Chapter 10 - Liam knew the situation had changed the moment the first bullet hit the safe-house wall.These men weren't trying to enter.
They were trying to force them out.
“Back door.”
Everyone moved.
Clara held Lily.
Tommy carried the bags.
Liam stayed behind.
He fired twice through the doorway.
Then ran.
They escaped through a narrow alley.
But the attackers followed.
A van screeched into the street.
A man stepped out.
“Clara Higgins!”
She froze.
The man lowered his weapon.
“Your father wants to see you.”
Clara stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
The man smiled.
“You already know where.”
Then he threw a photograph.
It landed at Clara's feet.
She picked it up.
Her mother.
Alive.
Standing beside a man.
Her father.
Clara's hands shook.
“This was taken after the accident.”
Liam looked at it.
The photograph had a date.
Three months after their parents supposedly died.
Clara looked at Tommy.
“You knew.”
Tommy said nothing.
“You knew my mother was alive.”
“I thought she was.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared.”
“Because of him?”
Tommy nodded.
“The man in the photograph.”
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
Clara stared at the picture.
For six years she had believed her mother was dead.
Now she realized she might have been missing.
They followed the man's directions.
A mansion stood at the end of a private road.
Clara stared.
“I've never seen this place.”
Liam looked at the architecture.
“I have.”
She turned.
“How?”
“My father used to come here.”
The front door opened.
An elderly man appeared.
Gray hair.
Dark suit.
A scar across his cheek.
Clara stopped breathing.
He looked exactly like her father.
Except older.
Alive.
“Clara.”
Her knees almost gave out.
“You're alive.”
He nodded.
“I had to be.”
She stepped toward him.
“Why did you let me think you were dead?”
“To protect you.”
“You left me.”
“I saved you.”
“You abandoned me!”
Her father looked at Lily.
His expression changed.
“She should never have been involved.”
Clara moved in front of Lily.
“You're not taking her.”
“I don't want her.”
“Then what do you want?”
Her father's eyes moved to Liam.
“Him.”
Liam stepped forward.
“You finally show yourself.”
Clara looked between them.
“You know each other.”
Her father smiled.
“I know his family better than he does.”
Liam's jaw tightened.
“What did you do to my father?”
“He chose his own fate.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Her father didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Clara.
“Your mother wasn't killed because of Lily.”
“Then why?”
“Because she tried to expose me.”
Clara's heart cracked.
“What were you doing?”
Her father looked directly at Liam.
“Building an empire.”
Liam's expression hardened.
“And the ledger?”
“Insurance.”
“For what?”
Her father smiled.
“For everyone who thinks they can betray me.”
Then a gunshot echoed.
The man beside Clara collapsed.
Everyone turned.
The shooter wasn't outside.
He was standing inside the mansion.
Marcus Vale.
He smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Liam immediately drew.
Marcus raised his hands.
“Don't.”
He looked at Clara.
“Your father just lied to you again.”
Her father stared at Marcus.
“You're dead.”
Marcus smiled.
May you like
“So are you.”
Then every light in the mansion went out.
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