Chapter 7 - The Father Who Never Died
The photograph fell to the floor.
Nobody touched it.
Nobody dared.
Because everyone in that room understood what it meant.
Richard Vale was alive.
The man standing in front of us smiled like he had been waiting twenty years for this exact moment.
Adrian stared at him.
His face was no longer controlled.
No longer powerful.
He looked like a son seeing a ghost.
"Who are you?"
The man's smile disappeared.
"You really don't remember me?"
Adrian didn't answer.
The man looked around the office.
Then at the photograph of Richard on the wall.
"He never stopped talking about you."
My eyes moved between them.
"Who is he?"
Adrian finally spoke.
"Thomas Reed."
The name meant nothing to me.
But it meant something to everyone else.
Victoria stepped backward.
"No."
Thomas looked at her.
"Hello, Victoria."
She looked terrified.
"You were supposed to be dead."
Thomas smiled slightly.
"So was your father."
The room became silent.
I looked at Adrian.
"What is happening?"
He didn't answer.
That scared me.
Because Adrian always had answers.
Even when he lied.
Even when he hid things.
He always knew what to say.
But now...
He looked completely lost.
Thomas walked into the office.
The guards immediately raised their weapons.
Adrian lifted his hand.
"Lower them."
Everyone hesitated.
"Mr. Vale—"
"Lower them."
They obeyed.
Thomas looked impressed.
"You still command people the same way."
Adrian's voice was cold.
"You have five minutes."
Thomas nodded.
"Fair."
He looked at me.
"I came here because of her."
My heart tightened.
"Me?"
He nodded.
"Richard knew this day would come."
I laughed quietly.
"I am tired of people saying my father knew everything."
Thomas looked at me.
"Then you should be tired of lies."
That sentence made me angry.
"Everyone keeps telling me they are protecting me."
I stepped closer.
"But nobody tells me anything."
Thomas studied me.
Then he said:
"Your father didn't abandon you."
The room froze.
I looked away.
Because that was the one wound nobody touched.
Not even Elena.
Not even Adrian.
"He didn't leave because he wanted to."
Thomas continued.
"He left because staying would have gotten you killed."
I looked at Elena.
She was crying.
"You knew."
She lowered her head.
"I knew he was alive."
The words hit harder than anything else.
"You knew?"
Her tears fell.
"Only recently."
"How recently?"
She couldn't answer.
I felt something break inside me.
Twenty years.
Twenty years believing I was forgotten.
And everyone around me had pieces of the truth.
Everyone except me.
Adrian stepped toward Elena.
"How long?"
She looked at him.
"Adrian..."
"How long did you know?"
"Three months."
His expression changed.
Three months.
That was enough.
Enough time for everyone to prepare.
Enough time for everyone except me.
Adrian turned away.
Thomas watched them.
"This is exactly why Richard hid the truth."
Adrian looked at him.
"Don't talk about my father."
Thomas smiled sadly.
"Your father knew you would hate him before you understood him."
I looked at Thomas.
"Where is he?"
Nobody answered.
I asked again.
"Where is my father?"
Thomas looked at the photograph on the floor.
Then back at me.
"He has been waiting."
My heart stopped.
"Waiting where?"
Thomas didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the old desk.
He opened a drawer.
Nobody stopped him.
Because somehow...
Everyone knew he belonged there.
He pulled out a small recorder.
Old.
Dusty.
But carefully preserved.
"He left this for you."
I stared.
"Why didn't he give it to me himself?"
Thomas looked at me.
"Because he didn't know who he could trust."
My eyes moved to Adrian.
Then Elena.
Then Victoria.
Nobody looked away.
Thomas placed the recorder on the desk.
A button.
One press.
And my father's voice filled the room.
"Mara."
I stopped breathing.
Because it was him.
The voice I hadn't heard since I was six.
Older.
Tired.
But him.
"If you are hearing this, then everything went wrong."
Tears immediately filled my eyes.
"I wanted to come back."
A pause.
"But I couldn't."
The room stayed silent.
"My biggest mistake was believing I could protect everyone by disappearing."
I covered my mouth.
The recording continued.
"Adrian, if you are listening..."
Adrian froze.
"I am sorry."
His expression changed.
Like hearing his father's voice hurt more than any enemy ever could.
"You spent your life believing I chose power over family."
A pause.
"I need you to know the truth."
The recording crackled.
"I chose family over everything."
Then the voice changed.
More serious.
"The person who betrayed me was not a stranger."
Everyone listened.
"The person who betrayed me was someone who knew exactly where I would hide."
The room felt colder.
Thomas looked at Adrian.
The recording continued.
"Do not trust the person who claims they saved you."
My eyes moved.
Everyone's eyes moved.
To Elena.
She looked shocked.
"No."
The recording continued.
"Do not trust the person who claims they loved you."
The room went silent.
Victoria whispered:
"What does that mean?"
Then my father's voice said:
"Mara, there is something you need to remember."
My hands tightened.
"Your childhood memory was changed."
My breath stopped.
"What?"
The recording continued.
"The night I disappeared, you saw the person who tried to kill me."
Nobody moved.
"You saw their face."
I closed my eyes.
A memory came.
A hallway.
A scream.
A hand covering my mouth.
A woman's voice.
"Forget this."
I opened my eyes.
Thomas looked at me.
"You remembered something."
I couldn't answer.
Because I did.
A little piece.
A broken piece.
But enough.
The recorder continued.
"The person who did this is still close to you."
A pause.
Then my father's final words:
"Mara, if they tell you I died..."
Static filled the room.
Then:
"Ask them why they were the last person standing beside my body."
The recording stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody breathed.
Then Adrian slowly turned toward Elena.
Because everyone in the room realized the same thing.
The person standing closest to Richard Vale when he disappeared...
Was not a stranger.
It was someone we already knew.
Elena looked at Adrian.
"I can explain."
Adrian's voice was barely audible.
"Where were you that night?"
Elena started crying.
"Mara, please."
I stepped back.
Because suddenly I remembered something.
A face.
A voice.
A hand holding a knife.
And the person in my memory was not a man.
It was a woman.
Thomas picked up the photograph from the floor.
He turned it over.
There was writing on the back.
A name.
A name that made Elena collapse.
A name that made Adrian reach for his phone.
A name I had never heard before.
But one person in the room recognized it immediately.
May you like
Because the woman who betrayed Richard Vale...
Was standing right beside us.
