Chapter 6 - The Betrayal
The next morning, Tommy disappeared.
His phone was found in an alley.
Reed immediately knew what it meant.
Someone close to him had turned.
Then Ava disappeared.
One minute she was sleeping.
The next, her crib was empty.
I screamed.
Reed became terrifyingly calm.
“Lock every exit.”
Security moved instantly.
He found a note beneath Ava's blanket.
Come alone.
Reed looked at me.
“No.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She is my daughter.”
“She is my responsibility.”
“She is both of ours.”
He stopped.
Our eyes met.
Then he nodded.
We followed the location to an abandoned warehouse.
The doors opened.
Tommy stood inside.
Ava was in his arms.
I almost collapsed.
“Tommy?”
His face was devastated.
“I didn't have a choice.”
Reed raised his weapon.
Tommy shook his head.
“They have my son.”
Reed lowered the gun.
“Who?”
Tommy whispered:
“Rebecca.”
The woman Reed had trusted.
His aunt.
The person who had secretly manipulated both families for decades.
She wanted the evidence.
She wanted the money.
And she wanted Reed dead.
Then she stepped from the shadows.
Rebecca smiled.
“You finally figured it out.”
Reed stared at her.
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“Your father killed himself.”
Reed's face hardened.
“He was going to expose you.”
“He was weak.”
She looked at me.
“And your father was inconvenient.”
I stepped forward.
“You destroyed our families.”
“No.”
Rebecca smiled.
“Your families destroyed themselves.”
Then gunfire erupted.
Tommy pushed Ava toward me.
Reed fired back.
The warehouse became chaos.
I ran.
A bullet struck the wall beside my head.
Reed grabbed my hand.
“Move!”
We escaped through a side door.
Outside, sirens approached.
Rebecca was gone.
But she left one thing behind.
A photograph.
Reed looked at it.
His face changed.
It showed him as a child.
Standing beside a man none of us recognized.
May you like
On the back:
Your real father is alive.
