Chapter 4 - The Man Who Had Been Hunting My Father Finally Revealed Why He Wanted Me AliveSalvatore contacted us.
Not directly.
Through the Black Crown.
A video appeared on every secure screen.
An older man sat behind a desk.
Silver hair.
Cold eyes.
A scar across his cheek.
I had never seen him.
But Adrian recognized him immediately.
“Salvatore.”
The man smiled.
“You grew up.”
Adrian stared.
“You should be dead.”
“So should your father.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
Salvatore looked directly at the camera.
“Lily.”
My blood went cold.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
“The key.”
I touched the necklace.
Salvatore smiled.
“Good girl.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Leave her alone.”
Salvatore laughed.
“You're protecting her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she's innocent.”
“Everyone is innocent until they become inconvenient.”
The screen went dark.
I looked at Adrian.
“We need to find him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He will come to us.”
He was right.
Three hours later, an envelope arrived.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
At seven.
Standing beside my father.
The back contained one sentence:
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TO REMEMBER.
“Remember what?”
Adrian looked at the photograph.
“Something happened that night.”
“What night?”
“The night your father disappeared.”
I shook my head.
“I don't remember.”
“You were there.”
“I was seven.”
“Seven-year-olds remember trauma.”
“Not always.”
He sat beside me.
“Close your eyes.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Tell me what you remember.”
I tried.
A hallway.
A red car.
My mother crying.
My father kneeling.
A man shouting.
A gunshot.
Then darkness.
I opened my eyes.
Adrian looked pale.
“What?”
“Who was shouting?”
“I don't know.”
“What was the man wearing?”
“Black.”
“Anything else?”
“A silver watch.”
Adrian froze.
“My father had a silver watch.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Adrian.”
He hesitated.
“My father didn't own one.”
“Then whose?”
“My uncle.”
Salvatore.
I felt sick.
“Salvatore was there.”
“Yes.”
“He killed my father.”
“Maybe.”
“Then why is Dad alive?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Maybe your father survived.”
I stared.
“The voice.”
“Yes.”
“He's alive.”
“Probably.”
“Where?”
“We need to find him.”
The investigation led to a hospital in Canada.
An unidentified male patient had been treated eleven years earlier.
The DNA wasn't accessible.
But the physical description matched.
We traveled.
I walked into the private facility.
An elderly doctor greeted us.
“Mr. DeLuca.”
“You remember the patient.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel Bennett.”
The doctor looked at me.
“You're his daughter.”
I nodded.
“He told me you'd come.”
My heart raced.
“Where is he?”
The doctor gave me an address.
“Montreal.”
We drove.
We found an old house.
The door was unlocked.
Inside—
a man sat by the window.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray hair.
I stopped.
“Dad?”
He turned.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Little Bird.”
I ran to him.
He held me.
For eleven years, I had imagined this moment.
I had imagined anger.
Questions.
Revenge.
Instead, I only cried.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
“From Salvatore?”
“From everyone.”
“Why didn't you come home?”
“Because your mother was killed.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your mother didn't die from illness.”
My world shifted.
“She was murdered.”
“Who?”
“Salvatore.”
Adrian stood behind me.
My father looked at him.
“Your father's son.”
Adrian nodded.
“My father saved me.”
“No.”
“What?”
“Your father tried.”
“Then who?”
“Your mother.”
I stared.
“What?”
My father looked at Adrian.
“She made the final sacrifice.”
He gave me a photograph.
My mother.
Standing beside Adrian's father.
The same night I remembered.
“They were working together.”
My father continued.
“They planned to destroy the Black Crown.”
“What happened?”
“Salvatore found out.”
“And?”
“He killed your mother.”
I cried.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you were seven.”
“You could have told me later.”
“I tried.”
“You didn't.”
“Because every time I tried, they found you.”
“Who?”
“The person inside your life.”
I froze.
“Who?”
He looked at Adrian.
“His brother.”
Adrian stiffened.
“Lucas.”
My father nodded.
“Lucas has been alive.”
“Where?”
“He works for Salvatore.”
I stared.
The missing brother.
The unseen enemy.
The man whose existence had been hidden for years.
Then my father grabbed my hand.
“Lily.”
“What?”
“Do not trust him.”
“Who?”
“Lucas.”
I looked at Adrian.
My father's eyes narrowed.
“And don't trust yourself.”
Then the windows shattered.
Gunfire.
Adrian pushed me down.
My father fell.
I screamed.
He was alive.
But bleeding.
Adrian returned fire.
The attackers fled.
My father looked at me.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Lily.”
“Dad.”
“Go.”
“I just found you.”
He smiled sadly.
“And now you have to lose me again.”
His eyes closed.
I screamed for help.
He survived.
Barely.
May you like
But before surgery, he whispered one thing.
“The truth is in the Crown.”
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