Chapter 12 - The MastermindSamuel Park answered the phone on the first ring.
“Daniel.”
Daniel's voice was cold.
“We need to talk.”
“About?”
“My father.”
A pause.
Then Samuel laughed softly.
“You finally found the letter.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“You knew.”
“Of course.”
“You knew my mother was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Michael survived.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Richard?”
“Probably dead.”
Daniel looked at Michael.
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
Samuel continued.
“You've always been emotional, Daniel. That's why you were useful.”
Daniel's hand tightened around the phone.
“Useful?”
“You inherited the streets. I inherited the machine.”
Daniel understood.
Every warehouse.
Every club.
Every security company.
Every illegal gambling room.
Every alliance.
Samuel had built them behind him.
Daniel was only the face.
The weapon.
The shield.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were your father's son.”
“What about Emma?”
Samuel went silent.
Daniel's voice became dangerous.
“What do you want from my daughter?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why hunt her?”
“I don't.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
Samuel continued:
“I hunt the people who think she matters.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“The database was a decoy.”
Michael suddenly stepped closer.
Samuel heard him.
“Michael.”
“You knew I escaped.”
“I allowed you to.”
Michael's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because I needed Claire to believe her husband was dead.”
Claire's heart shattered.
“You used me?”
Samuel laughed.
“You were useful too.”
Daniel wanted to smash the phone.
Instead, he asked:
“Where is my father?”
Silence.
Then Samuel answered:
“Under your favorite restaurant.”
Daniel froze.
“The Blue Room?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where it started.”
The call ended.
Daniel turned to Michael.
“What is beneath the Blue Room?”
Michael answered:
“A vault.”
They returned to Chicago before dawn.
Under the restaurant was an underground chamber.
Daniel opened the steel door.
Inside were old photographs.
His father.
Samuel.
Michael.
Richard.
Ethan.
And one final photograph.
Daniel's mother.
Standing beside a young woman.
Claire.
Claire stared.
“That was me.”
Daniel looked at the date.
It was twenty-five years old.
Claire shook her head.
“I don't remember.”
Michael took the photograph.
“You were there.”
“For what?”
“The first meeting.”
Claire looked at him.
“With whom?”
Michael pointed at the woman beside her.
“Your mother.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“My mother died when I was ten.”
“No.”
Michael's voice softened.
“She disappeared.”
Claire's world collapsed.
Samuel had not only controlled Daniel's family.
He had controlled Claire's too.
And then Daniel noticed something behind the photograph.
A handwritten note.
THE TWO FAMILIES MUST NEVER MEET.
Daniel stared.
Claire whispered:
“They already have.”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
He looked toward the door.
“Not the way they feared.”
“What do you mean?”
Michael turned toward Emma.
The little girl was sleeping in Claire's arms.
Michael said quietly:
“Emma is the first person born from both bloodlines.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
The realization hit him.
Their daughter wasn't random.
Someone had planned their connection.
Someone had brought them together long before they met.
Daniel whispered:
“Samuel.”
Then every light in the chamber turned on.
Samuel stood in the doorway.
May you like
He smiled.
“I was wondering when you'd figure it out.”
