Chapter 7 - The Father Who Chose SilenceThe room felt too small.
The walls seemed to move closer with every breath I took.
Alive.
My father was alive.
After fifteen years of grief.
After fifteen years of telling myself I had accepted his death.
After fifteen years of visiting a grave that might not even belong to him.
He was alive.
And he wanted to see me.
I should have felt relief.
I should have cried.
I should have run out of that police station and demanded answers.
Instead, I felt something much darker.
Anger.
A deep, painful anger that had been waiting fifteen years for a place to go.
"He doesn't get to ask for me."
My own voice surprised me.
Tobias looked at me.
"Rosalind."
"No."
I stood.
"He doesn't get to disappear for fifteen years and suddenly decide he wants to talk."
Nobody spoke.
Because nobody could argue with that.
I looked at Detective Bennett.
"Where is he?"
"He is being held at a secure location until we understand the situation."
"Is he under arrest?"
"Not currently."
The answer made me laugh bitterly.
"Of course not."
I looked at the photograph again.
My father standing beside the people who destroyed my family.
My father alive while I rebuilt an empire he abandoned.
My father knowing Garrett was near me.
Knowing Victoria was involved.
And doing nothing.
"Why now?"
Detective Bennett looked at me.
"What?"
"Why appear now?"
Nobody answered.
Then Tobias spoke quietly.
"Because someone forced him to."
I turned toward him.
"What does that mean?"
He looked uncomfortable.
"Before tonight, I thought he was hiding."
"And now?"
"Now I think he was running."
"From who?"
Tobias looked toward the window.
"Whoever is still controlling everything."
A cold silence followed.
An hour later, I sat across from my father.
The meeting room was plain.
A table.
Two chairs.
A camera in the corner.
No warmth.
No comfort.
Maybe that was better.
Because I didn't want a family reunion.
I wanted answers.
The door opened.
And he walked in.
I knew him immediately.
Even after fifteen years.
Age had changed him.
His hair was almost completely gray.
His face was thinner.
There were scars I had never seen.
But he was still my father.
The man who carried me on his shoulders when I was a child.
The man who taught me how to read ship blueprints before I was old enough to understand what they meant.
The man who promised me:
"No matter what happens, I'll always come home."
My eyes burned.
Because he hadn't.
He sat across from me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then:
"Rosalind."
Hearing my name from him broke something inside me.
I looked away.
"Don't."
His expression fell.
"I know you're angry."
"Angry?"
I looked back at him.
"Is that what you think this is?"
He said nothing.
"I buried you."
My voice cracked.
"I stood beside a coffin."
His eyes filled.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
I leaned forward.
"You weren't there."
The words came faster.
"You weren't there when Tobias woke up screaming every night."
My father looked down.
"You weren't there when I took over the company because everyone said a young woman couldn't handle it."
A tear escaped before I could stop it.
"You weren't there when I needed you."
He closed his eyes.
"I know."
"No."
My voice hardened.
"You don't get to say that."
Silence.
Then my father whispered:
"I was trying to keep you alive."
I froze.
The same words.
Everyone used the same words.
Protection.
Keeping me safe.
Lies disguised as love.
"Explain."
He looked at me.
"Your mother and I discovered something inside the company."
"The theft."
He nodded.
"Victoria wasn't working alone."
I waited.
"She was connected to people far more dangerous than we realized."
"Garrett."
"Yes."
My hands tightened.
"But Garrett was just a young employee."
"He wasn't the person in control."
"Who was?"
My father looked toward the camera.
Then lowered his voice.
"The person who built the entire operation."
I frowned.
"Who?"
He hesitated.
And that hesitation terrified me.
"Your grandfather."
I stared.
"My grandfather died before I was born."
"Yes."
"Then how?"
My father looked at me.
"Because he didn't die."
The room went silent.
I felt like I was drowning again.
"What?"
"Your grandfather created a network of companies and hidden accounts. When he died publicly, he disappeared privately."
I shook my head.
"This is insane."
"I wish it was."
My father continued.
"Your grandfather believed the Montgomery family was too powerful to be controlled by laws."
I swallowed.
"He built everything."
"Yes."
"Then why did you never tell us?"
My father's face changed.
"Because I thought I destroyed it."
I stared.
"What happened the night you died?"
He took a deep breath.
"The night of the accident, your mother and I were going to expose everything."
"Victoria. Garrett. The accounts."
He nodded.
"We had evidence."
"Then the brakes were cut."
His eyes darkened.
"Yes."
I felt sick.
"And you survived."
A painful silence.
"Yes."
"How?"
He looked away.
"I wasn't supposed to."
The words were strange.
"What does that mean?"
"When the car crashed, someone pulled me out."
"Who?"
"I never saw his face."
My father looked at me.
"But I heard his voice."
My heartbeat increased.
"What voice?"
He swallowed.
"The voice of someone I trusted."
The answer made my stomach turn.
"Who?"
He looked at the door.
Then back at me.
"Victoria."
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
But something didn't fit.
"Then why did she say Tobias caused the accident?"
My father looked confused.
"She said what?"
I explained.
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
Real fear.
"Rosalind."
"What?"
"Victoria doesn't accuse people randomly."
I stared.
"What are you saying?"
"She is trying to move the blame."
"From who?"
My father didn't answer.
Then the door opened.
Detective Bennett stepped inside.
"We have a problem."
I turned.
"What happened?"
She looked at my father.
Then at me.
"Garrett Vale escaped custody."
My heart dropped.
"What?"
"He was being transferred for questioning."
"How?"
Her jaw tightened.
"Someone inside the department helped him."
My father closed his eyes.
Like he expected this.
"He's going after the evidence."
Detective Bennett looked at him.
"What evidence?"
My father answered quietly.
"The original documents."
"What documents?"
"The ones proving who ordered the murders."
My breathing stopped.
"You have them?"
My father looked at me.
"I did."
"Where are they now?"
He didn't answer.
That was enough.
"Where?"
His eyes filled with regret.
"I gave them to someone I trusted."
I stood.
"Who?"
Before he could answer, every phone in the room started ringing.
Mine.
Detective Bennett's.
Tobias's.
Even my father's.
All at the same time.
Nobody moved.
Then my phone screen lit up.
A message.
From an unknown number.
A picture appeared.
My blood turned cold.
It was Garrett.
Standing outside a house.
A house I knew.
My childhood home.
The Montgomery estate.
Under the picture was one sentence:
Come home, Rosalind.
A second message appeared.
Your father isn't the only one who survived the night your family died.
I stared at the screen.
Then a final message loaded.
Ask Tobias what he saw in the car before our parents died.
Slowly, I looked up.
At my brother standing behind the glass.
Tobias was watching me.
May you like
And the expression on his face told me one terrifying thing.
There was still one secret he had never told me.