Chapter 5 - The Husband Who Came Back
Kalida called David.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
She nearly dropped the phone.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Kalida?”
“Were you ever going to tell me who you really are?”
A long pause.
“I don't know what you mean.”
“You know the Mercers.”
Nothing.
“You knew my father.”
Still nothing.
“And you knew why people were watching me.”
His breathing changed.
“Where are you?”
“Not your concern.”
“It is my concern.”
“Why?”
“Because you're in danger.”
Kalida laughed bitterly.
“You left three years ago.”
“I left because I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From my family.”
Gabriel stood nearby.
Kalida put the phone on speaker.
“Your family?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“David, who is Damian Mercer?”
No answer.
“David.”
“He is my father.”
Gabriel went still.
Kalida stared.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“And you are?”
“His son.”
Gabriel looked at Kalida.
David continued.
“I was supposed to take over.”
“Take over what?”
“The Mercer operation.”
Kalida felt sick.
“You left me and Toby because of this?”
“No.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You used me.”
“No.”
“You knew my father was alive?”
“I suspected.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I tried to leave the organization, they threatened you.”
Gabriel's eyes darkened.
“David,” he said.
Silence.
David recognized the voice.
“Gabriel Mercer.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn't be involved.”
Gabriel laughed quietly.
“You brought my brother into her life.”
“I didn't know she was Thomas's daughter when we met.”
“But you knew later.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Everything.”
Gabriel turned to Kalida.
She looked devastated.
David continued.
“Kalida, I loved you.”
“Past tense?”
“I still do.”
She closed her eyes.
“That isn't love.”
“I know.”
“You let me think you were abandoning us.”
“I wanted them to believe I hated you.”
“Why?”
“Because Damian was watching.”
Gabriel stepped closer to the phone.
“Where is Thomas?”
David hesitated.
“With Damian.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
David's voice cracked.
“I was trying to find him.”
Kalida's heart broke.
“You should have told me.”
“I was afraid you'd die.”
“People are trying to kill me anyway.”
“I know.”
The call ended.
Kalida sat on the bed.
Toby climbed beside her.
“Mom?”
She wrapped him in her arms.
Gabriel stood near the window.
He was silent for a long time.
Finally he said:
“I owe you the truth.”
She looked up.
“Yes.”
“My father and your father were partners.”
She listened.
“Your father discovered my uncle Andrew was trafficking people.”
Her face tightened.
“My father tried to stop him.”
“Yes.”
“And my father vanished.”
“Yes.”
“Then Damian took over.”
“Yes.”
“David joined him.”
“Not willingly.”
“I don't care.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You have every right.”
She wiped her tears.
“What happens now?”
“We get your father.”
“And David?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“That is your decision.”
Kalida stared.
She appreciated that.
For the first time, someone involved in her disaster was giving her a choice.
The next morning, Gabriel revealed his plan.
Damian had taken Thomas to an abandoned mining facility in Montana.
Elias had found the location.
They would go that night.
Kalida refused to stay behind.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You're a mother.”
“Exactly.”
“This is dangerous.”
“My father is there.”
“I know.”
“Then I'm going.”
He stared.
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
“Kalida.”
“You don't get to decide for me.”
He smiled slowly.
“Fair.”
The rescue began at midnight.
Snow had returned.
The facility was surrounded by cameras.
Gabriel's team cut the power.
They entered through an underground tunnel.
Kalida stayed behind Gabriel.
Inside, they found cells.
Empty.
Files.
Computers.
And finally Thomas.
He was older.
Thin.
But alive.
Kalida saw him and froze.
“Dad?”
He lifted his head.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Kalida.”
She ran to him.
They held each other.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you were better off without me.”
“You were wrong.”
Her father looked at Gabriel.
“You kept your promise.”
Gabriel knelt beside him.
“Your daughter saved my life.”
Thomas smiled.
“I knew she would.”
Kalida pulled away.
“You knew?”
“Your mother taught you to be brave.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died believing you were safe.”
Kalida began to cry.
Thomas took her hand.
“I was trying to finish what I started.”
“What?”
“Destroy Damian's network.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Then why stay hidden?”
“Because I was waiting for the right moment.”
“Which is now.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“Not quite.”
Damian appeared.
He wore a dark suit.
No weapon visible.
Behind him stood fifteen men.
Gabriel's team raised their guns.
Damian smiled.
“You've always been impulsive.”
Gabriel stared.
“You've always been a coward.”
Damian's smile vanished.
He looked at Kalida.
“You caused me a lot of trouble.”
She stepped forward.
“You ruined my life.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Your father ruined it when he chose morality over family.”
Gabriel's voice was low.
“You will never touch her again.”
Damian laughed.
“You think this is about her?”
He looked toward Thomas.
“This is about the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
Damian smiled.
“The one your father left behind.”
Thomas looked at Kalida.
Then at Gabriel.
“You have it.”
Kalida remembered the flash drive.
She looked at Gabriel.
He understood.
The ledger was in her possession.
Damian had been hunting it all along.
He moved toward her.
Gabriel stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Damian raised his hand.
His men aimed.
Then David appeared from behind the guards.
“Damian.”
Everyone froze.
David pointed a gun at his father.
Damian stared.
“You.”
David's voice shook.
“Let them go.”
Damian laughed.
“You finally chose them.”
“Yes.”
“After everything?”
“Yes.”
Damian's eyes hardened.
He fired.
David pushed Kalida aside.
The bullet struck him.
“David!”
He fell.
Gabriel caught him.
Chaos erupted.
Damian escaped.
The others surrendered.
Kalida knelt beside David.
He was bleeding.
He looked at her.
“I tried.”
She cried.
“I know.”
“I am sorry.”
Then his eyes closed.
Gabriel lifted him.
“Stay with me.”
Emergency crews arrived twenty minutes later.
David survived.
Barely.
And while doctors rushed him into surgery, Kalida sat beside her father.
Thomas looked at her.
“You still love him?”
She looked toward the operating room.
“I don't know.”
Her father smiled.
“You don't have to decide tonight.”
May you like
Outside, snow began falling again.
But this time, Kalida wasn't alone.
