Chapter 6 - The Child My Father Tried to Protect
The storage facility door opened.
Everyone turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
For a moment, I couldn't move.
Because my mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Daniel Cross.
The man I had buried in my memories.
The man I thought had died fifteen years ago.
The man who had just warned me not to open my father's box.
He stepped inside slowly.
His eyes moved around the room.
First to my mother.
Then to Marcus.
Then finally to me.
"Nathan."
Hearing my name from his mouth felt unreal.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted answers.
I wanted to know why everyone I trusted had been lying to me.
Instead, I only managed one sentence.
"You were alive."
Daniel looked down.
"I was."
The anger I had been holding for hours finally broke through.
"Do you have any idea what you did to me?"
His face tightened.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
I stepped toward him.
"You disappeared."
"I had to."
"You let me think my father lost his best friend."
"I had no choice."
I laughed bitterly.
"No choice?"
I pointed around the room.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"My mother said she was protecting me."
"Marcus said he was protecting me."
"Now you're saying you were protecting me."
I looked directly at Daniel.
"Everyone protected me from the truth while I was living a lie."
Nobody spoke.
Because nobody could deny it.
Daniel looked older than the man I remembered.
The confidence was gone.
The warmth was gone.
All that remained was someone who had spent fifteen years carrying a burden.
"Nathan," he said quietly.
"Your father didn't die because he discovered a crime."
I stared at him.
"He died because he was about to reveal who was responsible."
I looked at my mother.
Her eyes dropped.
That was the confirmation I needed.
"Who?"
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at Lily.
The moment he did, my entire body became tense.
"You know her."
It wasn't a question.
Daniel nodded.
"Yes."
Lily hid behind me.
She didn't recognize him.
But she recognized fear.
"What does she have to do with this?"
Daniel took a deep breath.
"Everything."
The word echoed through the storage unit.
I looked at him.
"Explain."
He walked toward the wooden box.
Inside, he removed another folder.
"This was the part your father never wanted anyone to find."
He handed it to me.
The folder was thinner than the others.
But somehow it felt heavier.
I opened it.
Inside were medical records.
Birth records.
And a photograph.
Two children.
A baby girl.
And a baby boy.
I looked at the dates.
Then I looked at Lily.
My hands started shaking.
"No."
Daniel watched me carefully.
"The second child."
My voice became quiet.
"Who was the second child?"
Nobody answered.
Then my mother whispered:
"Nathan..."
I turned toward her.
For the first time, she looked afraid of me.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Afraid.
"Tell him," Daniel said.
My mother closed her eyes.
"I wanted to."
"But you didn't."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"I didn't."
I looked back at the photograph.
Two babies.
Two children.
One missing.
One found.
"What happened?"
Daniel sat down slowly.
"Fifteen years ago, your father discovered that someone inside Reed International was manipulating company records to hide illegal operations."
"I know."
"No."
Daniel shook his head.
"You know part of it."
He pointed to the folder.
"The people responsible weren't only stealing money."
"They were changing identities."
"Erasing people."
My stomach tightened.
"Lily?"
Daniel nodded.
"Her family was one of the first targets."
"Why?"
"Because her grandmother discovered the truth."
I looked at Lily.
She was still holding my coat.
Still watching us.
Still too young to understand why adults were talking about her like she was part of a war.
"What about the second child?"
Daniel looked at my mother.
She looked away.
That was when I realized.
She knew.
"You knew there was another child."
My mother didn't answer.
"Mom."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Yes."
The word almost broke me.
"Where is he?"
Silence.
Daniel stepped forward.
"That's what your father was trying to find."
"Was?"
Daniel looked down.
"Because the person hiding him found your father first."
Nobody moved.
I felt anger.
Confusion.
Pain.
Everything at once.
"My whole life..."
I looked at my mother.
"My whole life, you knew there was something wrong."
She whispered:
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"By lying to me?"
"By keeping you away from them."
"Who are them?"
Nobody answered.
Then the lights flickered.
Everyone froze.
Again.
The same thing that happened before.
Daniel immediately looked toward the cameras.
"They found us."
Marcus moved toward the entrance.
"We need to leave."
But Daniel didn't move.
He looked at the box.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"There is one more thing Nathan needs to see."
He reached inside the wooden box.
Behind the folders.
Behind the documents.
Behind everything else.
There was a small video recorder.
Old.
Damaged.
But still intact.
My father's handwriting was written across it.
"Nathan. Watch this alone."
I looked at Daniel.
"What is this?"
"The last message your father ever recorded."
My heart stopped.
I hadn't heard my father's voice in fifteen years.
Not a memory.
Not a recording.
Not anything.
I picked up the device.
My fingers shook.
I pressed play.
The screen flickered.
Static appeared.
Then my father's face appeared.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
Worried.
But alive.
I couldn't breathe.
"Nathan."
His voice filled the storage unit.
"If you're watching this, then something happened to me."
I closed my eyes.
My father.
Actually speaking.
Not a memory.
Not a dream.
A message.
"I need you to listen carefully."
The recording continued.
"The people who hurt me are still inside Reed International."
My mother's face changed.
"And the person you trust most..."
The screen distorted.
The audio became unclear.
Everyone leaned closer.
Then my father's voice returned.
"...is the reason I couldn't save the second child."
The recording stopped.
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Then the device made a sound.
A new file appeared.
One I hadn't seen before.
Created fifteen years after my father's death.
I stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
Daniel looked confused.
"What?"
I turned the device around.
The file name appeared.
MY SON.
May you like
Created today.
And before anyone could touch the screen, the video started playing by itself.
