CHAPTER 8 — THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
CHAPTER 8 — THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Victoria's gun was pointed directly at my chest.
Margaret stood beside her, one hand gripping Sophie's shoulder.
My daughter looked at me.
She wasn't crying.
That frightened me more than tears would have.
"Mommy."
"I'm here, sweetheart."
Victoria smiled.
"How touching."
I didn't look away from Sophie.
"Let her go."
"Eventually."
"Now."
Victoria tilted her head.
"You've inherited your father's temper."
"And you've inherited nothing from him."
Her smile disappeared.
Margaret tightened her grip on Sophie.
"Don't make this worse."
I looked at her.
"You hurt my daughter."
"I didn't."
"You're holding her."
"To keep her safe."
"From who?"
Margaret glanced at Victoria.
I saw the hesitation.
The fear.
That was when I understood.
Margaret wasn't standing beside Victoria because she wanted to.
She was standing there because she was terrified of her.
I took one step forward.
"Margaret."
Victoria raised the gun.
"Don't."
I stopped.
Margaret whispered:
"Elena, please."
"What?"
"Don't trust her."
Victoria's expression hardened.
"Enough."
Margaret flinched.
Sophie noticed.
So did I.
"Margaret," I said quietly. "Move away from my daughter."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because she'll kill my brother."
My heart stopped.
"Your brother?"
Margaret looked at Preston.
He stared back at her.
"Daniel," she whispered.
I looked toward Daniel.
His face had gone cold.
Victoria laughed softly.
"Now everyone understands."
The room seemed to shrink.
Victoria lowered the gun slightly.
"Margaret has always been a disappointment."
Margaret looked at her.
"Mother..."
"Don't call me that."
The word cut through the room.
Mother.
I looked at Margaret.
Then Victoria.
"You threatened her brother."
Victoria shrugged.
"Daniel was never supposed to survive."
Daniel stepped forward.
"You tried to kill me twice."
Victoria smiled.
"And yet here you are."
"Because your people failed."
"No."
She looked at him.
"Because your father saved you."
Daniel's expression changed.
"My father?"
"Thomas knew what you were becoming."
Daniel stared.
"What did he do?"
Victoria laughed.
"He gave you to Michael."
The room went silent.
I looked at Preston.
"What?"
Daniel looked equally stunned.
Victoria continued.
"Your father discovered that Daniel knew about the original company."
She looked at me.
"He knew the Whitmore family had stolen everything."
Daniel clenched his fists.
"So Thomas tried to kill me."
"No."
Victoria smiled.
"He tried to use you."
"For what?"
"To find Elena."
I felt sick.
"So Daniel was hunting me."
"Yes."
"Then why did he protect me?"
Victoria's smile vanished.
"Because he betrayed us."
Daniel said nothing.
I looked at him.
"Is that true?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
He looked at Sophie.
"Because your father asked me to."
My father's name seemed to follow me everywhere.
Always one step ahead.
Always hiding.
Always leaving another secret behind.
I turned toward Daniel.
"When did you meet him?"
"Twenty years ago."
"Where?"
"Switzerland."
"Why?"
"Because Michael was hiding."
I stared.
"You knew he was alive."
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Twenty years."
My heart broke.
"You knew my father was alive for twenty years?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me."
"He made me promise."
"Why?"
"Because if you knew, Victoria would know."
I looked at Victoria.
She smiled.
"Your father was very clever."
I whispered:
"Where is he?"
Victoria raised the gun again.
"That's what the account will tell us."
I frowned.
"What?"
"The account doesn't contain money."
She looked toward the terminal.
"It contains coordinates."
My heart stopped.
"Coordinates to what?"
"Your father."
The room went silent.
I stared at the computer.
The screen displayed a locked file.
MICHAEL HALE — FINAL LOCATION
My hands shook.
"Open it."
Victoria smiled.
"You open it."
"I don't know the password."
"You do."
"How?"
"Because your father designed it for you."
I looked at the terminal.
A biometric scanner appeared.
Then a message:
PRIMARY BENEFICIARY REQUIRED.
I stepped forward.
Preston grabbed my arm.
"Don't."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"We don't know what it will trigger."
"My father is alive."
"That's exactly why."
Victoria pressed the gun closer to Sophie's head.
"Do it."
I stepped toward the terminal.
My palm touched the scanner.
The system scanned my fingerprints.
Then my face.
A voice announced:
"Identity confirmed."
The screen changed.
WELCOME, ELENA.
I held my breath.
Then:
ENTER FINAL QUESTION.
A question appeared.
WHAT DID YOUR FATHER CALL YOU WHEN YOU WERE AFRAID?
I stared.
I knew immediately.
"Little star."
The system accepted it.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Everyone leaned toward the screen.
A map appeared.
One location blinked.
A remote mountain region.
I whispered:
"He's there."
Victoria smiled.
"Now we can find him."
But the screen changed again.
Another message appeared.
CAUTION: SUBJECT IS NOT ALONE.
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Then another line appeared.
HE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.
The lights suddenly went out.
Gunfire exploded.
I dropped to the floor.
Sophie screamed.
Someone fired three times.
Victoria shouted.
Margaret pulled Sophie down.
Preston tackled me.
Daniel fired toward the entrance.
Glass shattered.
Security alarms screamed.
Then everything went silent.
"Elena!"
Preston grabbed my arm.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Sophie?"
I looked across the room.
She was gone.
My heart stopped.
"Sophie!"
Margaret was gone too.
Victoria was gone.
I stood.
"Where is my daughter?"
Daniel looked around.
"She took her."
"Who?"
"Victoria."
I ran toward the exit.
Preston stopped me.
"Wait."
"Get out of my way."
"Elena!"
I turned.
He pointed at the screen.
A new message had appeared.
DO NOT FOLLOW VICTORIA.
I stared.
"Why?"
Another line appeared.
SHE WANTS YOU TO.
Then:
GO TO THE MOUNTAINS.
I looked at Daniel.
He understood.
"Your father."
We left the city before dawn.
The mountain road was narrow and dangerous.
Rain hammered the windshield.
Nobody spoke.
Preston drove.
Daniel sat beside him.
My mother and I sat in the back.
Sophie was gone.
Every second without her felt like a blade.
My mother reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew my father was alive."
"Yes."
"You knew about the account."
"Yes."
"You knew Victoria wanted me."
"Yes."
"Then why did you keep lying?"
She began to cry.
"Because your father ordered me to."
I looked away.
"He doesn't get to decide my life anymore."
"No."
She wiped her tears.
"But he was trying to keep you alive."
"Then why didn't he come home?"
She didn't answer.
I looked at Daniel.
"Why?"
He stared through the windshield.
"Because he couldn't."
"Couldn't?"
"He was sick."
My heart tightened.
"How sick?"
"Terminal."
I closed my eyes.
"How long?"
"Years."
"How many?"
"Your father believed he had six months."
I stared.
"Then why has he survived twenty years?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Because he didn't."
The car went silent.
I felt my blood freeze.
"What?"
Daniel swallowed.
"Your father died six years ago."
I stared at him.
"No."
"He left instructions."
"No."
"He knew Victoria would come after you."
"No."
"He built the entire system before he died."
I shook my head.
"Then the video..."
"Recorded years ago."
I felt something inside me collapse.
My father had been dead.
All this time.
The man I had imagined waiting for me in the mountains didn't exist.
Only his final plan did.
I looked at my mother.
She was crying.
"You let me believe he was alive."
"Because that was safer."
"No."
I whispered:
"That was cruel."
We reached the mountain before sunrise.
A small cabin stood between the trees.
The door was unlocked.
Inside was a desk.
A fireplace.
A bed.
And photographs.
Hundreds of them.
My childhood.
My wedding.
Sophie as a baby.
My father had been watching from afar.
I walked toward the desk.
There was a letter.
My name on it.
I opened it.
My dearest Elena,
I stopped reading.
I couldn't breathe.
Then I continued.
If you're reading this, I'm already gone.
Tears blurred the words.
I'm sorry I made you believe I was alive.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
But I needed you to believe that because fear keeps people predictable.
I laughed through my tears.
Even dead, my father was still manipulating everyone.
There is something you must know.
The man you call Preston is not who you think he is.
I looked up.
Preston stood behind me.
His face was pale.
I kept reading.
He is my son.
I stopped.
The letter slipped from my hands.
I looked at Preston.
"What?"
He didn't move.
My mother covered her mouth.
Daniel stared at him.
"No."
I looked between them.
"My father had another son?"
Preston's eyes filled with tears.
"Yes."
I shook my head.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Daniel stepped forward.
"You never told me."
Preston looked at him.
"Because I didn't know."
I looked at the letter again.
Preston was born before I married Sarah.
My mother's face crumpled.
"He told me he had no children."
My father continued:
I gave Preston to Thomas Whitmore because I believed he could keep him hidden.
I stared.
The Whitmores had raised my husband.
My husband was my father's son.
My half-brother.
I felt sick.
"Does that mean..."
Preston shook his head quickly.
"No."
He looked at me.
"We are not related by blood."
My father had married my mother after Preston was born.
Preston was his son.
But not my mother's.
My half-brother.
My husband.
The room spun.
"Elena."
I stepped away from him.
"No."
"Listen."
"No."
"I didn't know."
"You married me."
"I didn't know."
"You loved me."
"I did."
"You lied."
"Yes."
"You knew my father."
"I knew him as a stranger."
I stared.
"What?"
Preston looked at the letter.
"Your father never told me who he was until after we married."
I couldn't process it.
My husband had been raised by the Whitmores.
He had married me.
He had been assigned to protect me.
And he was my father's secret son.
Then I saw another line.
There is one final truth.
My hands trembled.
Preston was never supposed to inherit the company.
I read the next sentence.
He was supposed to destroy it.
I looked at Preston.
His face was completely white.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Hello?"
Victoria's voice.
"Have you found the letter?"
I froze.
"Where is Sophie?"
"Safe."
"Let her go."
"I will."
"When?"
"When you bring me the account."
"You already know where it is."
"I need you to unlock it."
"No."
Victoria sighed.
"Then Sophie dies."
I closed my eyes.
"Don't touch her."
"You have until sunrise."
The call ended.
I looked at the clock.
5:42 a.m.
Twenty minutes.
Then my father had one final message for me.
The screen on the desk turned on.
A video began.
My father appeared.
Older.
Weaker.
But smiling.
He looked directly at me.
"Elena."
I cried.
He continued.
"By now, you know who Preston is."
I looked at my husband.
My father said:
"I also know you're wondering whether you can trust him."
He paused.
"Don't."
Preston closed his eyes.
My father continued:
"Because Preston has a second life."
I stared.
"One he doesn't remember."
The video flickered.
A photograph appeared.
Preston.
Young.
Standing beside Victoria.
And in his hand...
was a gun.
My father spoke one final sentence.
"The man who was supposed to be dead isn't me."
The screen went black.
I stared at Preston.
He slowly looked at his own hands.
And whispered:
"Elena..."
I stepped backward.
"Don't."
"I don't remember."
"Don't come near me."
"I swear."
Then Daniel looked toward the window.
Someone was standing outside.
A silhouette.
A woman.
Holding Sophie.
Victoria.
She raised one hand.
And behind her stood another figure.
A man.
Tall.
Older.
Familiar.
My heart stopped.
Daniel whispered:
"Thomas Whitmore."
Preston stared at the window.
His face turned white.
"That's impossible."
Thomas smiled through the glass.
Then raised his hand.
And pointed directly at Preston.
May you like
As if giving his son one final order.
Kill Elena.
