Chapter 13 - BELLWEATHER TOWER
Bellweather Tower rose over the old fire site like a monument to everything they had buried.
Sebastian drove.
Daniel sat beside him holding B17.
Claire followed with Victor and police units several blocks behind.
“No cops,” Sebastian said.
“He’ll hurt Lily.”
Daniel stared ahead.
“My father always liked control.”
“You knew he was capable of this?”
“No.”
“You never suspected?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“He taught me to ride a bike. He paid for my college. He held my daughter when she was born.”
Sebastian understood too well.
Monsters rarely introduced themselves as monsters.
They arrived as fathers.
Uncles.
Men who said they loved you.
They entered the unfinished tower.
“Lily!” Sebastian shouted.
A light turned on twenty floors above.
Daniel’s phone rang.
“Elevator.”
His father’s voice.
Older.
Still unmistakable.
Daniel stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
“Bring the file.”
“You’re alive.”
“Elevator, Daniel.”
They went up.
The twentieth floor had no exterior walls.
Cold wind ripped through the concrete skeleton.
Lily sat tied to a chair near the center.
Sebastian moved.
Malcolm Mercer raised a gun.
“Stop.”
Daniel stared at his father.
Malcolm was thinner than the photographs.
White hair.
Scar across one cheek.
But alive.
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Mara knew.”
“Yes.”
“You killed her?”
“No.”
“Reyes did.”
“Reyes frightened her.”
“You ordered him to.”
Malcolm smiled faintly.
“I ordered him to recover stolen property.”
Daniel looked sick.
Sebastian kept his eyes on Lily.
“Let my daughter go.”
“When I have B17.”
Daniel raised the drive.
“This?”
Malcolm nodded.
“Throw it.”
Daniel didn’t move.
“First Lily.”
Malcolm pressed the gun toward her.
Lily squeezed her eyes shut.
Sebastian’s hands shook.
“Daniel.”
Daniel threw the drive.
It landed halfway between them.
Malcolm stepped forward.
That was all Sebastian needed.
He lunged.
Malcolm fired.
The bullet struck concrete.
Daniel slammed into his father.
Sebastian reached Lily.
“Dad!”
“I’ve got you.”
He cut the rope.
Behind him, Daniel and Malcolm struggled near the unfinished edge.
Malcolm hit Daniel with the gun.
Daniel fell.
Malcolm grabbed B17.
Then Victor stepped from the stairwell.
“Malcolm.”
Malcolm froze.
Victor held no weapon.
“You should’ve stayed dead.”
Malcolm aimed at him.
“You should’ve learned loyalty.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“I did.”
Police appeared behind him.
Malcolm turned.
Daniel tackled his father.
Both men crashed toward the edge.
Sebastian shouted.
Daniel caught a steel beam.
Malcolm did not.
Victor grabbed Malcolm’s wrist at the last second.
For a moment, the two old men stared at each other above a twenty-story fall.
Malcolm smiled.
“You still need me.”
Victor answered quietly.
“No.”
But he didn’t let go.
Police pulled Malcolm to safety.
Handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
Daniel stared at his father.
“Why?”
Malcolm looked at him.
“Because families survive when someone is willing to do what decent people won’t.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Mara was family.”
For the first time, Malcolm had no answer.
Then Lily screamed.
“Dad!”
May you like
Sebastian turned.
Smoke was rising from the stairwell.
