Chapter 11 - ROBERT CROSS
I wanted to kill him.
Not because he called himself my father.
Because he smiled when he said it.
As if biology gave him a claim.
“You’re not my father.”
Robert shrugged.
“Genetically, I am.”
“My father taught me to ride a bike.”
“That man died when you were eleven.”
“My mother packed my lunches.”
“Margaret stole you.”
“She saved me.”
His smile disappeared.
“Careful.”
Sarah kept her weapon raised.
“Robert Cross, put the gun down.”
Robert ignored her.
“You know what Margaret cost me?”
I stared at him.
“What did Rachel cost you?”
Something changed in his eyes.
I saw it then.
Not guilt.
Annoyance.
“She was unstable.”
“She was sixteen.”
“She threatened everyone.”
“So you murdered her?”
“I cleaned up a problem.”
My stomach turned.
Daniel forced himself upright.
“You hear yourself?”
Robert laughed.
“You suddenly discovered morality?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“I learned it from seeing what you lacked.”
Robert aimed his gun at him.
“Sit down.”
Vanessa’s voice came from behind one of the guards.
“Dad.”
Everyone turned.
She stepped out.
Her hands were tied.
Her hair was still streaked with the bald lines I had shaved.
For one absurd second, our eyes met.
Then she looked away.
Robert grabbed her arm.
“Your sister-in-law ruined everything.”
Vanessa whispered, “You did.”
Robert hit her across the mouth.
I lunged forward.
Sarah blocked me.
Robert smiled.
“So protective now?”
“She’s still Chloe’s mother.”
Vanessa looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
I wasn’t ready to forgive her.
Maybe I never would.
Robert looked around the basement.
“This ends tonight.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“No.”
His father turned.
“What?”
Daniel pulled a tiny transmitter from inside his bloody shirt.
Robert’s face changed.
Daniel smiled.
“You taught me never to trust anyone.”
Red lights suddenly blinked on several shelves.
Recording devices.
Backup cameras.
Audio transmitters.
Daniel had wired the basement.
Robert fired.
Daniel dropped.
I screamed.
Sarah fired back.
Chaos exploded.
The guards scattered.
Vanessa threw herself sideways.
I crawled toward Daniel.
“Daniel!”
His eyes opened.
The bullet had grazed his ribs.
“Go!”
Smoke filled the hallway.
Sarah shouted into her radio.
State tactical officers breached the rear entrance.
Robert ran toward the archive.
I saw something in his hand.
A lighter.
Gasoline.
“He’s going to burn it!”
I ran after him.
Inside the archive room were hundreds of files.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
Evidence.
Robert poured gasoline across the floor.
“You can’t expose what doesn’t exist.”
He flicked the lighter.
I grabbed a metal box and threw it.
It struck his wrist.
The lighter flew.
Robert tackled me.
My head slammed against a cabinet.
He wrapped one hand around my throat.
“You should’ve died with your mother.”
Then a gun clicked behind him.
Vanessa stood there.
Hands shaking.
Holding the weapon Robert had dropped.
“Get off her.”
Robert laughed.
“You won’t shoot me.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
Then she looked at me.
“But Chloe deserves a mother who finally stops being a coward.”
May you like
Robert lunged.
The gun went off.
