CHAPTER 5 — THE MAN INSIDE THE HOUSE
CHAPTER 5 — THE MAN INSIDE THE HOUSE
“LET THEM GO.”
Daniel’s voice shook with a kind of anger Evelyn had never heard before.
Marcus stood behind Sophie.
His pistol rested low against his thigh.
Not pointed at her.
Not yet.
Evelyn’s wrists were bound.
Charles had blood running down one side of his face.
Marcus smiled.
“Put down the gun.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
Then at Sophie.
Richard whispered:
“Don’t.”
Daniel stared at his father.
“Shut up.”
“Marcus needs you alive.”
“How reassuring.”
Daniel slowly placed the pistol on the floor.
Marcus kicked it away.
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“He followed us from the bank.”
Marcus corrected her.
“I was already at the bank.”
Charles glared at him.
“You killed Samuel.”
“No.”
Marcus looked almost offended.
“My father’s people killed Samuel.”
Richard stared.
“Your father?”
Marcus smiled.
For the first time, uncertainty appeared on Richard Cross’s face.
Daniel noticed.
Marcus stepped into the room.
“Rebecca wasn’t my half sister.”
Richard whispered:
“No.”
“She was my mother.”
Silence.
Daniel stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus laughed.
“Your family loves that word.”
Richard looked suddenly old.
“How?”
Marcus’s eyes filled with hatred.
“She was seventeen.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Charles looked away.
Daniel understood before anyone explained.
He looked at Richard.
“You.”
Richard said nothing.
Daniel’s face twisted.
“You were Rebecca’s father?”
Richard whispered:
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Rebecca.
Daniel’s first wife.
Had been Richard Cross’s daughter.
Daniel stared at his father in horror.
Richard spoke quickly.
“Not biologically.”
Marcus laughed.
“Tell him the whole story.”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Rebecca’s mother was pregnant when I met her.”
Daniel breathed again, but barely.
“I raised Rebecca secretly.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because her mother was connected to people who would have used her against me.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“And when Rebecca discovered what Richard really was, she turned against him.”
Richard stared at Marcus.
“She wanted to expose operations she didn’t understand.”
“She understood enough.”
“She would have gotten hundreds killed.”
“She died anyway.”
Marcus’s voice cracked.
Daniel looked at him.
For the first time, the villain disappeared.
A wounded son remained.
A child who had grown up believing his mother had been sacrificed by powerful men.
Daniel understood the rage.
He did not accept what Marcus had done.
But he understood it.
“You pushed Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“You kidnapped Lily.”
“I made sure she was safe.”
“You pointed a weapon near Sophie.”
Marcus looked at the girl.
His jaw tightened.
“I never intended to hurt them.”
Daniel’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“Then you should have left them out of this.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Rebecca left you out of it.”
He pointed toward Richard.
“Look what happened.”
Richard stepped forward.
“This is between you and me.”
“No.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It became bigger than us years ago.”
He pointed toward the cameras.
“Confess.”
Richard stared at him.
“To what?”
“Everything.”
“People will die.”
“They already did.”
“Governments will collapse.”
“Maybe they should.”
Daniel interrupted.
“Marcus.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You want the truth exposed?”
“Yes.”
“Then expose it.”
Marcus’s expression shifted.
“But let my family leave.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because people believe men like Richard when there are no witnesses.”
Daniel looked at the cameras.
“You have millions of witnesses.”
Marcus hesitated.
Daniel saw it.
A weakness.
Not tactical.
Emotional.
Marcus wanted justice.
But revenge had corrupted the shape of it.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You loved Rebecca.”
Marcus swallowed.
“She was my mother.”
“Then you know what she wanted.”
“She wanted the truth.”
“She wanted Sophie protected.”
Marcus’s eyes moved toward Sophie.
Daniel continued.
“She made Evelyn promise.”
Marcus’s hand tightened around the gun.
“She didn’t want children used as leverage.”
Silence.
Evelyn realized what Daniel was doing.
He wasn’t threatening Marcus.
He was reminding him who he had been before revenge consumed him.
Daniel took another step.
“If Rebecca could see you right now, standing behind her daughter with a gun—”
“Stop.”
“She would be terrified of you.”
“STOP.”
Marcus raised the weapon.
Sophie flinched.
That movement broke something inside him.
Marcus immediately lowered it.
Daniel saw tears in his eyes.
Richard saw opportunity.
He lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Charles shouted.
Evelyn grabbed Sophie.
Daniel shielded Lily.
Richard struck Marcus.
The gun fired.
The bullet hit the ceiling.
Marcus crashed into the steel table.
Richard grabbed the weapon.
Daniel shouted:
“DAD, NO!”
Richard aimed.
Marcus stared at him.
“Do it.”
Richard’s finger tightened.
“Finish what you started with Rebecca.”
Richard froze.
Daniel slowly approached.
“Put it down.”
Richard’s hands trembled.
For decades, Richard Cross had controlled people through fear, secrets and money.
But now he looked like nothing more than an old man surrounded by the wreckage of his choices.
“Put it down.”
Richard lowered the weapon.
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Coward.”
“No.”
Richard looked at him.
“Tired.”
He placed the gun on the table.
Then alarms began screaming.
Marcus’s expression changed.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Marcus checked the monitors.
“No.”
“What happened?”
“The system.”
Screens began flashing.
PURGE INITIATED.
Richard’s face went white.
“Someone activated the destruction protocol.”
Charles stared.
“What destruction protocol?”
Richard looked toward the ceiling.
“This facility was built to erase itself.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
“How long?”
A countdown appeared.
04:59
Evelyn whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Marcus rushed toward the control panel.
“I didn’t trigger this.”
Richard looked at him.
“I believe you.”
Daniel turned.
“Then who did?”
A camera activated on the largest monitor.
A woman appeared.
Silver hair.
Elegant black coat.
Charles stopped breathing.
Daniel stared.
He knew that face.
Their mother.
Margaret Cross.
The woman they had buried twelve years ago.
She smiled into the camera.
“Hello, boys.”
Daniel felt reality break for the second time that night.
Margaret continued.
“If Richard is standing beside you, then he has lied successfully for far too long.”
Richard whispered:
“Margaret.”
Her recorded image continued.
“And if you are watching this, it means the final contingency has begun.”
The countdown reached four minutes.
Daniel stared at his supposedly dead mother.
Then she said:
“Do not trust your father.”
A pause.
“And whatever you do…”
May you like
Margaret leaned toward the camera.
“Do not let him leave Warehouse Seventeen alive.”
