Chapter 3 - My Missing Father Was Alive, and He Wanted Me to Stay Away From Ronin

We found my father in a private detention center outside Pittsburgh.

He had turned himself in.

That was the part Ronin couldn't understand.

Neither could I.

A man who had spent eighteen years disappearing had suddenly chosen to become visible.

"Why now?" I asked.

My father smiled sadly.

"Because they found you."

He looked older than the photographs my mother kept hidden.

Gray at the temples.

A scar beneath his chin.

But unmistakably my father.

I wanted to hug him.

I wanted to slap him.

I did neither.

"Where were you?"

"Away."

"That's not an answer."

"It is the only one that kept you alive."

I looked at Ronin.

He remained across the room.

My father noticed.

"So you're Daniel's boy."

Ronin's expression was cold.

"You knew him."

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

My father looked down.

"They killed him."

"Who?"

"Black Ledger."

"Why?"

"Because he wanted out."

Ronin stepped closer.

"My father wasn't a criminal."

My father gave a bitter smile.

"Neither was I when we started."

Silence.

Then he looked at me.

"You need to leave the city."

I frowned.

"No."

"Laurel."

"I'm not running again."

"You think this is about courage?"

He leaned forward.

"This is about survival."

I crossed my arms.

"What exactly are you afraid of?"

He looked at Ronin.

"Him."

Ronin's eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

My father said:

"Because your father kept one secret even from me."

"What secret?"

He reached into his coat.

Pulled out a photograph.

It showed Daniel Calder.

Beside him stood Edward Hayes.

And behind them, a woman.

My father.

A younger version of himself.

And a little girl.

Me.

My breath stopped.

"When was this taken?"

"Three years before Daniel died."

I looked at Ronin.

He stared at the photograph.

"My father knew Laurel."

My father nodded.

"Your father protected her."

"From whom?"

"Edward Hayes."

I felt sick.

"Why me?"

My father looked directly into my eyes.

"Because you witnessed something as a child."

I shook my head.

"I don't remember."

"You weren't supposed to."

He explained.

When I was eight, my father took me to a private warehouse.

He thought it was safe.

I witnessed men exchanging documents.

Money.

Names.

Then someone was killed.

My father panicked.

He got me out.

But I had seen the face of the man giving the order.

Edward Hayes.

"Your father and Daniel tried to expose him," my father said.

"What happened?"

"They failed."

"Then why did Daniel die?"

"Because they blamed him for the leak."

Ronin's face was rigid.

"Who betrayed him?"

My father looked at me.

"You know who?"

"No."

"The person who sat outside the warehouse that night."

I waited.

"He was twelve?"

"Twenty."

My father's eyes shifted to Ronin.

"Someone from the Calder family."

Ronin went still.

"My uncle."

My father nodded.

"Marcus Calder."

I had heard the name.

Ronin's uncle.

The man who supposedly died shortly after Daniel.

But apparently, the story was false.

"He's alive too," my father said.

Ronin took a step backward.

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because he contacted me."

My father's hand trembled.

"Last month."

"Why?"

"To warn me."

"About what?"

My father looked at me.

"About Preston."

I felt a chill.

"Preston knows the Black Ledger?"

"More than that."

My father lowered his voice.

"He has been working for them."

I thought of the flowers.

The apologies.

The threats.

The way he always seemed to know where I was.

"You knew?"

"I suspected."

"And you never told me?"

"I was trying to find proof."

"By disappearing for eighteen years?"

His face fell.

"I was trying to stay alive."

I looked away.

Maybe he deserved my anger.

Maybe he deserved none of it.

But there was one question that mattered more.

"Why did Ronin hire me?"

My father looked surprised.

"I didn't know he did."

Ronin finally spoke.

"I hired her because she was qualified."

My father looked at him for a long moment.

"Then your father was right."

Ronin frowned.

"About what?"

"That eventually, you would protect her."

My heartbeat stumbled.

Ronin looked at him.

"Why would Daniel say that?"

"Because he knew what would happen."

"What?"

My father looked at me.

"The children of two families destroyed by the same enemy would eventually find each other."

I didn't understand.

Ronin clearly didn't either.

Then a guard entered.

"Mr. Mercer."

My father turned.

"What?"

"Someone tried to access the detention center records."

"Who?"

The guard hesitated.

"Authorized credentials."

"Whose?"

The guard looked at me.

"Yours."

My blood ran cold.

"I didn't access anything."

Ronin's hand went toward his phone.

"Who had access to her identity records?"

The guard shook his head.

"Only the director."

My father stood.

"Then you're not safe here."

A gunshot cracked through the facility.

The lights went out.

Ronin grabbed me.

"Down."

Security alarms screamed.

My father was pulled into another room.

I heard shouting.

Then another shot.

Ronin dragged me down a stairwell.

We reached the parking garage.

Gideon was waiting.

"The west side is compromised."

"Where's Laurel's father?"

"Missing."

I stared.

"What?"

"He was in the secure wing."

Ronin's face became stone.

"Then someone took him."

We ran toward the SUV.

Before I got inside, my phone vibrated.

Unknown number.

A message.

Your father lied.

A second message appeared.

Ask Ronin what happened the night Daniel Calder died.

Then a photograph loaded.

It showed Ronin at seventeen.

Standing over his father's body.

Blood on his hands.

My breath stopped.

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Because the next message said:

He was the one who killed him.