Chapter 10 - Amara's Father
Daniel carried Amara into the mansion.
She wasn't crying.
That told me something.
“Daddy!”
Grace stopped.
Amara knew him.
Daniel set her down.
She ran toward Grace.
Grace caught her.
Then stared at Daniel.
“You've been seeing her?”
He nodded.
“How long?”
“Since she was born.”
Grace slapped him.
Hard.
Daniel accepted it.
“You let me think you abandoned us.”
“I was ordered to disappear.”
“By whom?”
Victor entered.
“Me.”
I stepped toward my uncle.
Marcus raised his weapon.
Alexander did the same.
Victor smiled.
Three Hale men.
Three generations of lies.
One dining room.
“Where are your guards?” I asked.
“I don't need them.”
That confidence mattered.
Victor looked at Alexander.
“You still think I'm Shepherd.”
Alexander's expression hardened.
“Aren't you?”
“No.”
“Convenient.”
Victor removed a drive.
“Twenty years of transactions.”
He placed it down.
“Everything Shepherd ordered.”
“Why keep it?”
“Insurance.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Against the organization you helped build?”
Victor looked at her.
“I corrupted the network. I admit it.”
No remorse.
“But Shepherd took it from me fifteen years ago.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
I almost shot him for that answer.
Then Amara spoke.
“The nice man.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What nice man?” Grace asked.
“The man who gives Grandpa letters.”
Victor froze.
Children.
Again.
Amara pointed toward Marcus.
“Him.”
Silence.
Marcus slowly lowered his weapon.
I looked at him.
“Explain.”
He didn't.
Alexander moved.
Marcus fired into the ceiling.
Everyone stopped.
His expression changed.
The loyal guard disappeared.
Something colder replaced him.
“Amara wasn't supposed to see that.”
Grace pulled her daughter behind her.
“You're Shepherd?”
Marcus laughed.
“No.”
Then who?
He removed his jacket.
Beneath it was a tattoo.
Small black shepherd's staff.
Victor went pale.
Marcus was part of the inner network.
But not its leader.
“I've spent seven years beside Julian because Shepherd wanted him watched.”
“Why protect Sophie?”
“Because Shepherd ordered it.”
Every act of loyalty suddenly looked different.
“Who is Shepherd?”
Marcus looked toward Amara.
“Ask the child.”
Grace shouted:
“Stop involving her!”
Amara hid against her.
I crouched several feet away.
“Amara, did you ever hear the nice man say Shepherd?”
She nodded.
“Who was he talking to?”
She pointed.
Not Marcus.
Not Victor.
Not Alexander.
Not Daniel.
She pointed toward Elena.
My wife stopped breathing.
I slowly turned.
“Elena?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
Marcus smiled.
“She doesn't remember either.”
That sentence changed everything.
Elena looked terrified.
“What are you talking about?”
Marcus removed his phone.
Played an audio recording.
Elena's voice.
Cold.
Precise.
“Keep Julian isolated. Sophie stays hidden until he dismantles Victor's network himself.”
My chest tightened.
Another command.
“Grace must enter the mansion. Amara will make Julian lower his guard.”
Grace covered her mouth.
The dinner.
The empty chair.
Amara walking toward me.
Had even that been planned?
Elena shook her head.
“I never said that.”
Marcus almost looked sympathetic.
“You did.”
“When?”
“Before they erased you.”
“Who erased me?”
Marcus looked toward Alexander.
Then Victor.
Neither moved.
Finally he said:
“Shepherd did.”
Elena whispered:
“Then who is Shepherd?”
Marcus smiled.
May you like
“You were.”
And for the first time, my wife looked more afraid of herself than anyone else in the room.
