Chapter 6 - FORTY-EIGHT HOURSMy father was taken at 6:12 that morning.
There was no ransom note.
No camera footage.
No witnesses.
Just an empty driveway and his wedding ring lying on the pavement.
Vivian disappeared too.
For the first time, I understood what fear looked like on a family.
Ethan was shaking.
“I should've believed you.”
I looked at him.
“It's not your fault.”
“Yes, it is.”
He wiped his eyes.
“I spent my whole life thinking you hated us.”
“I did hate you.”
He looked surprised.
“For a while,” I admitted.
“But I never wanted you dead.”
Ethan nodded.
Then he handed me something.
A flash drive.
“Vivian gave me this.”
I plugged it into a secure system.
Video appeared.
Vivian was sitting in a dark room.
She looked exhausted.
“I know what I did to you was unforgivable,” she said.
I stared at the screen.
“But I need you to know something. I didn't attack you because I wanted you dead.”
My jaw tightened.
“I attacked you because Marcus told me you had recovered the original drive.”
She swallowed.
“He threatened Ethan.”
The video continued.
“I thought if I scared you badly enough, you'd leave.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“I was wrong.”
The screen went black.
Then another file opened.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Names.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Eleanor Shaw.
Another appeared beneath it.
Marcus Vane.
And then my father's name.
I stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Ethan leaned closer.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Then I saw the transaction date.
Twenty years earlier.
The year I was born.
Money had been transferred from Vane's company to my father's account.
My stomach turned.
Could my father have been part of it?
Or had he been paid to raise me?
The thought was unbearable.
I called General Hayes.
He arrived within minutes.
I showed him the records.
He stared at them.
“This changes everything.”
“Did my father work for Vane?”
“No.”
“Then why did he receive the money?”
Hayes looked at me.
“Because your father wasn't paid to raise you.”
My heart sank.
“He was paid to hide you.”
Before I could ask another question, the lights flickered.
A message appeared on the screen.
48 HOURS.
Then a location.
An abandoned railway station.
Hayes looked at me.
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“You're not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“My father is there.”
“And Vane wants you there.”
“Then I'll make him regret asking.”
Hayes stared at me.
Then he smiled faintly.
“You really are your mother's daughter.”
At midnight, we entered the station.
I carried the fake drive.
Hayes and his team surrounded the area.
I walked alone onto the platform.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Marcus Vane.
Older than I remembered from the photographs.
But unmistakably familiar.
He looked at me with something close to pride.
“You finally came.”
I held up the drive.
“Where's my father?”
Vane smiled.
“Always the soldier.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe.”
“You're lying.”
“Probably.”
He stepped closer.
“You have your mother's eyes.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I asked:
“Did you kill her?”
His smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
He looked over my shoulder.
“Your father knows.”
I froze.
Behind me, headlights appeared.
A vehicle entered the station.
The rear door opened.
My father stumbled out.
Alive.
But bleeding.
I ran toward him.
Vane smiled.
“See?”
He lifted his hands.
“I kept my promise.”
Then someone behind us shouted:
May you like
“DROP YOUR WEAPON!”
Everything erupted.
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