Chapter 5 - The Little Girl Richard Wanted
Gabriel found me before sunrise.
“Convoy ambush.”
“Penny?”
“Taken.”
“Kendrick?”
“Went after her.”
“Alone?”
Gabriel looked away.
Of course he had.
Richard had taken Penny to an abandoned summer estate near Lake Placid.
Six hours later, snow covered the Adirondacks.
Gabriel ordered me to stay in the SUV.
I lasted thirty seconds.
Then Titan jumped out.
The dog raced toward the house.
I followed.
Inside, we heard Penny scream.
“Daddy!”
A gunshot followed.
Titan sprinted.
The main room opened before us.
Kendrick stood near a fireplace.
His gun was on the floor.
Richard stood behind Penny.
Barrett was there too.
“You're supposed to be in custody,” I said.
Richard smiled.
“Everyone has a price.”
Penny saw me.
“Elena!”
Titan growled.
Richard tightened his grip around her.
“The drive.”
I held it up.
Kendrick stared at me.
“Don't.”
Richard smiled.
“She understands.”
“No,” I said. “You don't.”
His smile disappeared.
“The drive doesn't matter.”
“What?”
“We copied everything.”
“To whom?”
“Federal investigators. Journalists. Lawyers. Foreign servers.”
I shrugged.
“My mother taught me to make copies.”
Richard aimed at me.
Kendrick lunged.
Everything exploded.
Penny screamed.
Titan broke free.
Barrett grabbed Richard’s arm.
The pistol fired into the ceiling.
Gabriel's men stormed the room.
I pulled Penny against me.
She buried her face against my coat.
“I knew you'd come.”
Four words.
That was all.
Four words broke something inside me.
Across the room, Kendrick stared at us.
Relief crossed his face.
Richard was restrained.
We had won.
Or so I thought.
Richard began laughing.
“You still don't understand why Titan recognized her.”
Kendrick turned.
Richard looked directly at me.
“Anna never told you who your father was?”
My stomach dropped.
My mother had always said he died before I was born.
Richard played with us cruelly, first implying Kendrick’s father had been mine.
Then he smiled.
“Relax. Kendrick’s father wasn't Elena's.”
“Then who?”
Richard's expression changed.
“Mine.”
The room froze.
“You are my daughter.”
I stared at the man responsible for my mother's death.
“No.”
“Anna left before you were born. She told me you died as an infant.”
“You murdered her.”
“She betrayed me.”
“You killed the woman raising your child.”
“She kept you from me.”
“Thank God.”
His face hardened.
Kendrick stepped between us.
Richard laughed.
“You're defending her?”
“Yes.”
“She is my blood.”
Kendrick's tattooed hand curled into a fist.
“She is not yours.”
For once, Richard looked genuinely angry.
“You don't decide that.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
“I do.”
I walked toward Richard.
My legs shook.
I let them.
Courage wasn't the absence of fear.
Sometimes it was being terrified and walking anyway.
“Anna was my parent. Noah is my family. Penny is—”
I stopped.
Penny held my hand.
I looked down.
She didn't need me to finish.
Richard did.
“Blood doesn't give you ownership.”
His face twisted.
“You sound exactly like your mother.”
“Good.”
Federal agents arrived before dawn.
Not because Kendrick summoned them.
Because Anna's archive had finally reached people Richard couldn't buy.
They took him away alive.
That mattered to me.
Death would have been quick.
Truth wasn't.
But as they pushed him into a vehicle, Richard looked back.
“Elena!”
I didn't answer.
“Elena, I am your father!”
Titan moved between us.
He growled.
I looked at the dog.
Five years earlier, Titan had remembered lavender.
Tonight he seemed to remember something else.
May you like
Who belonged with us.
And who didn't.
