Chapter 8 - The Father Who Was Never Gone
For twenty years, I believed my father abandoned me.
I grew up carrying a question that had no answer.
Why?
Why did he leave?
Why did he disappear without saying goodbye?
Why did my mother change every time someone mentioned his name?
I spent years convincing myself that some people simply chose to walk away.
That maybe my father had looked at his life, looked at his family, and decided he wanted something else.
It was easier to believe he left because he didn’t love us.
Because the alternative was harder.
The alternative was believing something happened to him.
That he didn’t choose to disappear.
That he was taken away.
But now, standing in the middle of a street surrounded by enemies, secrets, and a husband who had lied to me for years, I heard the words that changed everything.
It’s your father.
My entire body froze.
Grant Mercer was still holding the phone.
His expression wasn’t the expression of a man receiving a normal call.
It was the expression of someone hearing a ghost speak.
“Answer him,” I whispered.
Grant looked at me.
“Elena…”
“Answer him.”
My voice shook.
But I didn’t care.
For twenty years, I had wondered if I would ever hear my father’s voice again.
And now, somehow, impossibly...
He was calling.
Grant slowly lifted the phone back to his ear.
“Who is this?”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then a voice came through.
A voice older than the one I remembered.
A voice carrying years of pain.
“Grant.”
My knees almost gave out.
Because even though I hadn’t heard that voice since I was a child...
I knew it.
I knew it instantly.
“Dad?”
The word escaped before I could stop it.
Everyone turned toward me.
Grant’s eyes widened.
The person on the other end became silent.
Then the voice whispered:
“Elena?”
I covered my mouth.
The world disappeared.
The street.
The danger.
The enemies.
Everything.
There was only that voice.
My father.
Alive.
“Dad?”
A thousand emotions hit me at once.
Anger.
Relief.
Confusion.
Pain.
I had imagined this moment so many times.
I imagined running into his arms.
I imagined asking why he left.
I imagined telling him how much I missed him.
But I never imagined feeling this much fear.
Because if he was alive...
Then why had he stayed away?
Grant slowly handed me the phone.
My fingers trembled as I took it.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
Then:
“Somewhere I should have never been found.”
I closed my eyes.
Tears fell.
“Why did you leave me?”
The question I had carried for twenty years finally came out.
My father breathed heavily.
“I didn’t.”
My heart broke.
“What?”
“I never left you, Elena.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“Your mother thought she was protecting you.”
I looked at Grant.
Then at Victoria.
Everyone was listening.
“She told you I abandoned you because she believed it would keep you safe.”
Safe.
That word again.
Everyone kept using it.
Everyone kept hiding behind it.
“She lied to me?”
My father was silent.
Then:
“She protected you the only way she knew how.”
I swallowed.
“What happened?”
Before he answered, another sound came through the phone.
A door.
Footsteps.
My father’s voice became urgent.
“Elena, listen carefully.”
I straightened.
“You cannot stay with Grant.”
The words shocked me.
I looked at my husband.
Grant immediately noticed my expression.
“Why?”
My father didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said:
“Because the people hunting you aren’t after the legacy.”
A pause.
“They’re after the person who knows how to destroy it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Another silence.
Then:
“Your husband.”
Everything stopped.
Grant’s face changed.
“No.”
My father continued.
“Grant Mercer is not the man you think he is.”
I looked at Grant.
The man who had saved me.
The man who had hurt me.
The man I still loved.
My father’s words should have made me believe the worst.
But something inside me refused.
Because I had seen Grant.
The real Grant.
The man who cried when he thought he lost me.
The man who had prepared to give up everything for our family.
“Dad, you’re wrong.”
Everyone looked at me.
Even Grant.
My father became silent.
“Elena…”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“But I know him.”
The truth surprised even me.
After everything...
After every secret...
I still knew him.
Not completely.
But enough.
My father sighed.
“You always were like your mother.”
“What does that mean?”
“She believed in people too.”
The call suddenly became full of static.
“Dad?”
“Elena, you need to understand—”
The connection broke.
I stared at the phone.
“No.”
I tried calling back.
Nothing.
The number disappeared.
Like it had never existed.
Grant stepped closer.
“Elena.”
I turned toward him.
“What did he mean?”
Grant didn’t answer.
And that scared me.
“Grant.”
He looked away.
“There are things I don’t know.”
I laughed quietly.
A painful laugh.
“Of course.”
More secrets.
More missing pieces.
But this time, I saw something different.
Grant wasn’t hiding.
He was confused too.
And that made me realize something.
Maybe we were both victims of the same game.
A game that started long before we met.
Hours later, we were back inside a secured location.
Not the Mercer mansion.
That place was compromised.
Daniel had arranged another safe house.
A quiet property outside the city.
For the first time in days, there were no crowds.
No enemies.
No cameras.
Just silence.
Grant sat across from me.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, he said:
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
Not because I didn’t know.
Because I was tired of hearing apologies after damage was done.
“I know.”
He nodded.
“I should have told you everything.”
“Yes.”
Another nod.
“I thought if you knew the truth, you would leave.”
The honesty surprised me.
“And now?”
He looked at my stomach.
“Now I know hiding it almost made you leave anyway.”
That was the first time Grant admitted it.
Not as an excuse.
As a mistake.
I looked down.
“I don’t know how to trust you again.”
His face fell slightly.
But he accepted it.
“I know.”
The answer hurt.
Because part of me wanted him to fight.
To tell me I was wrong.
To convince me.
But maybe this was what I needed.
Not promises.
Not protection.
Honesty.
“I need the truth.”
Grant nodded.
“You’ll get it.”
“All of it.”
“All of it.”
“No more secrets.”
He looked directly at me.
“No more secrets.”
For the first time in days, I believed him.
Then Daniel rushed into the room.
The expression on his face immediately changed the atmosphere.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at Grant.
“We found out who leaked the information.”
Everyone became silent.
Grant stood.
“Who?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then:
“Your mother.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Again.
That name.
Another betrayal.
But this time, something felt different.
Because Victoria had been helping us.
She had warned us.
She had protected me.
So why?
“Where is she?” Grant asked.
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“She left.”
“When?”
“Right after the call from Elena’s father.”
My heart sank.
Because that was not a coincidence.
Grant grabbed his coat.
“I’m going after her.”
I stood.
“I’m coming.”
Grant immediately shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You promised.”
He stopped.
I stepped closer.
“No more protecting me by leaving me behind.”
The words hit him.
Then slowly...
He nodded.
“Okay.”
It was a small moment.
But it mattered.
Because for the first time, Grant wasn’t making the decision alone.
We were making it together.
We found Victoria at an abandoned building outside the city.
A place connected to Grant’s old organization.
A place that looked forgotten.
But Grant knew better.
Nothing connected to his world was ever truly forgotten.
When we entered, Victoria was waiting.
She looked exhausted.
Not dangerous.
Just tired.
“Grant.”
His expression was cold.
“Why?”
Victoria looked at me.
“I did what I had to do.”
“You betrayed me.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I betrayed the people who were trying to destroy you.”
Everyone froze.
Grant frowned.
“What?”
Victoria reached into her bag.
She pulled out a small device.
“A recording.”
She pressed a button.
A voice filled the room.
A voice we recognized.
Marcus.
“I need the child alive.”
Silence.
Then another voice.
Grant’s mother.
“Once the child is born, the legacy will belong to us.”
My blood turned cold.
Grant stared at the device.
His own mother.
The betrayal was real.
But Victoria wasn’t finished.
“There’s more.”
She looked at me.
“Your father discovered the truth years ago.”
A pause.
“And he hid the final piece of information inside the only place nobody would search.”
Grant looked at her.
“Where?”
Victoria looked at Elena.
“Inside Elena’s family records.”
I felt my heart stop.
“My family?”
She nodded.
“Your father didn’t disappear because he abandoned you.”
“He disappeared because he was protecting the last thing he had.”
I whispered:
“What?”
Victoria looked at me.
“The truth.”
A truth buried for twenty years.
A truth that connected my father, Grant’s family, and our unborn child.
And suddenly I understood.
The war had never started because of Grant.
It started because of me.
Because of the secret my father died trying to protect.
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And now...
It was finally time for me to find out what it was.
