CHAPTER 7: THE HUSBAND WHO BETRAYED HER
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
I stared at my husband.
The man I had loved.
The man I had mourned.
The man who had just walked back into my life after three years of believing he was dead.
And now Gabriel Prescott was telling me he had helped General Ward kill my father.
I raised my weapon.
“Is it true?”
My husband looked at me.
“Victoria…”
“Is it true?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
Emily gasped.
“Dad?”
My husband's eyes filled with pain.
“I didn't kill him.”
I stepped closer.
“But you helped the man who did.”
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone says that.”
My voice shook.
“Every criminal in history says they had no choice.”
He looked at me.
“You don't understand what happened.”
“Then explain it.”
He remained silent.
“Explain it!”
My voice echoed through the underground corridor.
Emily began crying.
Michael lowered his weapon.
Even Gabriel stopped smiling.
My husband finally spoke.
“Your father was working with Ward.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He wasn't innocent.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Your father discovered what Ward was doing.”
“Then why would he work with him?”
“Because he believed he could control him.”
I stared.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
He reached into his coat.
I immediately raised my weapon.
“Slowly.”
He pulled out a small envelope.
He tossed it onto the table.
“Your father gave me that the night he died.”
I didn't move.
“What is it?”
“His final message.”
I stepped forward.
Picked it up.
Opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
I recognized the handwriting instantly.
My father's.
Only five words.
DON'T TRUST YOUR HUSBAND.
My blood turned cold.
I looked at him.
“You had this for three years.”
“Yes.”
“And you never showed me.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because Ward was watching you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So you lied to me to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury you.”
“Yes.”
“You let Emily believe her father was dead.”
His voice cracked.
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“Do you know what that did to her?”
“I know.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You don't.”
I looked at Emily.
“She waited every birthday for you to come home.”
My husband's eyes filled with tears.
“She kept your old voicemail.”
He closed his eyes.
“She listened to it when she couldn't sleep.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to say you know.”
I turned away.
For three years, I had believed grief was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.
I was wrong.
The worst thing was discovering that the person you mourned had been alive while you were grieving.
And worse still?
He had watched.
I looked at Gabriel.
“Why are you here?”
“To finish what Charles started.”
“Which is?”
“To destroy Ward.”
I glanced at Michael.
“And your family?”
“Already destroyed.”
“Margaret?”
“Alive.”
“Ethan?”
“He's trying to survive.”
“Brandon?”
Gabriel looked away.
“Dead.”
I looked at Ethan.
He nodded.
“My mother ordered it.”
“Why?”
“Because Brandon knew where Michael had been hiding.”
Michael interrupted.
“That's not the whole story.”
Everyone turned.
Michael walked toward me.
“Brandon wasn't killed because he knew where I was.”
“Then why?”
“He discovered who Gabriel really was.”
I frowned.
“Your twin?”
Michael nodded.
“Gabriel wasn't supposed to exist.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He smiled faintly.
“Our father had two sons.”
“Everyone knew that.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Everyone knew about Michael and Ethan.”
I stared.
“Brandon was the oldest.”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I was hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because I was the only child Charles believed could survive the Prescott war.”
I didn't understand.
Gabriel continued.
“When Charles realized Ward was controlling the family, he created a contingency.”
“What contingency?”
“Me.”
He stepped closer.
“He erased my identity.”
“Why?”
“So Ward couldn't find me.”
I looked at Michael.
“Then how did you survive?”
Michael answered.
“I helped hide him.”
Gabriel nodded.
“And when Charles supposedly died, I took over the plan.”
I stared at them.
“Then why reveal yourself now?”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“Because Ward activated Black Lantern.”
I looked at my phone.
The message was still there.
BLACK LANTERN HAS BEEN REACTIVATED.
“What happens now?”
Gabriel answered:
“Everyone connected to the original operation will be eliminated.”
“Everyone?”
“Yes.”
“Who is on the list?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“You.”
“Emily.”
“My husband.”
“Michael.”
“Ethan.”
“And me.”
I frowned.
“Why you?”
“Because I know where the evidence is.”
“What evidence?”
“The original Black Lantern files.”
I felt my pulse quicken.
“Where?”
Gabriel smiled.
“In your house.”
I stared.
“My house?”
“Yes.”
“That house has been searched.”
“Not properly.”
“What did they miss?”
“Your father's study.”
I froze.
“My father's study was destroyed.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“It was sealed.”
I suddenly remembered.
The locked room.
The one place in our old house I had never been allowed to enter after my father's death.
I had always assumed it was because of evidence.
But now I understood.
It was hiding something.
I turned toward my husband.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was waiting for the right moment.”
“And now?”
“Now there is no time.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Everyone raised their weapons.
Gabriel whispered:
“They found us.”
I looked at him.
“How many?”
“Too many.”
“Then we don't fight here.”
I pointed toward the tunnel.
“We move.”
We ran.
The underground passage opened into an abandoned subway platform.
A train waited on the tracks.
I stared.
“Where did that come from?”
Gabriel smiled.
“Prescott money built this escape route decades ago.”
Ethan jumped inside.
Michael followed.
Emily grabbed my hand.
I climbed aboard.
My husband entered last.
The doors closed.
The train began moving.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Emily sat beside me.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Do you hate Dad?”
I looked across the train.
My husband sat alone.
His head was lowered.
“I don't know.”
She looked at him.
“He loves you.”
I sighed.
“Love doesn't erase betrayal.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“But sometimes betrayal doesn't erase love either.”
I stared at my daughter.
She was right.
And that frightened me more than the guns.
Because if he had truly betrayed me, hating him would have been easy.
But I still loved him.
That was the dangerous part.
The train suddenly stopped.
Everyone grabbed something.
The lights flickered.
Gabriel stood.
“What happened?”
Michael looked toward the front.
“Power failure.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“This system has emergency power.”
He walked toward the control room.
Then stopped.
A red light was blinking.
He opened the panel.
Inside was a small transmitter.
He stared at it.
“What?”
I approached.
“What is it?”
“A tracker.”
My stomach dropped.
“They tracked the train.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Which means…”
My husband suddenly stood.
“They know where we're going.”
I looked at him.
“Where?”
He hesitated.
“The house.”
I frowned.
“My father's house?”
“Yes.”
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody knows we're going there.”
My husband looked at me.
“Someone does.”
“Who?”
He didn't answer.
Then Emily's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
A voice came through.
We could all hear it.
Calm.
Cold.
Familiar.
General Nathaniel Ward.
“Emily.”
She froze.
“Who is this?”
Ward laughed softly.
“You don't remember me.”
I stepped forward.
“Give me the phone.”
Emily handed it to me.
“Ward.”
“Victoria.”
I hadn't heard that voice in years.
He sounded exactly the same.
Calm.
Measured.
Almost paternal.
“You've been very busy.”
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“No.”
“You attacked her.”
“No.”
“You sent men into the hospital.”
“No.”
“Then what did you do?”
He paused.
“I gave you a chance to walk away.”
“You threatened her.”
“I warned you.”
“You killed my father.”
Silence.
Then Ward said:
“Your father killed himself.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You're lying.”
“Ask your husband.”
I looked at him.
Ward continued.
“He knows.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
I stared at my husband.
“What did Ward mean?”
He didn't answer.
I walked toward him.
“What did my father do?”
He finally looked at me.
“He wasn't killed because he knew too much.”
“Then why?”
“He was killed because he betrayed Ward.”
I waited.
“What did he betray?”
My husband took a breath.
“Black Lantern wasn't designed to manipulate soldiers.”
“Then what?”
He looked at Emily.
“It was designed to manipulate governments.”
The train lights went out.
A second later, the emergency lights came on.
Red.
My husband whispered:
“Victoria…”
“What?”
“We have a bigger problem.”
He pointed toward the tunnel.
Someone was standing on the tracks ahead.
A single figure.
Holding a flashlight.
The train began slowing.
Gabriel reached for his weapon.
Michael raised his.
Ethan whispered:
“Who is that?”
The figure stepped closer.
The light illuminated his face.
I recognized him.
My father.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
I couldn't breathe.
Emily screamed:
“Grandpa?”
My father smiled.
May you like
Then he lifted a gun.
And pointed it directly at me.
