Chapter 7 - The Attack That Proved My Father Was RightThe building went black.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Security rushed through the hallway.
Declan grabbed my arm.
“Stay behind me.”
My father pulled a weapon from beneath his jacket.
I stared.
He smiled faintly.
“I'm still your father.”
Gunfire exploded.
Windows shattered.
The attackers came from both entrances.
They had planned this.
They knew the building.
They knew the security layout.
That meant someone had given them the access codes.
Again.
I looked at my father.
“Who?”
“Someone close.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
He pointed.
“Your security director.”
I froze.
The security director, James Cole, had worked for us for eighteen years.
He entered the office.
“Ms. Lynwood.”
Then shot at my father.
My father moved.
Declan tackled James.
The shot hit the wall.
Chaos followed.
I ran toward Chloe.
“Come with me.”
She grabbed my hand.
We escaped through the emergency stairwell.
Declan followed.
My father stayed behind to hold the attackers.
I didn't want to leave him.
But he shouted:
“Go!”
We reached the underground parking garage.
A car waited.
Declan opened the door.
“Get in.”
We drove.
I looked back.
The building disappeared behind us.
“Is my father alive?”
Declan didn't answer.
My heart sank.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A few seconds later:
“He's alive.”
I breathed again.
“Where?”
“Moving.”
We drove to a safehouse.
My father arrived an hour later.
He was injured.
But alive.
We spent the night planning.
Blackridge had access to our company.
They had our employees.
They had the board.
They had security.
And they had someone inside.
We needed evidence stronger than financial records.
My father showed us an encrypted drive.
“This is everything.”
“What is it?”
“Blackridge's entire network.”
I opened it.
Millions of dollars.
Names.
Shipments.
Bribes.
Illegal cargo.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police.
I stared.
“This would destroy them.”
“Yes.”
“Then why not release it?”
“Because the files are encrypted.”
“Can you decrypt them?”
“No.”
“Who can?”
My father looked at Declan.
“He can.”
Declan frowned.
“Me?”
“Your wife taught you.”
“What?”
“My wife?”
“Sara.”
Declan went still.
“What does my wife have to do with this?”
“She worked for Blackridge.”
I stared.
Declan looked sick.
“No.”
“She discovered their operations.”
“That's impossible.”
“She was killed because of it.”
Declan sat down.
“My wife died of cancer.”
My father shook his head.
“That was the cover story.”
Declan's face broke.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She was trying to protect you.”
Declan looked at me.
“Then everything I believed…”
“Was a lie.”
The encrypted files had been built by Sara.
Declan knew her patterns.
Her coding style.
Her habits.
He might be able to open them.
He spent six hours trying.
Nothing.
Then Maya came in.
She held a drawing.
“Daddy.”
Declan looked at her.
“What?”
“Mommy used to draw this.”
She showed him a flower.
Five petals.
One missing.
Declan stared.
“Where did she draw it?”
“On your notebooks.”
He froze.
Then opened the encryption program.
He entered five numbers.
The file unlocked.
I gasped.
Inside was a master ledger.
Blackridge had been using Lynwood for illegal shipments for twelve years.
My father had unknowingly transported goods for them.
But there was one name on the ledger that shocked everyone.
EVELYN LYNWOOD.
My mother.
I stared.
“No.”
My father looked devastated.
“She worked for them?”
“Not knowingly.”
“She was investigating them.”
“Then why is her name here?”
“Because they were tracking her.”
A second file appeared.
A video.
My mother.
Alive.
She looked directly at the camera.
“Harper.”
My heart shattered.
“If you are seeing this, then I am gone.”
I cried.
“I need you to know something.”
“The person you must fear isn't Vaughn.”
“He isn't even Blackridge.”
She paused.
“The real danger is inside our family.”
I looked at my father.
My mother's voice continued:
“There is someone who has access to every decision.”
“Someone who has been waiting for the company to pass to you.”
The video froze.
Then her final words appeared:
“Do not trust your uncle.”
My father went pale.
“My brother.”
I stared.
He had one brother.
Arthur Lynwood.
My uncle.
He had died before I was born.
Or so we thought.
May you like
My father whispered:
“He's alive.”
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