Chapter 7 - The Father Who Never DiedDaniel watched the recording three times.
Each time, his mother's voice brought him back to being sixteen.
A frightened boy.
A broken family.
A father who controlled everything.
A mother who disappeared.
He had spent twenty years believing she was dead.
Now every memory felt like a lie.
Ethan sat against the wall.
“He fooled everyone.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not everyone.”
“Who knew?”
Their mother answered from the recording.
“Your brother.”
Ethan stared at the screen.
“You knew?”
“I knew enough to survive.”
Daniel turned toward Ethan.
“You knew she was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“For eleven years?”
“I searched.”
“You never told me.”
“Because anyone who knew was killed.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Michael knew.”
“Yes.”
“And he trusted you.”
“Yes.”
Claire interrupted.
“Enough.”
Both brothers looked at her.
She held Emma tightly.
“We need to know what they want.”
Daniel nodded.
His mother's recording continued.
“Emma has a genetic marker.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel leaned closer.
The recording explained that Michael had discovered a financial network that operated under false construction contracts.
But the network wasn't the final secret.
The real objective was control.
A private database contained information on politicians, judges, police officials, businessmen and other powerful people.
Emma had access to it through something inherited from Michael.
Claire shook her head.
“How could a child have access to anything?”
“She doesn't,” Daniel said.
“Then what?”
He looked at the final line in the recording.
“Her blood.”
Claire stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“It does to Father.”
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Daniel answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You have ten minutes.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Bring Emma to the old Keegan warehouse.”
“No.”
“Then Claire dies.”
A scream came through the phone.
Claire went pale.
Daniel ended the call.
“What was that?”
He looked at her.
“They have someone.”
“Who?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Then another phone rang.
Claire's.
She answered.
Michael's voice came through.
“Claire.”
She almost dropped the phone.
“You're alive?”
“No.”
“Michael?”
“Listen.”
His voice sounded recorded.
“They've been using my voice.”
Claire stared at Daniel.
Michael continued:
“Emma was never the target.”
“Then who?”
A pause.
“You.”
Claire's blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“Because you were never supposed to know what happened the night I died.”
The recording ended.
Daniel looked at her.
“What happened that night?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You remember.”
“I remember Michael leaving.”
“And?”
“He came back bleeding.”
Daniel froze.
Claire's face changed.
“He told me to pack a bag.”
“I thought he was drunk.”
“But he kept saying someone was coming.”
“What happened?”
Claire touched her temple.
“I remember a crash.”
Then silence.
“I woke up in the hospital.”
Daniel stared.
“You weren't the only one.”
“What?”
“Emma was admitted too.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
“She was four.”
“I know.”
Claire's eyes widened.
“You knew?”
Daniel nodded.
“I found the hospital records.”
He handed her a file.
Inside was a photograph.
Claire unconscious.
Emma beside her.
And in the doorway stood a man.
Claire knew that face.
She had seen it for years.
Michael's closest friend.
The man who had helped pay the funeral expenses.
The man she had trusted.
Her voice broke.
“Richard Keegan.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He isn't just my family's enemy.”
He pointed at the photograph.
“He was standing beside your hospital bed the night Michael died.”
Outside, a car horn sounded.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Daniel looked through the window.
Black vehicles filled the street.
May you like
He whispered:
“They've come for Emma.”
