Chapter 6 - The Truth About the Explosion
Sadi stared at him.
“Your father?”
“He was supposed to be dead.”
Desmond replayed the footage.
His father stood beside the car.
He placed something beneath the vehicle.
Then he walked away.
The explosion occurred twenty seconds later.
Sadi sat down.
“But your father died before you were attacked.”
“That was the story.”
Desmond's voice was hollow.
“My father staged his death.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
They spent the next several hours tracing financial records.
The answer was worse than either expected.
Desmond's father had built a secret financial network outside the family business.
He had planned to take control of everything.
Desmond had discovered irregularities.
His father realized his son might expose him.
So he created a false trail.
He framed Adrian.
Then he arranged the bombing.
But something had gone wrong.
Adrian survived.
Desmond survived.
And Thomas Bennett discovered the truth.
That was why Thomas disappeared.
He had taken evidence and hidden it.
Sadi's father's key opened the room containing the evidence.
Desmond looked at her.
“Your father saved my life.”
Sadi's eyes filled with tears.
“And then disappeared.”
“Yes.”
She looked away.
Desmond reached for her hand.
She froze.
He didn't squeeze.
He simply held it.
“I should have found him.”
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
She looked at him.
“You were his employer.”
“I know.”
The silence was heavy.
Then the front doors slammed.
Marcus entered.
His hands were empty.
He looked exhausted.
“I'm not here to fight.”
Desmond stared.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because your father is alive.”
Sadi stood.
“Where?”
Marcus looked at her.
“He has Thomas.”
Her face went pale.
“Where?”
Marcus placed a piece of paper on the table.
An address.
An abandoned warehouse.
Desmond's expression hardened.
“We go now.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It's a trap.”
“Then why tell us?”
“Because I helped your father once.”
Desmond's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
Marcus lowered his head.
“I was wrong.”
Sadi looked at him.
“Why should we believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
He looked toward Desmond.
“But you have no other choice.”
They arrived at the warehouse after midnight.
The building was empty.
Too empty.
Sadi walked beside Desmond's wheelchair.
Marcus moved ahead.
Then a voice echoed through the darkness.
“Desmond.”
A light turned on.
An elderly man stood in the center of the room.
Desmond recognized him instantly.
His father.
Alive.
Smiling.
“You finally came.”
Sadi stopped.
The older man looked at her.
Then smiled.
“And you brought Thomas Bennett's daughter.”
He raised a small black notebook.
“Your father left this for me.”
Sadi's heart stopped.
Then the man opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
May you like
Thomas was alive.
And he was standing beside Adrian.
