Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
My father’s old house had been empty for twelve years.
At least officially.
We arrived after midnight.
Julian sat beside me.
Neither of us spoke.
Dominic followed with six vehicles but stopped half a mile away.
The house stood beyond iron gates.
No lights.
No guards.
I entered with Julian.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, nothing had changed.
Family photographs remained on the walls.
My mother.
Julian.
Me.
Our father, Marcus Cross.
A dead man had preserved his own museum.
“Where is he?” I whispered.
Julian pointed upstairs.
We climbed.
My childhood bedroom stood open.
Inside sat Marcus Cross.
Seventy-two years old.
Gray hair.
Thin.
Alive.
“You took your time,” he said.
I wanted to shoot him.
Instead I asked the only question that mattered.
“Ruby.”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Sit.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You were always impatient.”
I raised my gun.
“And you were always convinced people would obey you.”
Julian stepped between us.
“Tell him.”
Marcus looked at his younger son.
“You disappointed me most.”
“Good.”
Marcus chuckled.
“Still emotional.”
I moved the gun closer.
“Ruby.”
He sighed.
“Thomas has her at the airfield.”
“The children leave tonight?”
“Yes.”
“How do I stop it?”
“You don’t.”
I stared.
“You give Thomas the chip.”
“And he releases Ruby?”
“Perhaps.”
“Not good enough.”
Marcus leaned back.
“This is the part Elena never understood. There are always costs.”
“Don’t say her name.”
“She was remarkable.”
“Don’t.”
“She almost destroyed everything.”
My finger tightened on the trigger.
Julian said, “Sebastian.”
I lowered the gun.
Barely.
Marcus smiled.
“You see? Still controllable.”
I understood then.
He wanted anger.
He wanted me reckless.
Elena’s letter returned to me.
You would burn the city to save one child, and they would use that fury to bury a hundred others.
I lowered the weapon completely.
Marcus’s smile faded.
“What did Elena find?”
“Everything.”
“Why hide?”
“Because she threatened to expose you.”
“I could have killed her.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
He studied me.
“Because she was dying anyway.”
The cruelty of it almost broke my restraint.
Julian stepped closer to me.
I stayed still.
“What do you want?”
Marcus looked at Ruby’s bracelet.
“The chip.”
“No.”
“Then Thomas takes your daughter.”
“You’re working with him.”
“I created him.”
“Then call him.”
Marcus laughed.
“You think fathers control their sons forever?”
The word sons hung strangely.
I noticed Julian react.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Tell him.”
Julian went pale.
“Tell me what?”
“Thomas Crane isn’t just an employee.”
Silence.
Marcus smiled.
“He’s your brother.”
I felt nothing for a moment.
Then everything.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Thomas is your son?”
“Yes.”
“With who?”
“That hardly matters.”
“It matters to him.”
Marcus ignored me.
“Thomas grew up outside the family. He wanted what you had.”
“So you gave him children to traffic?”
“I gave him responsibility.”
“You built a monster.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“I built an empire.”
“And now I’m ending it.”
He laughed.
“You can’t.”
I held up the bracelet.
“I can.”
“For every name Elena found, there are ten she didn’t.”
“Then I’ll find them.”
“You’ll lose Ruby.”
“Maybe.”
Marcus looked surprised.
I stepped closer.
“But if I trade this chip quietly, Thomas keeps doing this forever.”
Julian stared at me.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Elena was right.”
I called Dominic.
“Send everything.”
Marcus sat up.
“What?”
Dominic had already copied the chip.
Files went simultaneously to federal investigators, reporters, judges, and international agencies.
Marcus’s empire began dying before his eyes.
“You idiot.”
“Probably.”
“You’ve killed your daughter.”
“No.”
His smile returned.
“You think Thomas will spare her after this?”
“I think Thomas already knows the chip was copied.”
“Then why come here?”
“To keep you talking.”
Marcus froze.
Julian looked toward the bookshelf.
A small camera blinked.
We had transmitted the entire conversation.
Marcus lunged for a drawer.
Julian tackled him.
I kicked away the gun he pulled.
Dominic’s men entered seconds later.
Marcus shouted as they restrained him.
“You have no idea what you’ve done!”
“Yes,” I said.
“I chose my daughter over your empire.”
We raced toward the airfield.
Federal agents converged from the east.
My men from the west.
Julian guided us through a service entrance he had used while undercover.
A cargo plane waited.
Three black SUVs.
Armed men.
We moved fast.
Gunfire erupted.
I reached the first hangar.
Two children inside.
Then four more.
Terrified.
Alive.
Agents took them out.
Second hangar.
Seven children.
No Ruby.
No Caleb—he was safe at my estate with Theo.
Where was she?
Julian grabbed a guard.
“Where’s Thomas?”
The man refused.
Julian broke his finger.
“Where?”
“Hangar four.”
We ran.
Hangar four was empty.
A single chair.
Ruby’s paper star on it.
And another phone.
I answered.
Thomas spoke.
“You chose strangers over your daughter.”
“No. I chose all of them.”
“You sound like Elena.”
“Good.”
“You always thought she made you better.”
“She did.”
“She made you weak.”
“Where is Ruby?”
“You’ll never see her again.”
A sound came through the phone.
A child coughing.
Then Ruby’s voice.
“Daddy?”
My heart stopped.
“Ruby!”
“Daddy, I’m scared.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
Thomas took the phone.
“Come alone.”
“Where?”
“You know where.”
The call ended.
I did not.
Then Julian stared at the paper star.
There was writing inside.
Ruby’s handwriting.
MAMA’S GARDEN.
Elena’s memorial garden.
At my estate.
Thomas had taken Ruby back to the mansion.
The place we had emptied to rescue everyone else.
I called home.
No answer.
Then Theo called me from a number I didn’t recognize.
I answered.
His whisper was barely audible.
“Sebastian.”
“Theo?”
“He’s here.”
My blood froze.
“Who?”
“The man with the black ring.”
A door creaked through the phone.
May you like
Theo whispered one last sentence.
“He just found us.”
