Chapter 6 - The Truth My Father Buried
"Your father was right."
Four words.
But they hit harder than anything I had heard that day.
I stared at Elena.
The woman who had almost lost her baby on the side of Interstate 17.
The woman Michael had spent three years protecting.
The woman who looked at me like she knew something about my life that I didn't.
"My father?"
My voice barely came out.
Elena slowly nodded.
Her face was pale.
Not from weakness.
From fear.
"Yes."
Michael moved immediately.
"Elena, don't."
She looked at him.
And something passed between them.
A conversation without words.
A warning.
A decision.
Then Elena looked back at me.
"No more secrets."
Those three words changed everything.
Because everyone around me had been protecting something.
Michael protected me.
Daniel protected his brother.
Sarah protected the truth.
But nobody had protected my right to know.
I stepped closer.
"What did my father know?"
Nobody answered.
That silence told me enough.
I looked at Michael.
"Tell me."
He looked away.
Not because he didn't know.
Because he did.
"Michael."
He closed his eyes.
Then finally said:
"Your father discovered Victor Kane's operation before I did."
The world felt slightly unsteady.
"My father?"
Michael nodded.
"Arthur, your father wasn't just a mechanic."
I frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"He worked with information systems."
The words didn't fit the image in my head.
My father.
The man who fixed engines.
The man who taught me how to ride.
The man who spent weekends rebuilding old motorcycles in the garage.
"You told me he never knew anything about this."
Michael looked guilty.
"I lied."
Again.
Another lie.
Another piece missing.
I laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because I didn't know what else to do.
"Everyone keeps saying they lied to protect me."
I looked around.
"Does anyone realize how that sounds?"
Nobody responded.
Because they did.
They knew.
We moved away from the highway.
The authorities finally cleared the scene.
The crowd disappeared.
The cameras disappeared.
But the danger didn't.
We drove to an abandoned gas station several miles away.
A place nobody would notice.
A place where people with secrets went to talk.
I sat across from Michael.
The baby rested safely in Elena's arms.
For the first time since this nightmare started...
She looked like a mother again.
Not a victim.
Not someone running.
Just a mother holding her child.
Michael placed the old folder on the table.
The one with my name.
The one I had been afraid to open.
"This belonged to your father."
I stared at it.
"Why does it have my name?"
Michael took a breath.
"Because you were the reason he started investigating."
My stomach tightened.
"What did I do?"
"You found something."
"When?"
"Years ago."
I searched my memory.
Nothing.
"I don't remember."
Michael looked at me carefully.
"Exactly."
The answer bothered me.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel spoke for the first time.
"It means someone removed those memories."
I looked at him.
"Excuse me?"
He didn't look away.
"Victor had access to people who could manipulate records."
"Records."
Daniel shook his head.
"Not just records."
A pause.
"Memories."
The room became silent.
I wanted to laugh.
I wanted to call them insane.
But then I remembered.
The gaps.
The strange moments.
The things I couldn't explain.
A conversation I forgot.
A place I couldn't remember visiting.
A feeling that something important had happened, but I couldn't reach it.
"You knew."
I looked at Michael.
"You knew something was wrong with me."
Michael's face broke.
"Yes."
"And you still left."
His eyes filled.
"I stayed away because every time I got close, they watched you."
I looked down.
The anger was still there.
But something else appeared.
A terrible possibility.
Maybe my brother wasn't the only person who disappeared.
Maybe pieces of myself had disappeared too.
Elena opened the folder.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Old messages.
The first page showed a date.
Three years before Michael disappeared.
The second page showed my father's handwriting.
I recognized it immediately.
My chest tightened.
He had written:
If Arthur finds this, it means they already know.
I couldn't breathe.
My father knew.
He expected this.
The next pages were worse.
Names.
Locations.
Financial transfers.
Medical records.
Everything connected.
But one page stopped me.
A photograph.
My father.
Victor Kane.
And Michael.
Together.
I looked up.
"You all knew each other."
Michael nodded.
"Before everything happened."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
My voice became louder.
"Because you were young?"
"Because you couldn't handle it?"
"Because everyone thought they knew what was best for me?"
Nobody answered.
Then Elena spoke.
"Because your father wanted you to have a normal life."
I looked at her.
"Normal?"
I pointed at the folder.
"This is not normal."
She nodded.
"I know."
A pause.
"But he believed ignorance was safer."
I looked at the papers.
"And was it?"
Nobody answered.
Because the answer was obvious.
No.
It wasn't.
The investigation into Victor Kane started immediately.
Daniel provided information.
Sarah provided evidence.
Michael gave his testimony.
But one problem remained.
Victor was always one step ahead.
Every location.
Every person.
Every move.
Someone was telling him.
The question was who.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Too many questions.
Too many memories.
Too many missing pieces.
I walked outside.
The desert air was cold.
Different from the burning highway.
I looked at the stars.
The same sky that had watched everything happen.
The same sky that had taken my brother away.
"Couldn't sleep?"
I turned.
Michael stood behind me.
For a moment...
He looked exactly like he used to.
My brother.
Not a ghost.
Not a secret.
Just Michael.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"No."
I looked at him.
"You should have trusted me."
He nodded.
"I know."
That was the hardest part.
He wasn't defending himself.
Because he knew.
"I thought losing me would hurt less than losing you."
The sentence stopped me.
Because I finally understood.
He wasn't afraid of dying.
He was afraid of me dying.
I looked away.
"That doesn't make it okay."
"I know."
"But I understand."
Michael looked at me.
And for the first time...
Neither of us had an answer.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
And everything changed.
"What is it?"
He didn't respond.
"Michael."
He slowly turned the phone toward me.
A message.
From an unknown number.
One sentence.
"Stop looking for the truth."
Another message appeared.
"Your father failed."
My heart stopped.
Because the third message arrived immediately after.
It contained a photograph.
A photograph taken inside our current location.
Inside the room where we were standing.
Michael looked at the image.
Then at the dark window behind me.
His face lost all color.
May you like
Because someone had been watching us from inside the building.
And they were still there.
