Chapter 13 - Christmas EveSamuel entered slowly.
No weapon.
No bodyguards.
Just a black suit and a calm smile.
Daniel raised his gun.
Samuel laughed.
“If you wanted me dead, I wouldn't be standing here.”
“Talk.”
“I've been talking to you for twenty years.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What do you want?”
Samuel looked at Emma.
“To end the family war.”
Claire stepped between them.
“Stay away from my daughter.”
Samuel stopped.
“I don't want her.”
“Then why did you chase her?”
“Because everyone else did.”
He looked at Daniel.
“You were supposed to become the monster.”
“You made me one.”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Your father did.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“You controlled me.”
“I protected you.”
“You destroyed my family.”
“I preserved it.”
Michael stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Samuel looked at him.
“You were always the difficult one.”
“You killed me.”
“I saved you.”
“You abandoned Claire.”
“I kept her alive.”
Claire shouted:
“You ruined my life!”
Samuel didn't flinch.
“Your life was already marked for death.”
He opened a file.
Inside were documents showing assassinations.
Bribery.
Disappearances.
The names of powerful people.
But one file mattered most.
A medical report.
Samuel handed it to Daniel.
“Read.”
Daniel did.
Then his face changed.
“What is this?”
Samuel said:
“Your mother didn't survive by accident.”
Daniel looked toward her.
She lowered her eyes.
“She made a deal.”
Daniel froze.
“With whom?”
“Your father.”
“For what?”
“To save Ethan.”
Ethan entered the room.
Daniel stared at him.
His brother had been silent.
Now he spoke.
“She's telling the truth.”
Daniel turned.
“What did you do?”
Ethan answered:
“I betrayed our father.”
“And Michael?”
“I betrayed him too.”
“Why?”
“To protect Emma.”
Daniel shook his head.
“This is insane.”
Michael stepped forward.
“It's almost over.”
Samuel smiled.
“Not yet.”
He looked at Claire.
“Do you remember the lake?”
She frowned.
Then fragments returned.
Michael bleeding.
A car.
A man.
A baby crying.
A woman screaming.
Claire gasped.
“I remember.”
Samuel nodded.
“You met Daniel's mother that night.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“She gave me Emma.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Claire's memory returned all at once.
She had been pregnant.
Michael had been afraid.
A woman had placed a newborn in her arms.
She had begged Claire to raise her.
But why?
Because that wasn't Emma's birth.
It was the night Claire had adopted her without knowing.
Michael had lied.
Samuel had lied.
Everyone had lied.
Emma woke.
“Mom?”
Claire hugged her.
Daniel knelt beside them.
“Emma.”
She looked at him.
“Are you my daddy?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
Samuel watched them.
For the first time, his smile disappeared.
Daniel noticed.
“Why do you care?”
Samuel looked at Emma.
“Because she was never supposed to survive.”
“Why?”
“Because your father knew what she would become.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
Samuel answered:
“The first person capable of opening the master database without a key.”
Emma looked confused.
Claire hugged her tighter.
Daniel's voice became ice.
“She is seven years old.”
“Yes.”
“She can't do that.”
Samuel looked at her.
“She already did.”
The room went silent.
“What are you talking about?”
Samuel pointed to the hard drive.
“It activated the moment she touched it.”
Daniel looked down.
The drive was glowing.
Files began appearing on the screen.
Names.
Payments.
Murders.
And one final folder.
CHRISTMAS PROTOCOL.
Daniel opened it.
A countdown appeared.
00:59:59
Claire whispered:
“What happens when it reaches zero?”
Samuel answered:
“The entire database goes public.”
Daniel stared.
“That's what Michael wanted.”
“No.”
Samuel smiled.
“That's what your father wanted.”
The countdown continued.
00:59:12
And then the first name appeared.
May you like
Daniel recognized it.
It belonged to the mayor of Chicago.
