Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER DIEDChristopher couldn't move.
Richard Hale looked older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
Nathan appeared behind him.
“Dad.”
Christopher's voice finally came.
“You're alive.”
Richard nodded.
“I am.”
Christopher walked toward him.
Then stopped.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“For eight years.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me raise Emma.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Juliette enter my life.”
Richard's face tightened.
“I made mistakes.”
Christopher laughed bitterly.
“Mistakes?”
He stepped closer.
“You abandoned your sons.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Richard looked at Nathan.
“From Eleanor.”
Christopher frowned.
“Eleanor?”
Richard nodded.
“She wasn't your stepmother by accident.”
“What does that mean?”
“She married me to gain control of the family assets.”
Christopher looked at Juliette.
“And she recruited Juliette.”
Juliette began crying.
Richard continued.
“Eleanor wanted Emma's trust.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust isn't simply money.”
Christopher stared.
“What is it?”
Richard handed him a document.
Christopher read it.
His eyes widened.
The trust contained controlling shares in a secret investment company.
Shares worth billions.
Whoever controlled Emma's trust could influence the entire Hale empire.
Christopher looked at his father.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought I could handle it.”
“You couldn't.”
Richard looked away.
“No.”
Christopher's phone buzzed.
A message.
Eleanor:
YOU HAVE ONE HOUR.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph of Emma.
She was crying.
Christopher's anger returned.
“Where is she?”
Richard answered.
“I know.”
Christopher turned.
“Take me there.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“Then I'll find her myself.”
“You'll get her killed.”
Christopher grabbed his father's collar.
“You already failed her once.”
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
Nathan stepped between them.
“We have another option.”
“What?”
Nathan placed a small recorder on the table.
“Eleanor has been communicating with Juliette for months.”
Christopher looked at Juliette.
“You recorded her?”
Juliette nodded.
“I was terrified.”
Christopher pressed play.
Eleanor's voice filled the room.
“If Christopher discovers Richard is alive, make sure he loses everything.”
Juliette's voice followed.
“What about Emma?”
“She'll disappear.”
Christopher closed his eyes.
Then another voice appeared.
A man's voice.
Christopher recognized it.
His company's chief financial officer.
Martin Blake.
He was part of the conspiracy.
Christopher's eyes opened.
“Martin.”
Richard nodded.
“He has been stealing from the company for years.”
Christopher understood.
The inheritance was only the surface.
The real goal was control of the company.
Then a crash came from outside.
Gunfire.
Marcus rushed in.
“We're under attack!”
Christopher grabbed the documents.
“Where's Emma?”
Nathan answered:
“They know we're here.”
Christopher looked at his father.
For the first time in eight years, Richard looked afraid.
“They found us.”
A black SUV smashed through the estate gates.
Men jumped out.
Christopher turned to Marcus.
“Get everyone to safety.”
Then he looked at Nathan.
“I'm getting my daughter.”
Nathan nodded.
Together, the two brothers ran toward the underground passage beneath the mansion.
But neither noticed the figure standing upstairs.
Juliette.
She watched them disappear.
May you like
Then she quietly picked up a phone.
“I know where they're going.”
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