Chapter 4 - The Father Bennett Buried
Marcus drew his weapon.
Bennett moved Clara behind him.
"Stay there."
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A figure appeared at the end of the dark hallway.
Marcus raised his weapon.
"Stop."
The man stopped.
Emergency lighting flickered on.
Bennett stared.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray hair.
A scar across one cheek.
But unmistakable.
Thomas Hale.
His father.
Clara whispered, "Oh my God."
Bennett couldn't speak.
Thomas looked at him.
"Hello, son."
Bennett crossed the distance and struck him.
Thomas hit the wall.
Marcus moved forward.
Bennett stopped him.
Thomas wiped blood from his mouth.
"I deserved that."
"You deserve worse."
"Probably."
"You let us bury you."
"Yes."
"You left Mom."
"Yes."
"You left me."
Thomas's eyes lowered.
"Yes."
Bennett hit him again.
This time Clara grabbed Bennett's arm.
"Stop."
He turned.
She was crying.
"Not because he deserves it," she whispered. "Because you do."
Bennett understood.
She didn't want him becoming Thomas.
He stepped back.
"Talk."
Thomas explained.
Eighteen years earlier, Raymond had attempted to seize control.
Thomas discovered Raymond knew Clara was alive.
Evelyn demanded Thomas choose.
His empire or his children.
For once, Thomas chose correctly.
Or tried to.
Samuel arranged a fake death.
Thomas disappeared to draw Raymond's attention away from Evelyn and Bennett.
But Raymond eventually discovered Thomas survived.
The two men had spent years in a shadow war neither Bennett nor Evelyn fully understood.
"Mom knew?"
"At first."
Thomas looked ashamed.
"Then I stopped contacting her."
"Why?"
"Because every contact endangered her."
Bennett laughed bitterly.
"You men always have noble explanations for abandoning women."
Thomas accepted the blow.
Clara looked at him.
"Did you know about me?"
"Yes."
"Did you want me dead?"
Thomas's face changed.
"No."
"Did you want me?"
Silence.
That answer hurt more.
Clara looked away.
Thomas stepped toward her.
"I was a coward."
"That's not an answer."
"I didn't know how to be your father."
"So you weren't."
"Yes."
Clara wiped her eyes.
"At least that's honest."
Bennett looked at Thomas.
"Raymond has Mom."
"I know."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Raymond doesn't want the ledger."
Samuel frowned.
"He demanded it."
"He wants Bennett to bring it."
Thomas looked at his son.
"Raymond wants you."
"Why?"
"Because killing you publicly would destabilize everything you've built."
"And Clara?"
"She legitimizes his claim if he forces her to transfer the trust."
Clara folded her arms.
"Not happening."
Thomas almost smiled.
"You sound like your mother."
Bennett stepped between them.
"Don't."
Thomas nodded.
They had less than twenty minutes.
Thomas knew the medical facility.
It had once been a Hale property.
There was a service tunnel beneath it.
Marcus prepared two teams.
Bennett looked at Clara.
"You're staying."
"No."
"Clara."
"Don't start."
"Raymond wants you."
"He also has my mother."
"Our mother."
The words stopped both of them.
Bennett continued.
"Our mother. And I'm getting her back."
"So am I."
They stared at each other.
Thomas watched.
A strange sadness crossed his face.
"She always wanted you two to meet."
Bennett looked at him.
"You don't get to make this sentimental."
"No."
Thomas nodded.
"I don't."
They left.
The drive took fourteen minutes.
Bennett sat beside Clara.
Neither spoke for most of it.
Finally Clara asked, "What was she like when you were little?"
"Mom?"
Clara nodded.
Bennett smiled faintly.
"Impossible."
Clara laughed softly.
"That sounds right."
"She used to hide candy in the piano bench."
"She told me."
"She did?"
"She said you always found it."
"I knew where she hid everything."
Clara looked at him.
"Apparently not everything."
The joke was painful.
But Bennett laughed.
So did Clara.
For several seconds, they were simply brother and sister.
Then the vehicle stopped.
Reality returned.
The facility was dark.
Marcus's team entered through the service tunnel.
Bennett, Clara, Thomas, and Samuel followed.
They reached the lower level.
A speaker clicked on.
Raymond's voice filled the corridor.
"Family reunion."
Bennett looked upward.
Cameras.
Raymond could see them.
"Where is Evelyn?"
"Third floor."
Thomas whispered, "He's lying."
Raymond laughed.
"Still suspicious, brother?"
Thomas stared at the camera.
"Show her."
A monitor turned on.
Evelyn appeared.
Alive.
Seated in a wheelchair.
Bennett exhaled.
Clara covered her mouth.
"Mom."
Evelyn looked toward the camera as if she heard.
Raymond stepped into frame.
He stood behind her.
Gray-haired.
Elegant.
Smiling.
"Bring Clara upstairs."
Bennett answered.
"No."
Raymond placed a hand on Evelyn's shoulder.
Bennett's expression changed.
"Remove your hand."
Raymond smiled.
"There he is. Thomas's son."
"No."
Bennett stepped toward the camera.
"I'm Evelyn's son."
The smile faded from Raymond's face.
They moved.
Thomas led Marcus through the old tunnels.
Clara stayed beside Bennett.
On the second floor, gunfire sounded in the distance.
Marcus's men engaged Raymond's guards.
Bennett and Clara reached the stairwell.
Thomas stopped them.
"There's another route."
Bennett looked at him.
"You knew this place well?"
"Too well."
They entered a hidden service corridor.
At the end was a door.
Thomas opened it.
They emerged behind the room shown on camera.
Evelyn sat twenty feet away.
Raymond stood beside her.
His back was turned.
Bennett moved.
Raymond spun.
A weapon appeared.
Thomas stepped between them.
The shot cracked.
Thomas fell.
Clara screamed.
Bennett tackled Raymond.
The weapon slid across the floor.
Marcus burst through the opposite door.
Raymond was restrained.
Bennett crawled toward Thomas.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Thomas looked at him.
"Your mother."
Bennett turned.
Clara was already beside Evelyn.
She untied her hands.
Evelyn touched Clara's face.
"My girl."
Then she saw Thomas.
Her expression shattered.
"Tom?"
Thomas looked toward her.
Eighteen years vanished from Evelyn's face.
She became a wife seeing the man she had once loved.
"You idiot," she whispered.
Thomas smiled weakly.
"I know."
Paramedics arrived.
Thomas was alive.
Barely.
Raymond was taken away.
For one moment Bennett believed it was finished.
Then Raymond started laughing as Marcus pulled him toward the door.
Bennett turned.
"What?"
Raymond looked at Evelyn.
"You still haven't told them."
Evelyn went pale.
Clara noticed.
"Mom?"
Raymond smiled.
"Tell them why Clara was really brought back now."
Bennett looked at Evelyn.
"Mom?"
Raymond was dragged away.
Evelyn stared at Clara.
Then at Bennett.
"I didn't bring Clara home only because I was dying."
Clara slowly released her hand.
"Then why?"
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
"Because the doctors found something."
Bennett froze.
"What doctors?"
Evelyn looked at Clara.
"Yours."
Clara stepped back.
"I haven't seen a doctor."
Evelyn whispered:
"Yes, you have."
And then Clara remembered the blood test Evelyn had asked her to take two weeks earlier.
The one she'd been told was for compatibility.
May you like
Evelyn began to cry.
"Clara, there's something in our family that you need to know before it's too late..."
