PART 9: THE VOICE OF THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
I stood frozen in the parking garage.
My phone was still pressed against my ear.
But the call had already ended.
No one spoke.
Even the officers seemed to sense that something had changed.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Claire.”
I looked at him.
His face was full of concern.
“What happened?”
I swallowed.
Then I whispered:
“It was my father.”
Marcus went completely still.
“What?”
“My father called me.”
Carter immediately stepped forward.
“Are you certain?”
“I know his voice.”
“Your father is deceased?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
Marcus looked at Emily.
She shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
I stared at her.
“Is it?”
She didn't answer.
Carter took my phone.
“Did you record the call?”
“No.”
He checked the call history.
“Unknown number.”
Marcus suddenly said:
“Give me the phone.”
Carter handed it to him.
Marcus stared at the screen.
Then his expression changed.
“Claire…”
“What?”
“This number.”
He pointed at it.
“I recognize it.”
My heart stopped.
“From where?”
Marcus looked toward David.
“Do you remember the number attached to the first Meridian account?”
David nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Marcus showed him the screen.
David's face went pale.
“It can't be.”
“What?”
David whispered:
“That number belongs to the founder.”
“Who?”
Nobody answered.
I looked between them.
“Who is the founder?”
Marcus finally spoke.
“Your father.”
The world seemed to tilt.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“My father died.”
“I know.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You attended his funeral.”
“Yes.”
“Then how can he be the founder?”
Marcus didn't answer.
Carter stepped in.
“We need to verify the number.”
He called a cybercrime specialist.
While we waited, I looked at Marcus.
“Why didn't you ever tell me?”
“I didn't know.”
“You knew about my father?”
“I knew he had connections to the Meridian Circle.”
“But you never told me.”
“I didn't know if it was true.”
I stared at him.
“You investigated my family.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Almost two years.”
My chest tightened.
“And you never told me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“I was wrong.”
The words shocked me.
Marcus rarely admitted mistakes.
But now he looked broken.
“I should have trusted you.”
I looked away.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I listened to your brother destroy your memory.”
“I heard it.”
“Then you know what that did to me.”
He nodded.
“I do.”
Silence.
Then Marcus stepped closer.
“I heard you cry every night.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“I wanted to come home.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because I thought you had betrayed me.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
He reached into his coat.
Then pulled out a photograph.
He handed it to me.
It showed me.
Standing outside a hotel.
Talking to a man.
I recognized the man immediately.
It was Richard.
My stomach dropped.
“When was this?”
“Three days before the accident.”
“I don't remember this.”
“You were there.”
“I don't remember meeting Richard.”
“You were holding an envelope.”
I stared at the photograph.
“I don't remember.”
Marcus looked at me.
“That's why I thought you were involved.”
I shook my head.
“Marcus, I would never betray you.”
“I know that now.”
“Then what happened?”
Emily stepped forward.
“I know.”
We both looked at her.
Emily took a breath.
“Claire was drugged.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Someone gave you something that caused temporary memory loss.”
Marcus looked stunned.
“Who?”
Emily shook her head.
“We don't know.”
I suddenly remembered that day.
I had felt dizzy.
I had gone home early.
I had slept for almost twelve hours.
I thought it was exhaustion.
But it wasn't.
Someone had erased part of my memory.
Carter's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his expression changed.
“Understood.”
He ended the call.
“The number has been verified.”
I felt my heart pound.
“Whose is it?”
Carter looked at me.
“The number belonged to your father.”
Silence.
“But there's more.”
“What?”
“The account was active.”
My blood froze.
“Active?”
“Yes.”
“When was the last activity?”
Carter checked the report.
“Thirty-six minutes ago.”
I couldn't breathe.
My father was alive.
Or someone using his identity was.
Marcus suddenly looked toward the entrance.
“Then we need to move.”
“Why?”
“Because if the account is active…”
He looked at Carter.
“They know where we are.”
A gunshot echoed through the garage.
Everyone ducked.
“DOWN!”
The officers returned fire.
Glass shattered.
Lily screamed.
I grabbed her.
Marcus pulled us behind a concrete pillar.
Emily crouched beside us.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Carter shouted:
“Stay where you are!”
He moved toward the upper level with two officers.
A few minutes later, he returned.
“We found the shooter.”
“Who?”
“Dead.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
He showed me a small device.
“He was wearing this.”
It was a communication device.
Marcus stared at it.
“That belongs to the Meridian Circle.”
Carter nodded.
“There's a message stored on it.”
“What does it say?”
He hesitated.
Then read:
PHASE TWO HAS BEGUN.
Emily looked terrified.
“What's Phase Two?”
Marcus answered.
“They're going after Claire.”
I stared at him.
“Why me?”
“Because you're the last person who can unlock your father's accounts.”
I shook my head.
“I don't know any passwords.”
Marcus looked at my wedding ring.
“You might.”
I stared at the ring.
The tiny symbol inside it suddenly seemed different.
Marcus reached for it.
“Your father gave you that ring, didn't he?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Marcus gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The day we married.”
He looked at me.
“Where did he get it?”
I froze.
“I don't know.”
Marcus stared at the ring.
“Claire…”
“What?”
“This isn't a wedding ring.”
My heart stopped.
“What do you mean?”
He turned the ring over.
There was a tiny hidden compartment.
Inside was a microchip.
David stared.
“That's impossible.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Your father hid something inside this ring.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
Marcus looked toward the city skyline.
“To the Meridian Circle's master account.”
My breathing stopped.
Then my phone rang again.
This time, the number wasn't unknown.
It was saved under a name.
DAD.
I stared at the screen.
Marcus whispered:
“Don't answer.”
But the phone kept ringing.
I looked at Lily.
Then at Marcus.
Then at the screen.
Finally, I answered.
A man's voice spoke.
“Claire.”
I couldn't move.
“Dad?”
A quiet laugh came through the phone.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Where are you?”
“Where I have always been.”
“Where?”
A pause.
Then he said:
“Watching you.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“Because you married the one man who was never supposed to find me.”
I looked at Marcus.
My father continued:
“And now that he knows the truth…”
His voice became colder.
“…he has to die again.”
The call ended.
Marcus looked at me.
“What did he say?”
I slowly lowered the phone.
“He knows you're alive.”
Marcus's face hardened.
Then another message appeared on my phone.
MIDNIGHT. THE OLD FAMILY HOUSE. COME ALONE.
Underneath it was a second sentence.
BRING THE RING.
I looked at Marcus.
He shook his head.
“No.”
I whispered:
“I have to go.”
“Claire, it's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then you're not going.”
I looked at him.
“Marcus…”
He took my hand.
“I already lost six days with you.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I won't lose another day.”
But neither of us knew that the old family house wasn't empty.
Someone had been waiting there for twenty years.
And at midnight, I was finally going to meet the man I had spent half my life believing was dead.
My father.
