Chapter 10 - THE FATHER WHO CONTROLLED EVERYTHING
Edward Bennett had been declared dead six years earlier.
His private plane vanished over the Atlantic.
No wreckage was ever recovered.
Lucas stared at the ledger.
“That’s impossible.”
Maria shook her head.
“I saw him two months after Rachel died.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He promised to kill Lily.”
Lucas remembered his father as a ruthless businessman, but not a murderer.
Edward had built Bennett Development through intimidation, political favors, and impossible expectations.
Daniel was his favorite.
Lucas was the son who never measured up.
When Edward disappeared, Lucas inherited everything.
“Why would he steal from his own company?” Grant asked.
“He wasn’t stealing,” Lucas said. “He was hiding money before faking his death.”
Rachel and Daniel had discovered the truth.
Vanessa had helped Edward silence them.
A traffic camera captured Charles’s car heading toward Bennett’s original mountain estate.
Lucas, Grant, and federal agents raced there.
They found Charles outside the gates, bleeding from his shoulder.
Lucas dragged him upright.
“Where’s Lily?”
“Inside.”
“Who shot you?”
“Your father.”
Charles gripped Lucas’s jacket.
“I thought I could negotiate. I was wrong.”
“Why did you help him?”
“He had my son arrested on false charges. He said he’d have him killed in prison.”
Grant called for an ambulance.
Charles gave Lucas a security code and a warning.
“Edward doesn’t want money anymore.”
“What does he want?”
“You.”
Lucas entered the estate through an underground garage.
The mansion was dark except for the library.
Edward sat beside the fireplace.
He was seventy-four now, thinner but unmistakable.
Lily sat across from him.
She was not tied up.
A plate of untouched food rested beside her.
“Hello, son,” Edward said.
Lucas raised his gun.
“Step away from her.”
Edward smiled.
“You were always dramatic.”
“Let Lily leave.”
“She has more courage than you ever did.”
Lily stood.
Edward pointed a pistol at her without looking away from Lucas.
“Sit down, sweetheart.”
She obeyed.
Lucas lowered his weapon.
“Why did you kill Daniel?”
“I didn’t want Daniel dead. Vanessa panicked.”
“And Rachel?”
“She refused to understand loyalty.”
“You mean she refused to protect a criminal.”
Edward’s smile vanished.
“I built everything you have.”
“You destroyed everyone I loved.”
“Not everyone.”
A door opened behind Lucas.
Vanessa entered with Captain Cole.
Edward looked at her coldly.
“She tells me you possess my ledgers.”
“They’re already with federal investigators,” Lucas said.
Edward sighed.
“Then we have very little time.”
He placed two folders on the table.
One bore Lucas’s name.
May you like
The other bore Lily’s.
“You have a choice,” Edward said. “Confess to every crime—or watch your daughter pay for yours.”
