Chapter 4 - The Father Who Wasn't Dead
Harper stopped hearing the alarm.
Everything became silent inside her.
The man on the screen had gray in his hair now.
More lines around his eyes.
But she knew him.
A child knows a father's face differently from every other face in the world.
The shape of his mouth.
The small scar above his eyebrow from falling off a bicycle when he was ten.
The way his left shoulder sat slightly lower than his right.
"That's my father."
Dominic was already moving.
He opened a drawer.
Removed a handgun.
Checked the security feed.
"Stay here."
Harper stepped in front of him.
"No."
"Harper."
"I spent fourteen years believing that man was dead."
"Which means we have no idea why he's outside."
"Move."
Dominic stared at her.
She stared back.
He lowered the weapon slightly.
"Behind me."
"No."
"That's not negotiable."
"I thought you liked negotiation."
"Not when somebody may shoot you."
Harper's mouth closed.
Fair point.
Dominic opened the office.
Two security men appeared from the hallway.
"Elevator locked?"
"Yes."
"Stairs?"
"Sealed."
"How did he get up?"
"We don't know."
That answer visibly bothered Dominic.
They approached the front door.
The camera showed Harper's father waiting calmly.
He held nothing.
Hands visible.
Dominic spoke through the intercom.
"Name."
The man looked toward the camera.
"Daniel Foster."
Harper's throat tightened.
Her father's voice.
Older.
But his.
Dominic glanced at her.
She nodded once.
"Why are you here?" Dominic asked.
"To see my daughter."
"You're fourteen years late."
Daniel looked almost amused.
"I was waiting for you to say that."
Dominic's expression changed.
"You know me."
"I knew your father."
Dominic became still.
Harper noticed.
"Open the door," Daniel said.
Dominic didn't.
Daniel continued.
"Victor Hayes knows Harper accessed Madison's files. Madison has approximately six hours before Victor realizes she doesn't have the drive."
Harper stepped toward the intercom.
"Where is she?"
Her father closed his eyes briefly.
Hearing her voice affected him.
"Harper."
"Where is Madison?"
"Alive."
"Where?"
"I'll tell you when the door opens."
Dominic looked at Harper.
"Your choice."
She hated that he kept giving her choices.
It made it harder to classify him as simply dangerous.
"Open it."
Dominic unlocked one layer.
Then another.
The door opened four inches.
Daniel Foster stood outside.
Harper couldn't move.
Her father looked at her.
His eyes filled.
"My God."
Harper slapped him.
Harder than she had slapped Caleb.
Daniel accepted it.
Dominic said nothing.
Harper slapped him again.
Then she started crying.
Not graceful tears.
Not silent ones.
Fourteen years of birthdays, funerals, graduations, lonely Christmas mornings, and questions exploded at once.
"You're alive."
Daniel nodded.
"I'm sorry."
Harper laughed through tears.
"No."
"I know."
"No, you don't get to say that."
"I know."
"You died."
"I disappeared."
"You let me bury an empty coffin."
Daniel's face broke.
"Yes."
"My mother nearly destroyed herself."
"I know."
"You watched us?"
"Sometimes."
Harper struck his chest with both hands.
"You watched?"
Dominic quietly dismissed his men.
Daniel let Harper hit him until she stopped.
Then he said, "I stayed dead because the alternative was getting you killed."
Harper stepped back.
"Convenient."
"It's true."
"Explain."
They moved into Dominic's office.
Daniel glanced around.
"You've done well for yourself."
Dominic's stare turned glacial.
"You knew my father?"
"Unfortunately."
"Start there."
Daniel sat.
Harper remained standing.
"I worked financial crimes for the federal government."
Harper laughed bitterly.
"My father sold insurance."
"Cover."
"My mother knows?"
"No."
"Wonderful."
Daniel continued.
"Fifteen years ago, I investigated Victor Hayes and Gabriel Vale."
Dominic's father.
"Gabriel built the financial network. Victor expanded it."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"My father died in Sicily."
"No. Gabriel vanished."
Harper watched Dominic absorb the same impossible truth she had minutes earlier.
Daniel continued.
"Your father and I found something bigger than laundering. Judges. contractors. bankers. law enforcement. A network that survived because people on both sides benefited."
"Why did you disappear?"
"Someone learned I was cooperating."
"Who?"
Daniel looked at Harper.
"Your mother was threatened."
Harper went cold.
"So you abandoned her."
"I chose the only option I thought might keep you both alive."
"You thought wrong."
"I know."
Again those words.
Harper hated them.
Daniel reached into his coat.
Dominic raised the gun.
Daniel stopped.
"Photograph."
Dominic nodded.
Daniel removed an old photograph and placed it on the desk.
Four men stood outside a restaurant.
Daniel.
Victor.
A younger Gabriel Vale.
And a fourth man.
Harper stared.
Caleb's father.
Robert Mercer.
She looked at Daniel.
"You knew Caleb's family."
"Yes."
"Was Caleb sent to me?"
Daniel's silence answered.
Harper sat slowly.
"Why?"
"Insurance."
"Against what?"
"Me coming back."
Harper laughed without humor.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Robert Mercer believed I left evidence with you."
"I was twelve."
"He didn't know what I'd done with it."
"Did you?"
Daniel hesitated.
"I left something."
Dominic leaned forward.
"Where?"
Daniel looked at Harper.
"With her mother."
Harper froze.
"My mother knows about evidence?"
"She doesn't know what it is."
"Where is it?"
"Inside your childhood piano."
Harper's mind flashed to her mother's living room.
The upright piano nobody played anymore.
Her father had taught her scales there.
"What did you hide?"
"A ledger."
Dominic's expression sharpened.
"The original?"
"Yes."
"Names?"
"Every major account from the first network."
Dominic swore quietly.
Harper stared at them.
"Is that why they targeted me?"
Daniel nodded.
"Caleb was supposed to determine whether you knew where it was."
"And when he discovered I didn't?"
"He stayed."
Harper felt nauseated.
Four years.
Was any of it real?
"Did he love me?"
Daniel looked away.
"I don't know."
That answer somehow hurt more than no.
Dominic's phone vibrated.
Marco.
Dominic answered.
"Talk."
He listened.
His expression changed.
"When?"
Pause.
"Keep him there."
He hung up.
"Caleb tried to leave."
Harper laughed.
"Consistent."
"He wasn't leaving alone."
"Victor?"
Dominic shook his head.
"Your mother."
Harper shot to her feet.
"What?"
"Marco intercepted him outside the safe location."
"How did Caleb know where she was?"
"He shouldn't."
Daniel stood.
"Your mother."
Harper stared.
"What about her?"
Daniel looked terrified.
"She may have contacted him."
"Why?"
"Because she trusts Caleb."
Harper grabbed her phone.
No signal.
Dominic opened another line.
"We're going now."
Daniel stopped him.
"No."
Dominic turned.
"If Victor knows where the ledger is, your people walking into Claire Foster's location will confirm it."
Harper felt dizzy.
"So what do we do?"
Daniel looked at her.
"You call your mother."
"From where?"
"A normal phone. Tell her you're safe. Nothing else."
Dominic handed Harper a secured mobile.
She dialed.
Her mother answered after one ring.
"Harper?"
"Mom."
"Oh, thank God. Where are you?"
"I'm safe."
"Caleb came by."
Harper closed her eyes.
"I know."
"He said you're with dangerous people."
Dominic leaned against the desk.
Harper ignored him.
"Mom, listen carefully. Do not leave with Caleb."
"Why?"
"He lied to me."
Silence.
"About Madison?"
Harper froze.
Her mother knew.
"How do you know about Madison?"
Another silence.
"Mom?"
Claire Foster whispered, "Harper, there are things I should have told you."
Daniel shut his eyes.
Harper looked at him.
"What things?"
"I found something inside the piano last year."
Daniel's face changed.
Harper gripped the phone.
"What did you find?"
"A book."
"The ledger?"
"I don't know what it is. Your father left a note."
Harper's knees weakened.
"What did it say?"
Her mother started crying.
"It said, If Daniel ever comes back, don't trust him."
Harper slowly turned toward her father.
Daniel went pale.
"Mom, where is the book?"
"Not here."
"Where?"
"I gave it to someone."
"Who?"
A sound came through the line.
Her mother's doorbell.
Then a knock.
Claire lowered her voice.
"Someone's here."
"Do not open it."
"Harper—"
"Mom, don't."
Another knock.
Then a man's voice.
Caleb.
"Mrs. Foster? It's me."
Harper's blood ran cold.
"Mom, lock the door."
"I already did."
A second voice came from inside Claire's room.
Close to the phone.
A voice Harper did not recognize.
May you like
"No, she didn't."
The call went dead.
