Chapter 7 - The Daughter Hidden Inside the LieI had spent my life believing secrets made men powerful.
Victor taught me that.
He was wrong.
Secrets made cowards.
The armed men surrounded us.
I counted twelve.
Two exits.
Neither usable.
Victor sat calmly in the front pew.
Charles Rennick stood beside the altar.
Claire was somewhere above us.
Mara stood behind me.
Ellie held my hand.
Then Victor said, “Give me the girl.”
“No.”
He sighed.
“You always make things harder.”
“You made my whole life a lie.”
“Because the truth would have killed you.”
“Maybe it should have.”
His expression changed.
For the first time, he looked tired.
“You think I wanted this?”
“You faked your stroke.”
“I had to.”
“You stole my sister.”
“I saved her.”
“You buried my name.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
Victor looked at Charles.
“From him.”
Charles smiled.
“Still blaming me after all these years.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“You killed Daniel.”
Charles laughed softly.
“He knew too much.”
Mara flinched.
I understood.
Daniel was the man in the photograph.
Mara's husband.
The man I believed was my son's father.
Charles had killed him.
Victor had hidden the twins.
And somehow Ellie sat in the middle of it.
I turned to Mara.
“Tell me the truth.”
She closed her eyes.
“Claire had a daughter.”
“Ellie?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you when she was born?”
Mara looked at me.
“Thirty-three.”
I did the math.
“Then why did Ellie spend time with you?”
“I raised her.”
“Where?”
“Underground.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Claire was being hunted.”
“By who?”
“Everyone who knew what she inherited.”
“What did she inherit?”
Mara looked toward Charles.
“The Vale shipping network.”
I stared at her.
“She owns part of the family.”
“Not part.”
Mara swallowed.
“All of it.”
Charles stepped forward.
“You're making the girl dangerous.”
Ellie looked at him.
“No.”
Her voice was tiny.
But it carried.
“My mommy says you're scared.”
Charles smiled.
“You don't know me.”
“I know your buttons.”
His smile vanished.
Ellie opened her hand.
Seven brass buttons.
She placed them on the floor.
I stared.
Numbers had been scratched into them.
Petr whispered, “Coordinates?”
“No.”
I crouched.
They weren't random.
They represented shipping containers.
I realized it suddenly.
Our company database had a container numbering system.
The buttons were container locations.
Seven hidden shipments.
Seven secrets.
Victor saw my expression.
“You figured it out.”
“What was in them?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
Charles raised his gun.
Victor stood.
“The truth about who murdered your mother.”
My breath stopped.
“My mother died of cancer.”
Victor looked at me.
“No.”
Mara whispered, “She was poisoned.”
I turned toward her.
“For how long?”
“Three months.”
“Who?”
Victor looked at Charles.
Charles fired.
Victor fell.
Chaos exploded.
Mara pushed Ellie down.
Petr returned fire.
I lunged at Charles.
He ran.
I chased him through the nave.
Gunfire tore through stained glass.
He disappeared behind the choir loft.
I reached the door and stopped.
On the wall was fresh blood.
Someone had written one word.
CLAIRE
I turned.
Mara was standing behind me.
Her face was white.
“She found the files.”
“What files?”
“The ones Victor kept from you.”
“Where?”
“Under the church.”
Before I could ask how to get there, the floor beneath us cracked.
A hidden panel opened.
Stairs descended into darkness.
Ellie walked toward them.
“Mommy said the basement remembers everything.”
I looked at Mara.
“What happens down there?”
She stared into the opening.
“The first thing Victor ever stole.”
“What?”
She whispered.
“Your name.”
We descended.
At the bottom stood a metal door.
Someone had painted a sentence across it.
DAMON VALE DIED HERE AT FIFTEEN.
I touched the words.
Then the door opened from the other side.
Claire stood there.
She pointed a gun at my heart.
And beside her was Charles Rennick.
He smiled.
“Finally.”
May you like
Then he looked at Ellie.
“My granddaughter.”
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