Chapter 4 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Deacon spent the next two days searching every file he had ever seen.
Elias Hale had disappeared seventeen years earlier.
The official story said he died in prison.
There was a death certificate.
A burial record.
A witness.
But none of it felt real anymore.
Khalida found him in the library at three in the morning.
“You haven't slept.”
“Neither have you.”
“I have an excuse.”
“What?”
“I've discovered my entire childhood may be a lie.”
Deacon closed the file.
“I know.”
She sat across from him.
“Tell me about your father.”
Deacon stared into the fireplace.
“Elias was not a good man.”
Khalida said nothing.
“He did bad things. Ordered bad things. Made money from people who never had enough.”
“Like you?”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“But there were lines he wouldn't cross.”
“What happened?”
“He found out someone inside the organization was trafficking people.”
Khalida felt sick.
“Children?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Sloane.”
She closed her eyes.
“Why didn't your father stop him?”
“He tried.”
Deacon showed her a photograph.
A warehouse.
Police tape.
Burned vehicles.
“My father shut down three operations. Sloane retaliated.”
“How?”
“He took my mother.”
Khalida inhaled.
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
Deacon looked at the floor.
“My father spent years trying to find her. Then he vanished too.”
Khalida stared.
“Maybe they were both taken.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe they're still alive.”
Deacon looked at her.
“You don't really believe that.”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because someone once believed in me when there was no reason to.”
He looked away.
That sentence stayed with him.
That afternoon, they received a call.
A retired detective wanted to meet.
He claimed to have worked Elias's disappearance.
They met in an old church basement.
The detective placed a file on the table.
“I should have brought this to the police years ago.”
Deacon opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Elias.
Alive.
Taken twelve years after his supposed death.
Khalida stared.
“Where was this taken?”
“Bulgaria.”
Deacon's face turned pale.
“Who sent it to you?”
The detective looked at Khalida.
“Your father.”
“My father?”
“Amir.”
He explained.
Amir had discovered Elias was alive and had been trying to arrange his escape.
But before they could, Amir disappeared.
“Why?”
“Because Sloane found out.”
The detective slid another photo across the table.
A woman.
Khalida's mother.
Alive.
Deacon stared.
“No.”
Khalida could barely breathe.
“Where is she?”
The detective hesitated.
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Fourteen years ago.”
Khalida's eyes filled.
“How?”
“Officially, a house fire.”
Deacon's jaw tightened.
“Unofficially?”
“She was murdered.”
Khalida shook.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You let her killer walk?”
The detective looked ashamed.
“I had no proof.”
Deacon stood.
“Where is Elias now?”
The detective looked at him.
“In this city.”
Silence.
“He came back six months ago.”
Deacon's entire world shifted.
“Where?”
“He's been living under another name.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“You're looking in the wrong place.”
Everyone turned.
An elderly man stood there.
Gray hair.
Walking cane.
Scar across his cheek.
Deacon dropped the file.
“Dad?”
Elias Hale stared at his son.
“Yes.”
Deacon crossed the room.
Then stopped.
For a second, neither moved.
Seventeen years.
Seventeen years of believing a grave was all he had left.
Elias whispered:
“You grew.”
Deacon's face collapsed.
He hugged him.
It was the first time Khalida saw the terrifying man lose control completely.
He cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just the silent shaking of a son who had carried grief for half his life.
Khalida wiped her own tears.
Elias eventually released him.
Then he looked at her.
“My God.”
“You know me?”
“I held you when you were a baby.”
Khalida froze.
Deacon turned.
“What?”
Elias looked between them.
“Your father, Amir, asked me to protect her.”
“Why?”
“Because Sloane wanted the inheritance.”
“What inheritance?”
Elias looked at Khalida.
“The company your grandfather built.”
Khalida stared.
“My grandfather owned a company?”
“Not just a company.”
Elias sat.
“An empire.”
Deacon slowly understood.
“Khalida is the legal heir?”
Elias nodded.
“Sloane spent twenty-eight years trying to find her.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the only way to keep her alive was to make sure nobody knew she existed.”
Khalida looked at Deacon.
“So that's why they came after me.”
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
“Amir was protecting you.”
Her voice broke.
“Where is he?”
Elias lowered his eyes.
“I don't know.”
Deacon looked at him.
“You said you knew everything.”
“Not everything.”
“What don't you know?”
Elias sighed.
“Whether he's alive.”
Khalida stood.
“We find him.”
Deacon looked at her.
“Yes.”
Elias shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Sloane isn't after the money anymore.”
Deacon's expression hardened.
“Then what does he want?”
May you like
Elias looked directly at Khalida.
“He wants her to open a vault.”
