Chapter 3 - The Judge With the Silver Watch
The family church stood outside the city.
It was abandoned.
Rory had not visited it since Vanessa's funeral.
When we arrived, the doors were open.
Too open.
Rory signaled his men.
They entered first.
Nothing.
No Marcus.
No trap.
Only a broken altar.
A silver watch lay on the floor.
I pointed.
“That.”
Rory stared.
Tommy picked it up.
The watch belonged to Judge Elliot Crane.
Rory looked at me.
“Your daughter knew.”
“No.”
“I think she did.”
We searched the church.
Behind the altar was a hidden compartment.
Inside were photographs.
Vanessa.
Marcus.
Crane.
Celeste.
Rory's father.
Everyone.
There were dates beside each picture.
The most recent photograph was Vanessa.
Taken one week before her death.
She was standing beside a man.
A man whose face had been scratched out.
Rory stared.
“Who is that?”
Celeste stepped forward.
“Your father.”
Rory looked at her.
“Impossible.”
“Not your biological father.”
“Then who?”
“Marcus.”
Silence.
Rory stared.
Celeste explained.
Marcus had been working with their father for years.
When Rory inherited the family, Marcus became jealous.
He believed he deserved the empire.
Vanessa discovered the rivalry.
She threatened to expose him.
Marcus responded by murdering her.
But before she died, Vanessa had already hidden the evidence.
The twins were the key.
Rory looked toward the photographs.
“How?”
“Vanessa taught them a phrase.”
“What phrase?”
“The blue bird.”
I remembered.
Lily's drawing.
The blue bird.
The stained-glass bird.
But there was more.
A number.
Seventeen.
The church had seventeen pews.
Rory counted.
At the seventeenth pew, he found a loose board.
Under it was a cassette tape.
Old technology.
He inserted it into a player.
Vanessa's voice emerged.
“If you're hearing this, Rory, you're finally looking.”
Rory's jaw trembled.
“I know what happened to me.”
His eyes closed.
Vanessa continued.
“Marcus is alive.”
Celeste lowered her head.
“He will use my daughters to control you.”
Rory looked at the twins.
“Do not trust anyone who says they are protecting them.”
The recording ended.
Then another started.
This one was Marcus.
“You should have listened to Father.”
Rory froze.
Marcus's voice continued.
“The family belongs to me.”
Rory stared at the machine.
“You're a coward.”
Marcus laughed through the recording.
“You always thought you were the better son.”
The tape ended.
Then the church doors slammed shut.
Gunfire erupted.
Rory pulled the twins behind the altar.
I fell beside Celeste.
Tommy returned fire.
Attackers surrounded the church.
Rory looked at me.
“Get the girls out.”
“How?”
“Basement.”
I grabbed Lily and Rose.
We ran.
A narrow staircase led below the church.
At the bottom was an old storage room.
I heard footsteps above us.
Then a voice.
“Emma.”
I froze.
A man stood in the doorway.
Judge Crane.
Silver watch.
He pointed a gun at me.
“Where is the key?”
I shook my head.
“What key?”
“The one Vanessa gave you.”
“She never gave me anything.”
He smiled.
“You children always remember more than adults.”
He stepped closer.
I backed toward the wall.
Then Lily spoke.
“Emma.”
I looked.
She pointed behind me.
A pipe.
I understood.
I grabbed it.
When Crane reached for me, I swung.
He fell.
We ran.
At the top of the stairs, Rory appeared.
He saw Crane unconscious.
He looked at me.
“You did that?”
I nodded.
He almost smiled.
“Remind me never to underestimate you.”
We escaped the church.
But Marcus had taken the rest of his men.
He had also taken something else.
The ledger.
The original one.
It was gone.
Rory blamed himself.
“I should have found it first.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You found something bigger.”
“What?”
“People who trust you.”
That sentence stayed with him.
The next morning, Rory held a family meeting.
Everyone attended.
Tommy.
Celeste.
Adrian, Rory's younger cousin.
House staff.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Security.
Rory stood at the head of the table.
“The old family system ends today.”
Several men protested.
“We have business.”
“Not anymore.”
“Enemies will attack.”
“Let them.”
Rory had made his decision.
He would dismantle the criminal empire.
But Marcus knew.
That made him dangerous.
A phone rang.
Rory answered.
Marcus.
“You want peace.”
“Yes.”
“Then give me the twins.”
“No.”
“Then I take your entire family apart.”
“You've already tried.”
Marcus laughed.
“Not yet.”
The line ended.
Rory looked at everyone.
Then at me.
“Emma.”
“Yes?”
“You're not staff anymore.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“You're family.”
Celeste stared.
Tommy smiled.
I didn't know what to say.
Rory continued.
“You saw what no one else did.”
“You saved my girls.”
“I did my job.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You did something nobody paid you to do.”
My eyes filled.
He walked closer.
“I don't know why you stayed.”
I answered honestly.
“Because they needed someone.”
Rory looked toward the twins.
“Then stay.”
I nodded.
“I will.”
But that afternoon, we discovered something.
A second device.
Hidden inside Lily's pillow.
This one wasn't a transmitter.
It was a recorder.
It had captured conversations.
Including one from Vanessa.
And one other voice.
Rory's father.
The voice said:
“Never let Rory discover who his mother really was.”
Rory froze.
His mother.
May you like
The woman he had believed died peacefully.
She had apparently been part of the secret too.
