CHAPTER 6 THE DAUGHTER THEY USED AS LEVERAGE
CHAPTER 6
THE DAUGHTER THEY USED AS LEVERAGE
My mother sat across from me.
Alive.
Ashamed.
And waiting for me to decide whether I hated her.
I didn’t know yet.
I only knew I wanted the truth.
“All of it.”
She nodded.
“No more protecting me.”
“I understand.”
“No more deciding what I can handle.”
“I understand.”
“No more dead parents coming back from nowhere.”
For the first time, Ethan almost smiled.
I glared at him.
He stopped.
My mother folded her hands.
“Lantern was compromised because someone learned about you.”
I stared.
“I was sixteen.”
“Yes.”
“What did I have to do with military procurement?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why me?”
“Because you were Nathan’s weakness.”
I went still.
My mother continued.
“A man named Victor Dane approached me.”
General Hale’s expression changed.
I noticed.
“You know him.”
Hale nodded.
“Defense contractor.”
“More than that,” Evelyn said. “He built the civilian side of the network.”
I looked at Hale.
“Why haven’t I heard his name?”
“He disappeared eleven years ago.”
My mother laughed bitterly.
“No. He changed names.”
“To what?”
She looked at Ethan.
“Falcon Ridge.”
Silence.
I frowned.
“Falcon Ridge is a company.”
“It is now.”
My mother continued.
“But before it was a company, it was Dane’s operation name.”
Ethan stared.
“The shell contractor was named after him.”
“Yes.”
I felt anger rising.
“What did he want from you?”
“He had photographs.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
“Doing what?”
“School. Volleyball practice. Walking home.”
My stomach turned.
“He threatened me?”
“He didn’t need to say much.”
My mother’s voice broke slightly.
“He said Nathan could continue his investigation.”
A pause.
“Or his daughter could become collateral.”
I stared.
“And you believed him.”
“I had already seen what his people did to an analyst’s family.”
Hale looked down.
I noticed.
“What family?”
He answered.
“The Morales case.”
I remembered it.
Car explosion.
Officially an accident.
Three dead.
One survivor.
I had read the sanitized report years later.
My mother continued.
“I begged Nathan to stop Lantern.”
“He refused.”
“Yes.”
That sounded like him.
“He said if we stopped, Dane would own everyone forever.”
“So you betrayed Dad.”
“I gave Dane one location.”
I stared.
“One?”
“Yes.”
“What location?”
“A safe house.”
“Dad’s?”
“No.”
She looked at Hale.
“His.”
I turned.
Hale’s jaw tightened.
My mother continued.
“I believed Dane only wanted the files.”
“You believed a man threatening your daughter would politely steal documents?”
“I was desperate.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
She nodded.
“It’s an excuse.”
At least she knew.
“What happened?”
“Dane’s team raided the safe house.”
Hale said quietly:
“Two agents died.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“I know.”
I stared at her.
“You caused that.”
“Yes.”
The word landed like stone.
Ethan stepped closer to the table.
“What happened to Nathan?”
My mother looked at him.
“He realized the leak came from inside.”
“He thought Hale?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the safe house belonged to Hale.”
Hale looked at me.
“Nathan thought only I knew the location.”
“But Mom knew.”
“Yes.”
I turned toward her.
“And you let Dad blame him.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Hale lost Nathan because of you.”
“Yes.”
“My father disappeared because of you.”
“Yes.”
“You staged your death because?”
“Because Dane came back.”
I stared.
“For me?”
“For both of us.”
“What did Dad do?”
“He made a decision.”
Her expression changed.
“The same kind of decision he always made.”
I already knew.
“He chose the mission.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He chose you.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“He staged my death.”
“Why?”
“So Dane would believe Nathan had lost his family leverage.”
I stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if Dane believed you blamed your father for my death.”
I felt cold.
“You wanted us separated.”
“Nathan did.”
“Why?”
“Because if Dane watched you, he needed you to look abandoned.”
I stood.
Anger exploded.
“So that’s what I was?”
Nobody moved.
“Operational camouflage?”
“Grace—”
“No!”
I turned on Hale.
“You stood at my mother’s funeral.”
He didn’t deny it.
“You watched me break.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“You knew she was alive?”
“No.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“Did he?”
“No.”
That stopped me.
Hale stared at her.
“I didn’t.”
She nodded.
“Nathan kept the circle tiny.”
“Who knew?”
“Robert.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Of course.
“And?”
“One doctor.”
“Who?”
“Dead.”
“Convenient.”
My mother flinched.
I paced.
“So Dad staged your death, hid you, and let me believe he was the only parent I had.”
“Yes.”
“Then five years later he disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dane found me.”
My pulse changed.
“How?”
“Robert.”
Silence.
I looked at Ethan.
His father.
Again.
My mother continued.
“Robert was still playing both sides.”
“He told Dane you were alive.”
“Yes.”
“For money?”
“At first.”
“What does that mean?”
“He wanted out.”
She looked toward the files.
“Dane told him there was no out.”
“So Robert gave him something valuable.”
“My location.”
“And Dad?”
“Nathan came for me first.”
My chest tightened.
“He rescued you.”
“Yes.”
“Then disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come back to me?”
My mother’s face broke.
“Because Nathan told me you were safer believing we were both dead.”
I stared.
“Again.”
“Yes.”
“Everyone protected me by abandoning me.”
No one answered.
I laughed bitterly.
“Remarkable strategy.”
Ethan said quietly:
“It worked.”
I turned on him.
“Don’t.”
He stepped back.
“Sorry.”
My phone buzzed.
Everyone froze.
Another message.
Unknown.
I opened it.
YOU HAVE HER NOW. GOOD.
Then:
ASK EVELYN WHAT SHE PUT IN YOUR WEDDING GIFT.
I stared.
My wedding gift.
From my mother?
Impossible.
I looked at Evelyn.
Her face drained.
“What wedding gift?”
Ethan frowned.
“What is he talking about?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Oh God.”
I stepped toward her.
“What did you send me?”
She whispered:
“The music box.”
I froze.
The wooden music box.
No return address.
No card.
Delivered to the venue the morning of my wedding.
I had assumed it came from one of Ethan’s elderly relatives.
It had played the melody my mother used to hum when I was little.
I remembered standing in the bridal suite.
Crying.
Thinking it was coincidence.
My voice broke.
“That was you.”
“Yes.”
“You were at my wedding?”
“No.”
“Did you watch it?”
“From a distance.”
I felt sick.
“What was inside the box?”
My mother stood.
“Grace—”
“What?”
“A data key.”
Ethan frowned.
“What data key?”
She looked at me.
“Lantern’s original archive.”
The room went silent.
I stared.
“You put classified evidence in my wedding gift?”
“Encrypted.”
“That is not better.”
“I needed somewhere Dane wouldn’t search.”
“And you chose me.”
“I chose an object connected to you.”
“You chose me!”
My anger echoed through the room.
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
My stomach dropped.
The music box.
I hadn’t seen it in years.
Then I remembered.
Patricia.
She had hated it.
Called it cheap.
Insisted we store “that ugly thing” when she redecorated our guest room during one of her endless visits.
I looked at Ethan.
“Where is the music box?”
His face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“You moved it.”
“No.”
“Your mother did.”
He thought.
Then went pale.
“Storage.”
“What storage?”
“My parents’ house.”
Of course.
My mother whispered:
“If Robert found it…”
“He didn’t know what it was,” I said.
“Dane might.”
Another message arrived.
ROBERT FAILED.
PATRICIA NEVER KNEW.
ETHAN ALMOST DELIVERED IT TO ME IN CHARLOTTE.
Ethan read it over my shoulder.
“What?”
He looked sick.
I turned.
“Vanessa asked you to bring something to Charlotte.”
He froze.
Then remembered.
“The music box.”
My chest went cold.
“She asked me if I had anything from our wedding.”
“What?”
“She said the promotion board was doing some family-profile thing.”
I stared at him.
“And you believed that?”
“I thought it was strange.”
“Did you bring it?”
“No.”
For once, relief.
“Why?”
“Because I couldn’t find it.”
My mother whispered:
“Then it may still be at Patricia’s.”
General Hale immediately spoke into his phone.
“Secure the Walker residence.”
Ethan reached for his keys.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It’s my parents’ house.”
“And potentially an active evidence location.”
“My mother may be there.”
“Exactly.”
He stepped closer.
“Grace.”
I looked at him.
For all his flaws, I saw something different.
Fear for Patricia.
Real fear.
I exhaled.
“Fine.”
Hale cut in.
“We go together.”
Thirty minutes later, we entered the Walker house.
The front door was unlocked.
Patricia wasn’t there.
Living room dark.
Kitchen empty.
Ethan called:
“Mom?”
Nothing.
We moved upstairs.
Then heard a sound from the attic.
Scraping.
Ethan went first.
I followed.
He pulled down the ladder.
“Mom?”
A voice answered.
Weak.
“Ethan?”
He climbed.
Patricia was sitting against a storage trunk.
Hands bound.
Mouth bruised.
Alive.
Ethan rushed to her.
“Mom!”
I scanned the attic.
Boxes overturned.
Old photographs ripped open.
One wooden case sat empty.
My wedding music box.
Gone.
Patricia gasped:
“A woman…”
I knelt.
“What woman?”
“Blonde.”
Vanessa.
“Snake bracelet?”
She nodded.
“She took the box.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
I asked:
“Where did she go?”
Patricia started crying.
“She said she had to meet someone.”
“Who?”
Patricia looked at me.
“Your father.”
The entire attic went silent.
I grabbed her shoulders.
“What did she say exactly?”
Patricia swallowed.
“She said…”
Her voice shook.
“‘Nathan Cross finally came back for what belongs to him.’”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
A man’s voice.
Older.
Rough.
But I knew it.
I had heard it in childhood.
He had taught me how to ride a bike.
How to shoot.
How to never confuse fear with weakness.
My father.
“Gracie.”
I stopped breathing.
Ethan stared at me.
General Hale went pale.
I whispered:
“Dad?”
A long silence.
Then Nathan Cross answered.
“Don’t trust your mother.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She stared back.
My father continued:
“And whatever you do…”
A pause.
“Do not let Ethan open that archive.”
The line went dead.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Ethan looked at me.
“What did he say?”
I stared at my husband.
And for the first time since this nightmare began…
May you like
I wondered whether Ethan’s mistakes were really mistakes at all.
Or whether someone had been guiding him toward that music box from the very beginning.
