Chapter 6 - My father's voice turned the room into a grave.He had been dead for eight years.

Yet there it was.

Calm.

Measured.

Almost amused.

“Welcome home, Marcus.”

I stepped toward the monitor.

“Dad?”

The man on-screen smiled.

“You always were the emotional one.”

Daniel swore under his breath.

Elena looked sick.

“That's him.”

I stared at her.

“You're sure?”

“I spent twenty-two years married to him.”

She looked at the screen.

“I know his face.”

My mind refused to accept it.

“What do you want?”

My father leaned toward the camera.

“Your attention.”

“You killed Elena?”

“No.”

“You ordered her death?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

He smiled.

“I protected her.”

I laughed.

It sounded broken.

“You staged my wife's death.”

“I prevented her real death.”

“You destroyed my family.”

“I preserved it.”

The screen went black.

Then every monitor activated simultaneously.

Photos.

Dates.

Transfers.

Names.

My father's entire operation unfolded before us.

He hadn't disappeared.

He had moved.

For years.

Operating through shell companies and private security firms.

And my empire had been one of his largest financial channels.

I felt sick.

“He used my company.”

Elena nodded.

“Your father built your company to replace Black Crown.”

“What?”

“He expected you to inherit everything.”

“I rejected him.”

“Which is why he needed Daniel.”

Daniel looked away.

I turned.

“You worked for him.”

“Yes.”

“You were never against him.”

Daniel's expression changed.

“I was against what he became.”

“That's not an answer.”

“No.”

Daniel stepped closer.

“He raised me to be his successor.”

He touched the scar on his face.

“When I refused, he tried to kill me.”

“What happened?”

“I survived.”

“Then why disappear?”

“Because disappearing was the only way to stay alive.”

I looked at Elena.

“And you?”

She hesitated.

“I discovered what Black Crown was doing to children.”

My blood chilled.

“What children?”

“Children of people who owed your father money.”

She swallowed.

“They were trained as observers, couriers, informants.”

I thought of Harper.

My fists clenched.

“You think they were targeting her.”

“They were.”

A sound came from the doorway.

We all turned.

Victor stood there.

Bleeding.

Weapon lowered.

“Not her.”

I raised mine.

“You're not coming closer.”

Victor stopped.

“I found something.”

“What?”

He held up a tablet.

“Security logs.”

I took it.

At first, nothing made sense.

Then I saw the timestamps.

The man who entered Harper's safe room had Victor's identification.

But Victor's badge hadn't been used.

Someone had cloned it.

“How?”

Victor looked at Claire.

“She built the system.”

Claire frowned.

“I didn't.”

“Then someone used your old access.”

Claire went still.

“What access?”

Victor stared at her.

“The access you had while working for Black Crown.”

Her face changed.

I turned.

“What did you do for them?”

Claire breathed slowly.

“I was an EMT attached to their field teams.”

“Meaning?”

“I treated agents.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes.”

She looked at Harper's photograph on the wall.

“I extracted targets.”

My jaw tightened.

“Targets?”

“People Black Crown wanted moved without police involvement.”

“Abductions.”

“Yes.”

“You worked for them.”

“Until Elena asked me to stop.”

I looked at Elena.

“She saved my life,” Elena said.

“How?”

Claire answered.

“I was ordered to transport her.”

“You refused.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“They tried to kill me.”

I stared.

Claire's voice lowered.

“Elena disappeared that night.”

“And you?”

“I changed my identity.”

Then a sound came from Victor's tablet.

Incoming transmission.

Everyone froze.

A video appeared.

Harper.

She was sitting somewhere dark.

Her face was calm.

She looked directly into the camera.

“Daddy.”

My lungs stopped.

A man's hand rested on her shoulder.

My father's voice came from behind the camera.

“Your daughter has something I need.”

I stepped closer.

“What?”

Harper spoke.

“Mommy knows.”

Elena covered her mouth.

My father laughed.

“Exactly.”

The camera moved.

Harper looked toward something off-screen.

Her face changed.

Fear.

Then confusion.

She whispered:

“That's not Grandpa.”

The recording cut.

Nobody spoke.

I looked at Elena.

“Your father?”

She shook her head.

“No.”

“Then who?”

Harper's voice echoed in my head.

That's not Grandpa.

Someone was impersonating my father.

Someone had studied him.

His voice.

His face.

His habits.

His fingerprints, maybe.

My phone vibrated.

New message.

A single photograph.

A woman standing beside my father.

Elena.

And beneath them stood another person.

Me.

Except I was much younger.

The date on the photograph was impossible.

It was taken five years after my father's supposed death.

Victor whispered:

“Marcus…”

I stared at the image.

“You're in that photograph.”

“I know.”

“No.”

He pointed.

“Look at your eyes.”

I zoomed in.

I was smiling.

But I wasn't looking at the camera.

I was looking at the woman beside my father.

A woman I had never seen.

Claire stepped closer.

Then she went pale.

“I know her.”

“Who?”

Claire whispered:

“She was Black Crown's director.”

Elena's face changed.

“What was her name?”

Claire stared at the photograph.

“Isabel Voss.”

Daniel's eyes widened.

“She died twelve years ago.”

Victor shook his head.

“No.”

He pointed to the woman.

“She didn't.”

“She disappeared.”

Victor looked at me.

“She disappeared three days before Elena's supposed death.”

My phone buzzed again.

Another message.

ASK YOUR WIFE WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT.

I looked at Elena.

She couldn't meet my eyes.

“What happened?”

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She whispered:

“I killed someone.”