Chapter 5 - The Father Who Had Been Hiding From His Own DaughterChristopher Vale was older than the photographs.
Gray hair.
A scar across his eyebrow.
A limp.
But when he looked at Charlotte through the screen, something broke inside his expression.
“Charlotte.”
She stepped closer.
“Daddy?”
He closed his eyes.
“I didn't think I'd ever hear you say that.”
Vincent looked from Charlotte to the screen.
Bell stood behind Christopher.
“Bring her,” Bell said.
Vincent's voice was cold.
“No.”
Bell laughed.
“You don't have a choice.”
Christopher shook his head.
“Arthur.”
Bell looked at him.
“Enough.”
Christopher stepped forward.
“She's not part of this anymore.”
“She was born into it.”
“She is my daughter.”
Bell's face hardened.
“She's Dominic's daughter.”
Christopher turned.
“And you know exactly what happens if the archive opens.”
Vincent understood.
Bell needed Charlotte.
Not because of her blood.
Because she could unlock the original archive.
The camera cut out.
Vincent looked at Charlotte.
“You stay behind me.”
She nodded.
They found Christopher's location within an hour.
A farmhouse outside Montauk.
Bell's men surrounded it.
Vincent led the entry.
Gunfire erupted.
Christopher pulled Charlotte into a back room.
“I've waited twelve years to hold you.”
She stared at him.
“Why didn't you come home?”
He looked away.
“Because I thought you were safer without me.”
“Were you dead?”
“No.”
“Then why did Mom say you were?”
“Because people were hunting us.”
Charlotte stepped closer.
“Is Dominic my father?”
Christopher looked at her.
“Yes.”
She cried.
“Does he love me?”
Christopher's face crumbled.
“He loved you more than anything.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“He wanted you to have a childhood.”
“But I didn't know him.”
“I know.”
Christopher knelt.
“That's the thing I regret most.”
Vincent entered.
“Christopher.”
He looked up.
“You're Vincent.”
“Dominic's friend.”
Christopher smiled sadly.
“He trusted you.”
“Why?”
“Because you were the only one he believed could finish the job.”
Vincent froze.
“What job?”
“Ending Orpheus.”
Christopher handed him a metal key.
Not brass.
Black.
“The archive.”
Vincent took it.
“How do we access it?”
“Charlotte.”
She looked at him.
“How?”
Christopher pointed to the hospital bracelet.
“It isn't just identification.”
Charlotte looked down.
“The number?”
“Yes.”
A series of numbers was printed beneath her name.
Vincent entered them on the black key.
A small screen illuminated.
Access confirmed.
Christopher looked terrified.
“Bell knows.”
Vincent swore.
“He'll come.”
A shot shattered the window.
Christopher pushed Charlotte down.
Moretti guards returned fire.
Bell's men stormed the farmhouse.
Vincent dragged Charlotte through a hidden tunnel.
Christopher stayed behind.
Charlotte screamed.
“Daddy!”
“I'll find you!”
The tunnel collapsed behind them.
Vincent and Charlotte emerged into the woods.
Snow fell again.
Charlotte began crying.
“Is he alive?”
Vincent looked back at the smoke.
“I don't know.”
He took her hand.
“We're getting him.”
They reached the vehicle.
Marcus was waiting.
“Boss, where's Vale?”
“Still inside.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Bell's men burned the building.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“Did anyone come out?”
“No.”
Charlotte whispered.
“Daddy.”
Vincent looked at her.
“We'll find him.”
That night, the black key opened something Dominic had hidden in the Romano estate.
A basement chamber.
Inside were hundreds of files.
At the center sat a single photograph.
Dominic holding newborn Charlotte.
He was smiling.
Behind the photograph was a letter.
Vincent,
If you are reading this, then Christopher has finally returned.
Don't punish him for surviving.
He stayed away because I asked him to.
I could not protect Charlotte if Bell knew she was alive.
I made myself the monster so she could become a child.
Vincent stopped reading.
You will be tempted to destroy everything. Don't.
Build something better.
Take Charlotte somewhere safe.
And when she asks who I was, tell her the truth.
Vincent's eyes filled.
The letter continued.
I was a criminal.
I hurt people.
I made choices I regret.
But I loved my daughter.
And everything I built at the end was for her.
Charlotte stood beside him.
“Did he write that?”
“Yes.”
“Can I read it?”
Vincent handed it to her.
She read slowly.
Then she asked:
“Did he want me?”
Vincent knelt.
“He wanted you more than anything.”
She pressed the letter to her chest.
Then she heard something.
A voice.
From the basement speaker.
Dominic.
“Charlotte.”
She looked up.
The speaker crackled.
“I know you're listening.”
She stepped toward it.
“Dad?”
The voice continued.
“There is one thing Vincent doesn't know.”
Vincent frowned.
“What?”
Dominic's recording played.
“Bell wasn't working alone.”
The lights went out.
A woman's scream came from upstairs.
Evelyn.
Vincent ran.
Charlotte followed.
They reached the foyer.
Evelyn was gone.
Only her red ribbon remained on the floor.
Beside it was a note.
The final witness has been taken.
At the bottom:
Ask Vincent what his father did to my family.
Charlotte looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent's face went pale.
Because suddenly he remembered a secret from his childhood.
May you like
His father had kept one locked room.
And he had never known why.
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