name.
Martha refused.
Roman stared at the code.
"M.K."
I suddenly remembered something.
The first time I met David, he had a mug with the initials M.K.
I grabbed the photograph.
"David used those letters."
Roman shook his head.
"Not his initials."
"Then whose?"
He looked at me.
And I knew.
My stomach dropped.
"My father's."
Roman went still.
"My father?"
"Your father knew him?"
I nodded slowly.
"My father was Martin Keller."
Roman's face changed.
"The same Martin Keller who disappeared after Adrian Cross died?"
I had never heard that name connected to Adrian.
He turned to the investigation board.
Everything clicked.
My father had been a lawyer.
He had represented Adrian Cross.
He had helped draft the original trust.
Then he disappeared.
I had spent years believing he left because he didn't want me.
But the evidence showed something else.
He had been hiding.
Protecting me.
Maybe even Leo.
Roman's phone rang.
A private number.
He answered.
A man's voice whispered:
"Your father is alive."
Roman froze.
"Where?"
"Chicago."
I stared.
"Who is this?"
The man replied:
"Someone who was ordered to kill you."
The call ended.
We looked at each other.
Then the hospital lights went dark.
The emergency generator failed.
A child's scream echoed from the hallway.
Leo.
I ran.
The room was empty.
The window was open.
Leo was gone.
On the floor was a piece of paper.
May you like
Three words.
YOUR FATHER TOOK HIM.
