Chapter 7 - MY MOTHER'S LIE
Samuel waited for me inside a mansion outside Providence.
My mother sat beside the fireplace.
Older.
Fragile.
Alive.
For twenty years, I'd imagined meeting her again.
I thought I would run into her arms.
Instead I stood frozen.
“You left me.”
Rebecca cried.
“Claire—”
“You left me in foster care.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Twenty years?”
Samuel watched us with disturbing satisfaction.
Rebecca told me the truth.
She had survived the staged accident.
Samuel threatened to kill me if she contacted me.
So she disappeared.
Birthday cards were the only contact he permitted.
Samuel had sent them himself.
Not from love.
To remind Rebecca he always knew where I was.
“You were always meant to survive.”
It wasn't comfort.
It was ownership.
Samuel approached.
“Your mother never understood necessity.”
“You murdered Gabriel.”
“He interfered.”
“You shot Dominic.”
“He was becoming a problem.”
“You destroyed my life.”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“I gave you one.”
Then he revealed his plan.
JANUS was dying.
Modern security systems had made the old network obsolete.
He needed my biometric authentication to transfer its archive.
Once uploaded, decades of secrets could be sold.
Judges.
Politicians.
CEOs.
Police.
Criminal organizations.
Thousands of lives.
I refused.
Samuel expected that.
So he brought Dominic onto a screen.
He had been captured.
My heart stopped.
Dominic sat tied to a chair.
Samuel smiled.
“I told him you'd leave.”
Dominic looked furious.
Not afraid.
At me.
“You shouldn't have come.”
“I thought my mother—”
“I know.”
Samuel pressed a gun against Dominic's head.
“Authenticate.”
I walked to the scanner.
Placed my hand down.
The system activated.
Then I smiled.
Samuel frowned.
“What?”
“You made one mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“You thought Dominic came here to rescue me.”
Sirens erupted outside.
Samuel's face changed.
Dominic smiled.
“No.”
I looked at my father.
“We came to arrest you.”
For the first time, Samuel Bennett looked afraid.
Marcus had followed me.
Federal agents followed Marcus.
Adrian had given them Samuel's emergency frequencies.
And my authentication hadn't transferred JANUS.
It erased it.
Gabriel had built a hidden command into the system years earlier.
Rebecca had told me before Samuel entered the room.
Samuel lunged toward me.
Dominic broke the chair.
Chaos erupted.
Samuel fired.
Dominic stepped between us.
The bullet hit him.
I screamed.
Agents stormed the room.
Samuel ran.
Rebecca grabbed his arm.
“Enough!”
He shoved her.
I caught her.
Marcus tackled Samuel.
Seconds later, my father was face-down on the floor in handcuffs.
I didn't watch.
I was already beside Dominic.
Blood covered my hands.
“No.”
His eyes fluttered.
“Claire.”
“No. You don't get to do this again.”
“Do what?”
“Almost die.”
He smiled weakly.
“You sound angry.”
“I am.”
I pressed against the wound.
“Stay.”
His eyes closed.
“Dominic!”
“Stay with me!”
For the second time, I said that word while begging the same man not to disappear.
May you like
This time, I knew exactly how much losing him would cost.
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