PART 7
The voice came from behind me.
“Nathan.”
I stopped breathing.
Lucy was staring over my shoulder.
Her face had gone completely white.
Marcus slowly raised his weapon.
I turned.
There was nobody there.
Only darkness.
A long concrete tunnel.
A flickering emergency light at the far end.
And the body of the man who had been shot lying several feet away.
I looked at Marcus.
“Did you hear that?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Then he nodded.
“Yes.”
Lucy whispered,
“It was him.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
I looked at her.
“Your father?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your father.”
My skin prickled.
I stepped into the tunnel.
“Dad?”
Nothing.
I took another step.
“Dad?”
The emergency light flickered.
For a fraction of a second, I saw a silhouette at the end of the corridor.
A man.
Tall.
Wearing the same dark work jacket my father had worn almost every day.
I ran.
“Nathan!” Marcus shouted.
I didn’t stop.
The silhouette turned the corner.
I reached it.
Nothing.
Only a door.
I grabbed the handle.
Locked.
I hit it with my shoulder.
Once.
Twice.
The door finally opened.
Behind it was another passage.
Empty.
I looked down.
There were footprints in the dust.
Fresh ones.
One pair.
The footprints stopped beside the wall.
Then disappeared.
I stared at the ground.
That was impossible.
Marcus caught up with me.
“You shouldn’t have chased him.”
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You heard him.”
“Yes.”
“It sounded exactly like my father.”
Marcus looked at the footprints.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
He crouched.
“What is it?”
He touched the dust.
“These aren’t footprints.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
He pointed.
“Look at the pattern.”
I looked closer.
The marks weren’t from shoes.
They were artificial.
A thin rubber sole had been pressed into the dust.
“Someone wanted us to think a person walked through here.”
“Why?”
“To make you follow.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“So it was a trap.”
“Yes.”
“Who set it?”
Marcus stood.
“Someone who knows what your father sounded like.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Your father recorded a lot of things.”
“On that cassette?”
“Not just that.”
I remembered the box.
The documents.
The photographs.
The letters.
The recorder.
The evidence.
Someone had access to my father’s private recordings.
Someone had been studying him.
Someone wanted me to believe he was still alive.
I turned toward Lucy.
She was still sitting against the wall.
I walked back to her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
But she looked terrified.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“Lucy.”
“I heard something.”
“What?”
“Before the voice.”
I crouched beside her.
“What did you hear?”
She whispered,
“Someone said my name.”
I froze.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Male?”
She nodded.
“What did he say?”
Lucy looked at me.
“He said, ‘She remembers.’”
I felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
She didn’t answer.
“Lucy?”
She closed her eyes.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The night your father died.”
I waited.
She took a deep breath.
“I was there.”
“You said that already.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I wasn’t just outside the house.”
I stared at her.
“I was inside.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you see?”
She looked at me.
“Your father was alive when I arrived.”
“When?”
“About an hour before he died.”
“What happened?”
“He was arguing with Theresa.”
“About the trust?”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“He was there.”
I clenched my fists.
“Who else?”
Lucy looked at Marcus.
Then back at me.
“Your friend.”
“Marcus?”
She nodded.
I turned toward him.
Marcus didn’t deny it.
“Why were you there?”
Marcus looked at the floor.
“Your father asked me to come.”
“For what?”
“To help him leave.”
“Leave where?”
“The country.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because he knew someone wanted him dead.”
“Did he tell you who?”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
Marcus looked at me.
“I wish I were.”
I stepped closer.
“Then what happened?”
He swallowed.
“Your father gave me a package.”
“What package?”
“A small case.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took it?”
“Daniel.”
I looked at Lucy.
She nodded.
“That happened.”
Marcus continued.
“Your father told me to take you and Lucy away if anything happened.”
I felt my throat tighten.
“You knew about Lucy?”
“Yes.”
“Before we got married?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father trusted her.”
“And you?”
“He trusted me enough to ask me to protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Some protection.”
Marcus looked down.
“I failed.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You didn’t fail.”
“You were almost killed three times.”
“I didn’t know about those attempts.”
“Because I stopped them.”
I froze.
“What?”
Marcus looked at me.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I stared at him.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the people watching you would have killed you.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the tunnel.
“Daniel.”
I shook my head.
“Daniel can’t be everywhere.”
“He didn’t need to be.”
Marcus pulled out his phone.
He opened a folder.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens of them.
I saw myself in Canada.
Leaving the factory.
Entering my apartment.
Buying groceries.
Getting into my car.
I stared.
“How long?”
“Four years.”
I looked at him.
“You’ve been watching me for four years?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
“You knew where I lived.”
“Yes.”
“You knew when I worked.”
“Yes.”
“You knew when I came home.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
Marcus’s voice broke.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I looked at the photographs again.
Then I noticed something.
One picture showed me standing outside my apartment.
A man was visible across the street.
I recognized him.
Daniel.
I looked at Marcus.
“He was in Canada.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He followed you.”
“Why?”
“To make sure you didn’t find the trust.”
I stared at the photograph.
Then another thought hit me.
“If Daniel was watching me…”
I looked at Lucy.
“Who was watching you?”
She didn’t answer.
I turned to Marcus.
“Did you know about the storage shed?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“Why didn’t you help her?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Several times.”
“How?”
“I sent money.”
Lucy looked at him.
“What?”
“I sent money through someone else.”
Lucy shook her head.
“I never received anything.”
“I know.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Theresa intercepted it.”
I closed my eyes.
My mother had been blocking help from every direction.
She had isolated Lucy completely.
Then I remembered something.
The hospital.
The altered medication.
The forged authorization.
Theresa had access to Lucy’s records.
Daniel had legal connections.
Marcus had been watching me.
But who was actually controlling the entire operation?
I opened my father’s last letter.
The line kept repeating in my head.
The person who killed me was the person I trusted to protect you after I was gone.
I looked at Marcus.
“You said my father trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe that sentence is about you.”
Marcus didn’t react.
I stepped closer.
“Did my father leave you instructions?”
“Yes.”
“What were they?”
“To protect you.”
“Anything else?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Answer me.”
“He told me that if you ever came home…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“I was supposed to take you to him.”
My heart stopped.
“To who?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
I laughed.
“My grandfather is dead.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Your grandfather isn’t dead.”
Lucy closed her eyes.
I turned toward her.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“I found out recently.”
“How?”
“Your father told me.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“My grandfather is alive?”
Marcus nodded.
“And he has been living under another name for twenty years.”
“Why?”
“Because he was hiding from the people who wanted the trust.”
“Who?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“Daniel.”
I stared at him.
“This is impossible.”
Marcus opened his phone.
He showed me a photograph.
An old man sitting outside a small house.
The image was blurry.
But the face…
I knew it.
Even after all these years.
My grandfather.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakable.
I touched the screen.
“Where is he?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
“Where?”
“Three hours from here.”
I looked at Lucy.
She was crying.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your grandfather doesn’t trust you yet.”
I stared.
“Why not?”
Marcus looked away.
“Because he believes you may be working with them.”
I laughed.
“Me?”
“He doesn’t know what you’ve been through.”
“Then we find him.”
Marcus shook his head.
“We can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel knows where he is.”
My stomach dropped.
“And if we go there?”
“They’ll follow us.”
“Then we don’t go there.”
Marcus looked confused.
“Where do we go?”
I looked at the box.
Then at the photograph.
Then at Lucy.
“We find Daniel first.”
Marcus stared at me.
“That could get you killed.”
“I’ve already been trying to survive someone else’s plan.”
I stood.
“Now I’m going to make my own.”
We left the maintenance tunnel through an old service entrance.
The street was quiet.
Too quiet.
Marcus checked both directions.
“No one.”
I looked at Lucy.
“You can walk?”
She nodded.
“I can.”
We moved toward the car.
Then Marcus stopped.
“What?”
He pointed.
A small black device was attached underneath the vehicle.
“A tracker.”
I stared at it.
“How long has that been there?”
Marcus examined it.
“Since the hospital.”
“Theresa?”
“Probably.”
I looked at the device.
Then I smiled.
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“We let them track us.”
“What?”
I took out my phone.
“We give them what they want.”
Marcus understood.
“You’re going to lead them somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere they can’t control.”
I called my attorney.
He answered immediately.
“Nathan?”
“I need a favor.”
“What kind?”
“I need you to make a public filing.”
“About what?”
“The trust.”
He went silent.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“That will alert everyone.”
“That’s the point.”
“What exactly should I file?”
I looked at Lucy.
Then at Marcus.
“Everything.”
My attorney inhaled.
“Nathan, if we release those documents—”
“Not yet.”
I smiled.
“Just make them believe we’re going to.”
There was silence.
Then he understood.
“You want to force them out.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll prepare it.”
“Make it look like it goes public tomorrow morning.”
“Understood.”
I ended the call.
Marcus looked impressed.
“That’s dangerous.”
“So are they.”
We got into the car.
This time Marcus drove.
He intentionally left the tracker active.
We headed toward the city.
Twenty minutes later, a black sedan appeared behind us.
Then another.
Marcus checked the mirror.
“They took the bait.”
I smiled.
“Good.”
We drove toward an abandoned warehouse near the river.
The place had been closed for years.
Marcus parked inside.
We got out.
Then he removed the tracker from the car.
He placed it on a different vehicle.
“What are you doing?”
“Sending them somewhere else.”
We watched as the vehicle drove away.
The black sedan followed.
Then the second car.
Marcus looked at me.
“They’ll realize in five minutes.”
“Then we have five minutes.”
“To do what?”
I opened my father’s box.
I took out the documents.
“We find the name.”
“What name?”
“The person who controls Daniel.”
I spread the papers across an old wooden table.
Bank records.
Trust documents.
Property transfers.
Corporate registrations.
Photographs.
Names.
Numbers.
Dates.
I noticed a repeated code.
A six-digit number appeared on several documents.
I pointed.
“This.”
Marcus looked.
“That was your father’s account number.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Look closer.”
He leaned in.
“It appears beside every major transfer.”
“Exactly.”
I grabbed another document.
The same number.
Another.
Again.
It wasn’t an account number.
It was an identifier.
A private trust code.
I searched the paperwork.
Then I found a name.
Northstar Holdings.
Marcus’s expression changed.
“What?”
“Do you know it?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing good.”
“Explain.”
“Northstar isn’t a company.”
“Then what is it?”
“A network.”
I stared at him.
“Who owns it?”
“No one knows.”
“Someone does.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Your father spent years trying to find out.”
I looked at the documents again.
Then I noticed something handwritten in the margin.
A single word.
MORROW.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus went pale.
“Morrow.”
“What?”
“That’s the name.”
“Whose name?”
“The person who controls Northstar.”
“Who?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
I froze.
My grandfather.
The man everyone told me had died.
The man supposedly hiding from Daniel.
The man who had created the trust.
The man whose lawyer was apparently still alive.
The man whose network controlled millions.
I stared at the word.
“Morrow.”
Then I noticed something else.
A second handwritten note.
Morrow isn’t his name.
I looked at Marcus.
“What?”
He took the paper.
His eyes widened.
“There’s another word underneath.”
I leaned closer.
Someone had written over the original word.
I could barely make it out.
Carter.
I stepped backward.
“No.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your grandfather didn’t use Morrow.”
“Then who did?”
He pointed at the page.
“Someone named Carter.”
I stared.
“Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My family name.”
Marcus nodded.
“And that means…”
I didn’t finish.
He did.
“Northstar may have been controlled by your family from the beginning.”
I looked at Lucy.
She was staring at the documents.
Then she whispered,
“There’s one thing you’re missing.”
“What?”
She pointed to the back of the box.
I opened the hidden compartment.
Inside was a small USB drive.
I picked it up.
There was a label.
FOR NATHAN. DO NOT TRUST ANYONE.
Marcus looked at it.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
We found an old laptop in the warehouse.
Marcus connected the drive.
One folder appeared.
Only one.
I opened it.
There were seven video files.
I clicked the first.
The screen went black.
Then my father’s face appeared.
He was sitting in the workshop.
Alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Nathan.”
My hands went cold.
“If you’re watching this, then I’m already gone.”
He paused.
“But before you believe everything you’ve been told, listen carefully.”
He leaned closer.
“Your mother is not the only person who betrayed me.”
I looked at Lucy.
My father continued.
“The person you call your best friend is not who you think he is.”
Marcus stepped backward.
I turned toward him.
My father’s voice continued.
“Marcus has been working for me.”
I froze.
Marcus closed his eyes.
My father continued.
“But I never told him everything.”
I looked at Marcus.
He said nothing.
Then my father spoke the words that made the entire room go silent.
“Because Marcus was the only person I believed could betray me without realizing he was doing it.”
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
Marcus looked at me.
“I can explain.”
I shook my head.
“Not yet.”
Another video file waited.
I clicked it.
The screen showed my father again.
This time, he looked frightened.
“Nathan, if Marcus is with you when you watch this…”
He paused.
“Then he has probably brought you to the box.”
Marcus’s face went pale.
My father’s voice continued.
“That’s good.”
I frowned.
“Because the box isn’t the evidence.”
I looked at the metal box.
My father leaned toward the camera.
“The box is the test.”
I stopped breathing.
“The real evidence is already inside your house.”
I stared.
“My house?”
My father nodded.
“The house you think your mother remodeled with your money.”
A pause.
“Look beneath the new floor.”
The video ended.
I looked at Marcus.
Then Lucy.
Then the warehouse door.
Someone outside shouted.
“They’re here!”
Marcus grabbed his weapon.
I closed the laptop.
We had seconds.
I grabbed the box.
Lucy stood.
Marcus pointed toward the rear exit.
“Move!”
We ran.
Behind us, the warehouse doors exploded inward.
Men rushed inside.
We escaped through a side passage.
We ran toward the river.
Then I stopped.
“What?”
Marcus turned.
I looked at Lucy.
“We have to go home.”
Marcus stared at me.
“That’s exactly where they expect you to go.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
I looked at him.
“Because my father hid the real evidence beneath the floor.”
Marcus understood.
“And your mother is still living there.”
“Yes.”
Lucy whispered,
“She’ll know.”
“Exactly.”
We got into the car.
Marcus started the engine.
As we drove away, my phone vibrated.
A message.
Unknown number.
You finally found the right house.
Another.
But you still don’t know which floor.
Then a final message.
Ask Theresa what she buried beneath Lucy’s room.
I stared at the screen.
Lucy read the message.
Her face went white.
“Nathan…”
“What?”
“My room.”
“What about it?”
She whispered,
“Before I got sick…”
She looked at me.
“There was a locked section under the floor.”
I stared.
“Who locked it?”
“My mother.”
“Why?”
Lucy shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Marcus.
He was driving faster.
Then I saw the house in the distance.
The same house I had walked away from hours earlier.
The same house where my mother had watched Lucy suffer.
The same house built with four years of my money.
And now I knew something was hidden beneath it.
Something my father had been trying to protect.
Something my mother had been trying to bury.
Something Daniel was willing to kill for.
As we approached, I saw the front door standing open.
The lights were on.
No cars outside.
No people.
No movement.
Marcus slowed.
“This is wrong.”
“What?”
“Too quiet.”
I looked at the house.
Then at Lucy.
We stepped out.
The front door creaked in the wind.
I entered first.
The living room was empty.
The expensive furniture was still there.
The giant television.
The polished floors.
The photographs.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
Then I heard a sound from upstairs.
A single floorboard creaked.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Someone’s here.”
I looked toward the staircase.
Lucy whispered,
“My room.”
We climbed.
One step at a time.
At the top, the hallway was dark.
My old bedroom was on the left.
Brianna’s room on the right.
Lucy’s room at the end.
The door was open.
I pushed it.
The room was empty.
Except for one thing.
A chair sat in the middle.
On the chair was a photograph.
I picked it up.
It showed Lucy.
Pregnant.
I froze.
Lucy stared at the photograph.
“I was never pregnant.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“I couldn’t have children after the treatment.”
I turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
Eleven years ago.
Before I married Lucy.
Before Canada.
Before everything.
And beneath the date was one sentence.
Ask Nathan where his first child went.
My blood turned cold.
“What child?”
Lucy looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
Then we heard a sound beneath our feet.
Three knocks.
From under the floor.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
We all froze.
Marcus whispered,
“Someone’s down there.”
I looked at the floor.
The new polished wood.
The floor my money had paid for.
The floor my father had told me to search.
I knelt.
There was a small seam.
I pressed it.
A hidden panel opened.
Cold air rose from beneath.
And from the darkness below, a voice whispered:
“Nathan…”
I recognized it.
It was my father’s voice again.
But this time there was no recording.
Someone was alive down there.
I looked at Lucy.
She grabbed my arm.
“Don’t go down.”
I stared into the darkness.
Then a hand appeared on the ladder.
An old hand.
Shaking.
Scarred.
Familiar.
A man slowly climbed into the room.
I stepped backward.
My heart stopped.
Because the face that appeared above the floor belonged to the one person I had spent my entire life believing was dead.
My grandfather looked at me.
And the first thing he said was:
“Your mother has lied to you about everything.”
He looked at Lucy.
Then at Marcus.
Then back at me.
“But she’s not the person you should be afraid of.”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a photograph.
And handed it to me.
I looked down.
It was a photograph of me as a child.
Standing beside my father.
Standing beside my mother.
And standing beside another little boy.
A boy who looked almost exactly like me.
On the back of the photograph were five words.
Your brother is still alive.
I looked at my grandfather.
“What brother?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked toward the bedroom door.
Then whispered:
“He’s the one who has been hunting you.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
And my grandfather shouted:
“RUN!”
