Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN WE BURIED
I couldn’t breathe.
My mother stood ten feet away.
Alive.
Dad’s face lost every bit of color.
“That’s impossible.”
Mom gave him a tired smile.
“You said the same thing about Lily.”
I stared at her.
“We buried you.”
“You buried a closed casket.”
My knees nearly gave out.
The funeral.
Dad said cancer had made her appearance difficult.
He insisted the casket remain closed.
I had trusted him.
Again.
Mom looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where have you been?”
“Running.”
Dad raised the gun toward her.
Lily moved between them.
“Don’t.”
Mom stepped forward.
“Thomas, it’s over.”
He laughed.
“You’ve been saying that for twenty years.”
Then the truth came out.
My mother had discovered the network after Lily vanished.
She spent years collecting evidence in secret.
When she became sick, she realized Dad was monitoring her doctors.
So with help from a former accountant named Samuel Price, she staged her death.
The coffin contained weighted bags.
The certificate had been signed by one of Dad’s own corrupt doctors.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“Because every person who tried to reach you became a target.”
I looked at Lily.
“My whole family knew more about my life than I did.”
“No,” Mom said.
“We were all afraid.”
Dad scoffed.
“Save the speech.”
Mom looked at him.
“You killed David.”
“He fell.”
“You moved his body.”
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“You imprisoned your daughter.”
“She was sick.”
“She was nineteen.”
“She was reckless.”
Lily whispered, “I was your child.”
For the first time, Dad looked uncomfortable.
Only for a second.
Then it vanished.
Bell called from upstairs.
“Thomas!”
Dad turned his head.
That was enough.
I rushed him.
The gun fired.
The shot hit the basement wall.
Lily kicked his wrist.
Mom grabbed Eva as she ran downstairs.
Bell came after her.
Then Clara appeared behind him.
She swung a fireplace poker.
It hit Bell across the back.
He fell screaming.
“Mommy!”
Eva ran to Clara.
Dad slammed me against the furnace.
I tasted blood.
“You ruined everything,” he hissed.
I drove my knee into his stomach.
“Pretty sure that was you.”
He punched me.
Lily jumped onto his back.
Dad threw her against a table.
She hit the floor.
Something inside me snapped.
I hit him once.
Twice.
Three times.
He fell.
I raised my fist again.
“William!”
Mom’s voice stopped me.
Dad looked up, smiling through blood.
“Do it.”
I stared at him.
He wanted me to become him.
I stepped back.
“No.”
Sirens screamed outside.
Dad’s smile disappeared.
Mara came through the basement door with state officers.
“Hands!”
Bell tried to crawl away.
Clara put her foot on his coat.
“Stay down.”
Mara cuffed Dad.
For the first time in my life, he looked small.
Then an officer opened the furnace envelope.
Inside were bank records.
Photographs.
Patient lists.
And a sealed letter addressed to me.
But before I could touch it, Mara’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She hung up slowly.
“What is it?” I asked.
May you like
She looked at Lily.
“Evan Reed’s ambulance never reached the hospital.”
