Chapter 6 - The Father I Buried Nineteen Years Ago
I had imagined seeing my father again thousands of times.
Never like this.
Roman refused to let me go alone.
I refused to stay behind.
We compromised by both being angry.
Lake Briar looked almost exactly as I remembered it.
Tall pines.
Dark water.
A narrow road curving past cabins that had been renovated into expensive vacation homes.
My grandmother’s property stood at the far end.
The house had changed.
The red stone had not.
It still sat beside the old dock.
Dean waited there.
Three armed men surrounded him.
And beside the water, tied to a wooden chair, was an older man.
Gray hair.
Thinner face.
But I knew him.
My father.
“Dad.”
His head lifted.
“Claire?”
I nearly collapsed.
Roman caught my arm.
Dean smiled.
“Touching.”
I lunged forward.
Roman held me back.
“Not yet.”
My father stared at me like he couldn’t believe I was real.
“You grew up.”
Tears blurred everything.
“You left.”
Pain crossed his face.
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You missed everything.”
“I know.”
Dean sighed.
“Family therapy later.”
Roman looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“We don’t have it.”
Dean smiled.
“Then Thomas tells us where it is.”
My father laughed weakly.
“I’ve told you for nineteen years. I don’t know.”
Dean’s expression changed.
“You’re remarkably committed to being difficult.”
Roman glanced at me.
“Where’s the red stone?”
I pointed.
Dean had already moved it.
A metal box sat open beside him.
Empty.
My father looked at me.
“Claire, listen carefully.”
Dean raised his gun.
“Don’t.”
My father ignored him.
“Your mother had the key.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Where did she put it?”
He smiled faintly.
“She gave it to the person nobody would ever search.”
I stared.
“Who?”
His eyes moved toward me.
“You.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t have a key.”
“You do.”
Dean stepped closer.
“Enough.”
My father continued.
“Your graduation necklace.”
My hand went instinctively to my throat.
I didn’t wear it anymore.
But I knew exactly where it was.
A small silver pendant my mother had given me when I finished high school.
A plain oval locket.
Roman understood.
“The pendant is the key.”
My father nodded.
Dean smiled.
“Excellent.”
I looked at him.
“It’s not here.”
“No. But I know where you live.”
Roman said quietly, “You won’t make it out of this property.”
Dean laughed.
“You’re injured, Roman.”
“I’ve been injured before.”
“You’re surrounded.”
Roman glanced toward the tree line.
“Am I?”
Dean’s smile faded.
A red laser appeared on the chest of one of his men.
Then another.
Victor’s voice came through Roman’s earpiece.
“Say when.”
Roman looked at Dean.
“You made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You assumed the people still working for me were loyal because they feared me.”
Roman stepped forward.
“The ones who stayed are loyal because I finally gave them a reason.”
Dean’s men slowly lowered their weapons.
Not all of them.
One turned toward my father.
I screamed.
Roman moved.
A shot cracked.
The man fell.
Victor’s team surged from the trees.
Dean ran toward the dock.
My father shouted, “Claire!”
Dean grabbed me.
His arm locked around my neck.
Roman stopped instantly.
Dean pressed a gun against my side.
“Back up.”
Roman raised both hands.
His face became terrifyingly calm.
“Let her go.”
“Give me the key.”
“You don’t have Claire’s pendant.”
“I know where it is.”
“Then you don’t need her.”
“I need insurance.”
Roman took one step.
Dean shouted, “Stop!”
Roman stopped.
My father struggled against the rope.
“Dean!”
Dean looked over.
That was enough.
I drove my heel down onto his foot and twisted.
The gun shifted.
Roman crossed the distance before Dean recovered.
He hit Dean once.
Hard.
The gun fell.
Victor kicked it away.
Roman slammed Dean onto the dock.
For one terrible second, I thought he might kill him.
“Roman.”
He froze.
I touched his shoulder.
“Don’t.”
Dean laughed from the ground.
“She thinks you’re better than you are.”
Roman stared down at him.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“She’s making me decide whether I want to be.”
Victor handcuffed Dean.
I ran to my father.
Roman cut the ropes.
I dropped to my knees.
“Dad.”
My father touched my face.
“My little girl.”
“I’m thirty-three.”
“You’re still my little girl.”
I started crying.
So did he.
Later, inside the lake house, my father told us everything.
He had disappeared because Voss threatened to kill my mother and me.
Roman’s father had helped fake his death.
For years, Thomas gathered evidence.
Then Voss captured him.
He had spent eleven years moving between hidden properties.
“Why didn’t they kill you?” I asked.
“Because I created the encryption.”
“What encryption?”
“The files your key opens.”
Roman leaned forward.
“What files?”
My father looked at him.
“The complete record of Voss’s operation.”
“Where?”
“In a federal evidence locker.”
Victor frowned.
“How?”
“I sent an anonymous package nineteen years ago. Investigators couldn’t open the drive.”
“And nobody destroyed it?”
“They didn’t know what it was.”
I whispered, “My necklace opens it.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
My father looked ashamed.
“Because nobody in that world knew Claire Ward mattered.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“She mattered.”
My father looked at him.
They held each other’s gaze.
Something unspoken passed between them.
Then Victor’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face immediately darkened.
“What?”
He looked at Roman.
“Blackridge has been attacked.”
My heart stopped.
“Lily?”
Victor asked sharply, “Where’s the child?”
Silence.
Then he lowered the phone.
Roman stood.
“Victor.”
Victor looked at me.
“Mrs. Dalton is hurt.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“And Lily?”
May you like
He swallowed.
“Gone.”
