Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Kill Her Father
Nora could not move.
Julian stood ten feet away.
Neither spoke.
Outside, a delivery truck rumbled past, absurdly ordinary in a world that had suddenly become impossible.
“You were sent to kill my father?”
“Yes.”
The answer was quiet.
No excuse.
No denial.
No attempt to soften it.
Nora's voice trembled.
“And you didn't?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he saved my life.”
That was not the answer she expected.
Julian looked toward the rain-streaked window.
“I was twenty-seven. I believed loyalty meant obedience. My father told me Daniel Bennett had betrayed us.”
“He hadn't.”
“No.”
“What had he discovered?”
“That my father's closest advisers were selling information to a rival Korean organization.”
Julian paused.
“They weren't stealing money. They were selling people.”
Nora's stomach turned.
“People?”
“Names. Safe houses. Witnesses. Drivers. Family members.”
He took out the brass key.
“Your father discovered it.”
Nora stared at him.
“He threatened to expose them.”
“Yes.”
“And my father's response was to kill him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because your father showed me the files.”
Julian's eyes darkened.
“I had spent my entire life believing my family protected our people. Daniel showed me evidence that my father had become the thing he claimed to fight.”
Nora's voice cracked.
“Did you love him?”
Julian looked at her.
“Not like a son.”
“But he mattered.”
“He was the first man in my life who told me I could choose what kind of person I wanted to become.”
Nora wiped her eyes.
“So you helped him escape.”
“Yes.”
“You helped fake his death.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he come back?”
Julian hesitated.
“Because he believed if you knew he was alive, you would be used against him.”
Nora's anger erupted.
“Do you understand what that did to me?”
“Yes.”
“No, you don't.”
She pushed a hand against her chest.
“I was sixteen. My mother had already been gone for years. I thought my father died because he was clumsy. Because he didn't check a scaffold properly. I spent twelve years thinking the last thing he saw was a workshop ceiling.”
Julian's voice broke slightly.
“He didn't.”
She stared.
“What?”
“The last thing he saw was me.”
Silence.
“He was badly injured. The operation went wrong. I carried him out.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“Was he alive?”
“Yes.”
Her breath caught.
“How long?”
“Seven minutes.”
She covered her mouth.
“And you let me believe he was dead?”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“I was twenty-seven and already trapped inside an organization that had killed anyone who challenged it. Your father was dying. I had to get you away from him.”
“You could have told me later.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Then why didn't you?”
Julian looked down.
“Because every time I came near you, someone watched me.”
Nora remembered things.
A man at a coffee shop.
A black sedan outside her college apartment.
A strange envelope she had received after her father's estate was settled.
She had always assumed paranoia was something she had inherited from grief.
Maybe not.
Julian stepped toward her.
“I protected you from a distance.”
“And then you came into my shop.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see you.”
The simplicity of it hurt.
“What did you expect?”
“I don't know.”
“You spent years watching me?”
“Yes.”
“That is not romantic.”
“I didn't say it was.”
“It's terrifying.”
“I know.”
She looked away.
“Did my father leave the notebook for me?”
“I think so.”
“Why?”
“He knew something would eventually happen.”
“What?”
Julian's face became grim.
“His disappearance wasn't the end of the story.”
A crash sounded from outside.
Julian instantly moved.
He pulled Nora behind him.
Three gunshots shattered the front windows.
Glass exploded across the workshop.
Nora screamed.
Julian shoved her behind a heavy workbench.
“Stay down.”
Another shot.
Then another.
His men entered through the rear door.
“Boss!”
“Get her out!”
Nora grabbed Julian's arm.
“You're bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
A dark stain spread across his sleeve.
She realized the bullet had grazed him.
“Julian!”
“I’m fine.”
“You're not.”
He looked into her eyes.
“Trust me.”
Nora almost laughed.
“You've given me absolutely no reason to.”
“I know.”
He crouched.
“Then trust me for sixty seconds.”
The shooting stopped.
His men moved through the shop.
A voice shouted from outside.
“Clear!”
Julian stood.
He looked at Nora.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
“My home?”
“No.”
His voice was absolute.
“My home.”
Nora shook her head.
“I'm not going anywhere with the man who was supposed to kill my father.”
“You're safer with me than alone.”
“I don't believe that.”
“I know.”
He held out his hand.
“You don't have to trust me forever.”
Nora stared at his palm.
“Just tonight?”
“Just tonight.”
She took it.
The moment her fingers touched his, his expression changed.
Something vulnerable flickered beneath the controlled exterior.
Then it vanished.
They left through the back.
The city was gray with rain.
Two black SUVs waited.
Nora climbed into the second.
Julian followed.
As the vehicle pulled away, Nora looked through the window at her shattered workshop.
Her old life was gone.
She knew it.
She just didn't know how much of it had ever been real.
Julian sat across from her.
“You're angry.”
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
“I don't know if that's true.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
He almost smiled.
“Sorry.”
She looked down.
“Who is Grace?”
Julian's face closed.
“My father's former adviser.”
“Your father's adviser.”
“Yes.”
“And she knows about my father.”
“Yes.”
“She knows about you and me.”
“Yes.”
“Is she the person trying to kill me?”
Julian did not answer immediately.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“My uncle.”
Nora stared.
“Why would he want me dead?”
“Because he thinks your father left something behind.”
“The notebook.”
“Maybe.”
“What else?”
Julian watched the passing streets.
“An account.”
“What kind?”
“The kind capable of destroying an empire.”
Nora thought of her father.
Then the brass key.
Then Julian's promise.
“What's the account?”
Julian looked at her.
“An offshore ledger containing every payment made by the organization for the last twenty years.”
Nora whispered, “That's impossible.”
“Your father made a copy.”
“Where?”
“That is what the key is for.”
Nora looked at him.
“And he left it to me?”
“He left it with a woman who had no idea what she was guarding.”
“Who?”
Julian's expression changed.
“Your mother.”
Nora went still.
“My mother is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then how could she have it?”
Julian reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small envelope.
Nora recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her mother's.
She opened it with shaking hands.
Inside was a single sentence.
Nora, when Julian finally comes for you, do not trust the man beside him.
Nora slowly lifted her eyes.
There were two bodyguards in the front.
Julian was beside her.
And one of his men was sitting directly behind them.
The bodyguard looked at her.
Then smiled.
Julian saw it.
He drew his weapon instantly.
The SUV swerved.
May you like
A gunshot exploded inside the vehicle.
And Julian shouted, “GET DOWN!”
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