Chapter 16 - VICTOR’S FATHER
Emergency lights came on.
Cole remained seated.
Victor stood motionless.
For decades, he had served my family as if duty were the only thing keeping him upright.
Now the father he believed dead was outside the door.
Grant checked the lock.
“Magnetic.”
Victor whispered.
“My father designed the headquarters security system.”
Of course he did.
I was becoming tired of dead men who had designed everything.
The speaker crackled.
“Nathan Hale.”
His voice sounded older than Michael’s.
Calmer.
“Victor, I need Mara.”
Victor looked at me.
“No.”
Nathan laughed.
“You always did choose Kingsleys over blood.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“You abandoned me.”
“I protected you.”
I almost laughed.
Everyone used the same sentence.
Victor did not.
“You protected yourself.”
Silence.
Then Nathan said.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“I can override it.”
“Then why ask?”
A pause.
Victor understood something.
“You can’t enter.”
Nathan’s voice changed.
The calm weakened.
Victor smiled.
“You lost biometric authority when Bluebird reassigned.”
Nathan said nothing.
Cole watched Victor with interest.
Grant looked at me.
“So he needs you to open it.”
I nodded.
Victor turned toward Cole.
“You knew he would come.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wants the missing thirty-seven names.”
Maren frowned.
“Why?”
Cole looked at her.
“Because Nathan is one of them.”
Victor stared.
“My father was protected by Henry.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Nathan helped Henry dismantle part of the network.”
Victor’s face tightened.
“So he wasn’t the architect.”
Cole smiled.
“Everyone was an architect for a while.”
I hated that sentence because it sounded true.
The loudspeaker activated again.
“Mara.”
Nathan addressed me now.
“Your father is coming.”
“Good.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“If Henry enters this building, people will die.”
Grant looked at me.
“Trap.”
Probably.
I walked toward the speaker panel.
“What do you want?”
“The Cole archive.”
Dr. Cole smiled faintly.
“Which one?”
Nathan ignored him.
“And the red ledger.”
“Maren has it.”
Nathan paused.
“Then she is in danger.”
Maren laughed.
“Tell me something new.”
Nathan continued.
“Michael Reeves escaped custody twenty minutes ago.”
Grant went still.
“What?”
Victor checked his phone.
No signal.
The building had been isolated.
Nathan continued.
“Theresa Vale helped him.”
Cole frowned.
Interesting.
He had not expected that.
Nathan said.
“They are coming for the ledger.”
Maren asked.
“Why should we believe you?”
“Because Michael already killed Lydia.”
Celeste froze.
We all turned toward the doorway.
Celeste had been quiet.
Now her face became white.
“My mother died in a car accident.”
Nathan answered through the speaker.
“Michael sabotaged the brakes.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Celeste looked at him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
She turned toward Cole.
“Did you?”
Cole hesitated.
That was enough.
Celeste crossed the room.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
She slapped him.
His glasses fell.
He did not resist.
“You all suspected.”
Her voice broke.
“You all knew pieces.”
“And you let me live with a lie.”
No one answered.
Celeste looked at me.
“Twelve hours ago, I thought my biggest problem was being caught sleeping with a married man.”
I stared at her.
She laughed bitterly.
“Now I find out he chose me because my mother was part of a conspiracy.”
“My mother was murdered.”
“My cousin is his wife.”
“My cousin’s twin kidnapped her own niece.”
“And half the dead people aren’t dead.”
Grant almost smiled.
Celeste looked at him.
“Do not smile.”
His face immediately changed.
For one absurd second, I nearly laughed.
Then the speaker crackled.
Nathan continued.
“Michael is three minutes away.”
Victor looked at the sealed door.
“Can you restore external security?”
“No.”
“Can you unlock us?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
“Give me Mara first.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“No.”
Nathan sighed.
“Then you are exactly the son I feared.”
Victor stared at the speaker.
“And you are exactly the father I survived.”
The line went dead.
Cole picked up his glasses.
Maren looked at him.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
He replaced them.
“Several things.”
Grant grabbed his jacket.
“Try again.”
Cole looked at him.
“You really should control your temper.”
Grant hit him.
One punch.
Cole fell from the chair.
Grant stood over him.
“I spent months listening to you tell me my wife was unstable.”
“She wasn’t.”
“I know.”
That sentence hit me.
Grant knew now.
Too late.
But he knew.
Cole wiped blood from his lip.
“The final archive is not here.”
“Where?”
“With Evelyn.”
I went cold.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“What archive?”
Cole looked at me.
“The original St. Catherine’s records.”
“Maren’s birth.”
“Your birth.”
“And another child.”
Silence.
I stared.
“What another child?”
Cole smiled sadly.
“You still think there were only twins.”
My stomach dropped.
Maren whispered.
“No.”
Cole nodded.
“Evelyn delivered three girls.”
The room became completely silent.
“Triplets.”
My voice barely existed.
“Yes.”
Grant stared.
“Where is the third?”
Cole looked toward Celeste.
She stepped backward.
“No.”
I stared at her.
Same age.
Blonde.
Different coloring.
But family resemblance could hide in unexpected places.
Cole shook his head.
“Not Celeste.”
She exhaled.
Maren asked.
“Who?”
Cole looked toward the security camera.
“The third child never left St. Catherine’s.”
“What happened?”
“Samuel Cole raised her.”
My skin prickled.
“Your father.”
“Yes.”
“So she is your sister.”
“Legally.”
“Biologically mine.”
“Yes.”
I whispered.
“Name.”
Before Cole could answer, gunfire erupted outside the office.
Grant grabbed me.
Maren moved toward Celeste.
Victor shouted.
“Down.”
The outer security glass shattered.
Michael Reeves appeared in the hallway.
Theresa Vale beside him.
Two armed men behind them.
Grant stared at his father.
Michael smiled.
“Son.”
Grant raised a security officer’s fallen weapon.
“Stop calling me that.”
Michael looked toward Cole.
“Where is she?”
Cole smiled through his split lip.
“Too late.”
Michael aimed at him.
“Where is she?”
I shouted.
“Who?”
Michael looked at me.
The hatred in his face disappeared.
He smiled.
“Your sister.”
“Which one?”
His smile widened.
“The one who has been treating your daughter since birth.”
My heart stopped.
Ellie’s pediatrician.
Dr. Anna Cole.
I remembered every appointment.
Every vaccine.
Every weight check.
Every time Anna had held Ellie.
Every time she had smiled at me and said my daughter was healthy.
I stared at Adrian Cole.
“Anna is my sister?”
He nodded.
Michael laughed.
“And she already has Evelyn.”
My satellite phone suddenly regained signal.
One message arrived.
From my mother.
HELP.
Then another.
ANNA TOOK ELLIE.
May you like
Everything inside me turned to ice.
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