Chapter 10 — My Father’s Final Betrayal
Chapter 10 — My Father’s Final Betrayal
My grandfather looked like a man seeing his own grave.
The other man stood beneath the chapel.
Same eyes.
Same voice.
Same face.
But younger.
Harder.
Alive.
I looked from one to the other.
“Which one of you is Richard Reynolds?”
Neither answered.
My father did.
“Both.”
The word landed like a gunshot.
I turned toward him.
“What?”
My father lowered his weapon.
“They're twins.”
The man beneath the chapel smiled.
My grandfather closed his eyes.
“His name is Robert.”
Robert laughed.
“Finally.”
I stared at my father.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“All your life.”
“And you never told me?”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I almost laughed.
That sentence had become the family prayer.
Everyone lied.
Everyone betrayed.
Everyone claimed it was protection.
And every secret eventually led back to me.
I looked at Robert.
“Why did you attack me?”
He smiled.
“I didn't.”
“You were at the gala.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me get hurt.”
“Yes.”
“You could have stopped it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because I needed your father to believe the plan was working.”
My stomach tightened.
“What plan?”
Robert looked at my father.
“Tell her.”
My father said nothing.
Robert smiled.
“He already betrayed you once tonight.”
My father looked at me.
“Margaret…”
“Tell me.”
He closed his eyes.
“I made a deal with Robert.”
My blood went cold.
“What deal?”
“To get you out.”
“Out of what?”
“The Covenant.”
I stared.
“And the price?”
My father looked at Rebecca.
My mother immediately moved in front of her.
“No.”
Robert smiled.
“The youngest daughter.”
My mother shook her head.
“You said you wanted Margaret.”
“I changed my mind.”
My father stepped forward.
“You promised.”
Robert laughed.
“You still think promises mean something?”
My father raised his weapon.
“You're not taking Rebecca.”
Robert's expression hardened.
“Then you know what happens.”
“What?”
“The trust collapses.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Robert pointed toward the underground chamber.
“The entire Reynolds fortune disappears.”
My father looked at me.
“And everyone connected to it loses protection.”
“How many people?”
“Thousands.”
“Employees?”
“Families.”
“Politicians?”
“Some.”
“Criminals?”
“Many.”
I stared at him.
“So you're holding the entire city hostage.”
Robert smiled.
“Now you're understanding.”
Elena's voice came from below.
“Margaret!”
I looked down the staircase.
“Where are you?”
“Down here!”
I started forward.
My father grabbed my wrist.
“No.”
I pulled away.
“You don't get to stop me.”
“Margaret.”
“Let go.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
He looked toward Robert.
“Because if you go down there, you won't come back.”
I stared at him.
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A warning.”
“From you?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“I don't believe anything you say anymore.”
His expression broke.
“I know.”
Then he stepped aside.
“Go.”
I descended the staircase.
The air became colder with every step.
Behind me came Lucas.
Then my mother.
Grace.
Rebecca.
Adrian.
My father remained above.
I stopped halfway.
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
“Come with us.”
He shook his head.
“Why?”
“Someone has to stay.”
“Stay for what?”
“To stop Robert.”
I stared at him.
“You can't stop him.”
“Maybe not.”
“Then come.”
He smiled sadly.
“I have one thing left to do.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Tell your sister I'm sorry.”
I froze.
“Elena?”
He nodded.
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I couldn't save her.”
Then he turned away.
I continued downward.
But his words stayed with me.
I couldn't save her.
Not:
I didn't save her.
Not:
I failed to save her.
I couldn't.
That difference mattered.
I just didn't know why.
The chamber beneath the chapel was enormous.
Much larger than I had expected.
Stone walls.
Old steel doors.
Rows of shelves.
Thousands of documents.
Gold.
Cash.
Paintings.
Weapons.
And at the center—
a circular table.
Elena sat behind it.
Her hands were tied.
A man stood behind her.
Robert.
Except it wasn't Robert.
I looked back toward the stairs.
Robert was still upstairs.
My blood froze.
Another twin.
A third face identical to the first two.
I whispered:
“No.”
The man smiled.
“Surprised?”
“How many of you are there?”
“Three.”
My mother gasped.
“Triplets.”
The man nodded.
“Richard.”
He pointed upward.
“Robert.”
Then himself.
“Jonathan.”
My knees weakened.
Three brothers.
Three identities.
One family.
One war.
And none of us knew which story was true.
Jonathan placed a hand on Elena's shoulder.
“Welcome.”
I stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she's the only one who knows the final password.”
Elena shook her head.
“Don't give it to him.”
Jonathan smiled.
“Your sister is stubborn.”
“She learned from me.”
“No.”
He looked at my mother.
“She learned from her.”
My mother stared.
“What?”
Jonathan smiled.
“Ask Isabella why she disappeared.”
My mother went pale.
Again.
The same question.
The same fear.
But this time I wasn't letting her escape.
“Mom.”
She closed her eyes.
“I'll tell you.”
“Now.”
She nodded.
“I wasn't kidnapped.”
I felt the room disappear.
“I left.”
“Why?”
“Because I discovered that your father wasn't the only person working with the Covenant.”
I waited.
“Who else?”
She looked at me.
“Me.”
Silence.
I couldn't breathe.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I was born into it.”
“You joined them?”
“I was forced.”
“That's what everyone says.”
“I know.”
“Did you betray Dad?”
“No.”
“Did you betray us?”
She looked at Grace.
“I thought I was saving you.”
“By disappearing?”
“By pretending to join them.”
I stared.
“You were undercover?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Elena say you traded Grace?”
My mother looked at Elena.
“Because she believed it.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“I saw you.”
“You saw half of it.”
“You handed Grace to them.”
“To save Margaret.”
“And left me.”
“I thought they had killed you.”
Elena shook her head.
“You never looked.”
“I looked everywhere.”
“No.”
My mother stepped closer.
“I did.”
“Then why didn't you find me?”
“Because your father hid you.”
Everyone turned toward my father.
But he wasn't there.
My heart stopped.
“Where's Dad?”
No one answered.
A gunshot echoed from above.
Then another.
My mother screamed:
“Richard!”
I ran toward the stairs.
Jonathan grabbed me.
“Stay.”
“Let me go.”
“You can't help him.”
“He's my father.”
“And he's the reason you're here.”
I fought him.
“Let me go!”
Lucas tackled Jonathan.
The two men crashed into the floor.
Adrian pulled me toward the stairs.
“Go!”
I ran.
My mother followed.
Grace and Rebecca stayed with Elena.
When I reached the chapel, the scene nearly stopped my heart.
My father stood in the center.
Blood covered his shirt.
Robert was holding a gun.
Victor lay unconscious near the altar.
My grandfather was on his knees.
And another man stood behind them.
A man I had never seen before.
My father looked at me.
“Go back downstairs.”
“No.”
“Margaret.”
“What happened?”
Robert laughed.
“Your father tried to kill me.”
My father said nothing.
I stared at him.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was going to take Rebecca.”
Robert smiled.
“He chose the wrong daughter.”
My father raised his gun.
“You promised me.”
Robert laughed.
“You're still talking about promises.”
My father looked at me.
“Margaret, listen carefully.”
I stepped closer.
“What?”
“You have to leave.”
“No.”
“Now.”
“I'm not leaving you.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
He looked at the floor.
“There is no final beneficiary.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“The trust isn't choosing Lucas.”
I stared.
“Then who?”
My father looked at me.
“You.”
My heart stopped.
“But the screen said Lucas.”
“It was a decoy.”
“Why?”
“To bring him out.”
Lucas appeared at the staircase.
“Dad.”
My father looked at him.
Lucas was holding the flash drive.
“You lied to me too.”
My father nodded.
“I had to.”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
My father looked at both of us.
“I needed Robert to believe the trust had chosen Lucas.”
Robert's face changed.
“You betrayed me.”
“Yes.”
“You promised me Margaret.”
“I lied.”
Robert raised his gun.
My father stepped in front of me.
The shot came.
My father jerked backward.
“Dad!”
He collapsed.
I caught him.
Blood spread across my hands.
“No.”
He looked at me.
His eyes were strangely calm.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't.”
“I should have told you.”
“You can tell me now.”
He smiled.
“Too late.”
“No.”
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
He looked toward Lucas.
“Take care of them.”
Lucas was crying.
“I will.”
My father looked toward my mother.
“I loved you.”
She dropped beside him.
“I know.”
Then he looked at me.
“Margaret…”
“Yes?”
“The final betrayal wasn't what I did.”
I shook my head.
“What was it?”
He whispered:
“What I didn't do.”
“What?”
“I never told you who your real father was.”
My blood went cold.
I stared at him.
“What?”
My mother froze.
Lucas stopped crying.
Even Robert looked shocked.
My father tried to speak again.
“I'm not…”
His eyes closed.
“Dad!”
I shook him.
“Dad!”
Nothing.
My father was dead.
The room became silent.
My mother was crying.
Lucas stared at his father.
Robert slowly lowered his gun.
I couldn't move.
My father's final words echoed in my head.
I'm not your father.
I looked at my mother.
She couldn't meet my eyes.
“Mom.”
She said nothing.
“Look at me.”
She didn't.
“Mom!”
She finally looked up.
Tears covered her face.
“I'm sorry.”
I felt something inside me collapse.
“Who is my father?”
She whispered:
“Richard.”
I frowned.
“Which Richard?”
She looked toward my grandfather.
Then toward Robert.
Then Jonathan.
Finally—
she pointed at the man standing beside the altar.
The man I had thought was my father.
But he was gone.
Only his blood remained.
My mother whispered:
“Your father was never Richard Reynolds.”
I stared at her.
“Then who?”
She closed her eyes.
“The man behind the first attack.”
I felt cold.
“Who?”
She looked at the photograph on the altar.
The same photograph I'd seen in the archive.
The woman beside my grandfather.
My grandmother.
And beside her—
a fourth man.
Someone who had been deliberately cut out of every photograph.
My mother whispered:
“His name was Daniel.”
I stared.
“Who is Daniel?”
My grandfather suddenly looked at me.
His face had lost all color.
“Your real father.”
I looked at him.
“Where is he?”
My grandfather whispered:
“He's been dead for thirty years.”
My heart sank.
Then a voice came from the chapel doorway.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
A man stood there.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Holding a black umbrella.
He smiled at me.
“I've been alive the entire time.”
My mother screamed.
My grandfather closed his eyes.
Robert dropped his weapon.
Lucas whispered:
“Impossible.”
The man walked inside.
He looked directly at me.
And said:
“Hello, daughter.”
I couldn't breathe.
Because I knew that face.
I had seen it before.
In the oldest photograph in the archive.
Standing beside my grandmother.
Standing beside the founder of the Covenant.
And smiling beside my father.
The man who had ordered the first attack.
The man everyone believed was dead.
My real father had come back.
And he wasn't alone.
Behind him stood Elena.
May you like
Alive.
And holding a gun against Rebecca's head.
