Chapter 6 - The Choice
Dominic lowered his weapon.
I knew what Daniel wanted.
Fear.
Submission.
A trade.
But Daniel had made one mistake.
He had brought Lily into the room.
My daughter stood behind him.
And she wasn't crying.
She looked at me.
Then at Dominic.
Then at the floor.
Mr. Buttons lay near her feet.
She kicked it once.
Three times.
A signal.
The security team outside had been waiting.
Dominic saw it.
So did I.
He dropped his weapon.
“Take the film.”
Daniel stepped forward.
I removed it from my ring.
He reached for it.
Then Lily screamed.
Not from fear.
From anger.
Daniel turned.
That was enough.
Dominic moved.
Everything happened at once.
Gunfire.
Shouting.
Glass.
Daniel dropped the film.
I grabbed Lily.
Dominic tackled Daniel.
They crashed into the table.
The lights went out.
I ran.
Someone grabbed my arm.
I screamed.
Dominic pulled me free.
“Go!”
We reached the corridor.
Lily clung to me.
Then Dominic appeared.
Blood on his shirt.
I panicked.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not mine.”
He smiled.
I almost hit him.
“You could have been killed.”
“I know.”
“You were supposed to stay behind me.”
“I don't take orders well.”
I stared.
“You're impossible.”
“I've heard that.”
We escaped the building.
Police arrived.
Daniel was arrested.
But he wasn't the mastermind.
He laughed as he was taken away.
“You still haven't found him.”
Dominic turned.
“Found who?”
“The man who gave Rafael the orders.”
“Who?”
Daniel smiled.
“Ask your wife.”
I felt cold.
“My wife?”
Daniel looked at me.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Your mother.”
The implication was terrifying.
My mother had been hiding something.
We went to her apartment.
She was gone.
Only one note remained.
Mara,
I didn't want you to know this.
But Daniel wasn't the one who killed Evan.
He was following orders from someone I thought was dead.
Your father.
I sat down.
My father.
The man I thought had died in a construction accident when I was fourteen.
The man my mother had mourned for years.
He was alive.
And he had orchestrated everything.
Dominic read the note.
His face became expressionless.
“My father knew.”
“What?”
“He told me once that your father was dangerous.”
I stared.
“We were both raised by men who lied to us.”
He looked at me.
“And now we get to decide what kind of people we become.”
I wanted to say something.
Instead, I kissed him.
It wasn't planned.
It wasn't safe.
It wasn't sensible.
But it was real.
He froze.
Then he kissed me back.
Lily groaned from the couch.
“Ew.”
I laughed.
Dominic smiled.
“I think we have approval.”
“No.”
Lily crossed her arms.
“Not yet.”
We laughed again.
Then the phone rang.
My mother's number.
I answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then a whisper.
“Find the clock.”
The line went dead.
We searched.
The old grandfather clock in my mother's apartment.
Behind it was a hidden panel.
Inside was a photograph.
My father.
Standing beside Rafael Moretti.
And beside them...
Evan.
Alive.
The date was one day after his supposed death.
My knees buckled.
Dominic caught me.
“No.”
I stared at the image.
“Evan was alive.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“If this is real...”
“He survived the crash.”
“But who took him?”
My father.
And suddenly, the story I'd been told about the last five years wasn't a story anymore.
May you like
It was a prison.
Evan might still be alive.
