Chapter 9 - My Father's Secret
My father told us everything.
Thirty years earlier, Whitmore Maritime had almost collapsed.
Aidan Vale had been a financial manager.
Brilliant.
Ambitious.
And stealing.
My father discovered millions disappearing through shell companies.
Aidan blamed him.
Richard reported him.
Aidan avoided prison through a plea agreement, changed his surname, and disappeared.
“I thought he was gone,” Dad said.
“He wasn't.”
“No.”
“And you never recognized Flynn's name?”
“Mercer meant nothing to me.”
That had been Aidan's advantage.
He raised Flynn on stories about the man who had “destroyed” their family.
Me.
My marriage.
My inheritance.
All of it became revenge.
But Flynn had gone further than Aidan expected.
Or perhaps not far enough.
Ruiz arranged another interrogation.
This time Flynn talked.
“My father introduced me to you,” he admitted.
I stared through the glass partition.
“The charity dinner?”
“He knew you'd be there.”
“Everything?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
His eyes lowered.
“I wasn't supposed to propose so quickly.”
I almost laughed.
“What a touching detail.”
“Claire—”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“Aidan wanted access to your family. Sloane wanted money. I wanted both.”
“And then?”
“I started believing I could control them.”
“You couldn't.”
“No.”
He looked exhausted.
“Did Aidan order my parents killed?”
“Yes.”
“Did you agree?”
A long silence.
“Yes.”
That single word erased whatever fragile humanity I had briefly imagined in him.
“You could have warned me.”
“I know.”
“You could have walked away.”
“I know.”
“You could have told police.”
“I know.”
I stood.
“Then stop telling me you loved me.”
He began crying.
I left anyway.
Outside, Ruiz had news.
Aidan had escaped the marina.
But investigators discovered what he had been doing aboard the yacht.
Retrieving something.
An encrypted drive hidden inside the wall of the guest cabin.
Daniel helped locate the compartment.
Empty.
“What was on it?” I asked Flynn later.
He hesitated.
“Everything Sloane kept on your company.”
“Why?”
“Blackmail.”
Aidan intended to force my father to surrender control.
The drive contained evidence of crimes committed by Sloane's network.
But also falsified documents designed to implicate Whitmore Maritime.
If released publicly, even false accusations could destroy the company.
Aidan contacted us that evening.
This time his demand was simple.
My father would transfer controlling voting rights.
In exchange, Aidan would surrender the drive and disappear.
Dad refused.
I surprised everyone.
“Accept.”
My father stared at me.
“No.”
“Pretend.”
Ruiz smiled slightly.
We created the transfer documents.
Aidan chose a meeting place.
An abandoned shipyard owned by one of Sloane's companies.
I went with my father.
Police surrounded the area.
Aidan appeared alone.
He held the drive.
“You look like your mother,” he told me.
“Don't talk about her.”
“You've become harder.”
“You tried to murder me.”
“No. Flynn did.”
“You ordered it.”
“Details.”
My father stepped forward.
“Give me the drive.”
“Documents first.”
Dad handed him the folder.
Aidan opened it.
Then smiled.
“Did you really think I wouldn't know these were fake?”
Gunfire erupted.
Not from police.
From behind us.
Aidan had brought men.
Dad pushed me down.
Officers returned fire.
Aidan ran toward the docks.
I followed before anyone could stop me.
He reached a speedboat.
I grabbed the railing.
Aidan turned.
Gun raised.
Then another man appeared between us.
Flynn.
I stared in disbelief.
He had escaped custody.
Or been allowed to.
Flynn looked at his father.
“It's over.”
Aidan laughed.
“You always were weak.”
He aimed at me.
Flynn moved.
The gun fired.
Flynn fell.
Aidan escaped into the darkness.
I dropped beside the man who had once planned my death.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Flynn looked up at me.
“Don't forgive me.”
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“I wasn't planning to.”
A weak smile.
“Good.”
His eyes closed.
And as paramedics rushed toward us, I saw something clenched inside Flynn's hand.
May you like
The encrypted drive.
Aidan had escaped again—but this time, he had left behind the one thing that could destroy him.
