CHAPTER 6 — FOUR MINUTES TO BURY THE TRUTH
CHAPTER 6 — FOUR MINUTES TO BURY THE TRUTH
“THAT RECORDING IS TWELVE YEARS OLD.”
Richard’s voice shook.
Daniel stared at his father.
“How do you know?”
“Because Margaret made it before she died.”
Charles stepped closer.
“You told us Mom died from cancer.”
“She did.”
“Then why did she know about this place?”
Richard didn’t answer.
The countdown continued.
03:41.
Marcus tore open the control panel.
“We need another exit.”
Richard pointed toward the rear wall.
“There’s a maintenance tunnel.”
“Where?”
“Behind the archive room.”
Daniel held Lily tighter.
“Move.”
They ran.
Evelyn carried Sophie.
Charles followed.
Richard led them through a steel corridor beneath the warehouse.
Alarms screamed.
Sprinklers activated.
Not water.
Accelerant.
Marcus smelled it.
“Gasoline.”
Richard nodded.
“The facility burns before it collapses.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You built this?”
“Yes.”
“For destroying evidence?”
“For preventing it from being captured.”
“Same thing.”
They reached the archive room.
Thousands of files lined steel shelves.
Decades of secrets.
Names.
Payments.
Operations.
Lives destroyed by decisions made in rooms no ordinary person would ever see.
Marcus stopped.
“This is everything.”
Richard grabbed him.
“Leave it.”
“No.”
“You’ll die.”
Marcus stared at the files.
“My mother died for this.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Marcus.”
“I can’t leave it.”
“You don’t have to.”
Daniel pointed toward the flash drive Evelyn carried.
“Rebecca already copied enough.”
Marcus looked at her.
Evelyn nodded.
“We release it properly.”
Richard laughed.
“There is no proper way to release this.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Then we’ll find one.”
“You’re naive.”
“And you’re afraid.”
Richard froze.
Daniel stepped closer.
“For the first time in your life, you don’t control what happens next.”
Richard stared at his son.
Daniel continued.
“You don’t decide what gets buried.”
The countdown reached two minutes.
Charles shouted:
“MOVE!”
Richard opened the maintenance tunnel.
They entered.
Behind them, fire ignited.
The blast threw everyone forward.
Daniel curled around Lily.
Evelyn protected Sophie.
Charles hit the concrete wall.
Marcus dragged him upright.
They ran through darkness.
The tunnel climbed.
One minute.
Forty seconds.
Twenty.
They reached a steel hatch.
Locked.
Richard entered a code.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
Marcus shoved him aside.
“Move.”
He fired into the locking mechanism.
Nothing.
Ten seconds.
Daniel handed Lily to Evelyn.
Then joined Charles and Marcus.
Together, they slammed against the hatch.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The warehouse exploded.
The hatch burst open.
They were thrown into freezing rain.
Daniel hit mud.
For several seconds he heard nothing.
Then Lily cried.
The most beautiful sound in the world.
Daniel crawled toward her.
Evelyn held the baby against her chest.
Sophie clung to her.
Alive.
All of them.
Daniel wrapped his arms around them.
Behind them, Warehouse Seventeen collapsed into fire.
Charles emerged from the smoke.
Marcus followed.
Richard did not.
Daniel stood.
“Dad?”
No answer.
He ran toward the hatch.
Charles grabbed him.
“Daniel!”
“He’s still inside.”
“The tunnel collapsed.”
Daniel stared at the fire.
Nine years ago, Richard Cross had supposedly died in this place.
Tonight history seemed determined to repeat itself.
Then a figure emerged through the smoke.
Richard.
Daniel almost laughed from relief.
But Richard staggered.
Blood covered his shirt.
He collapsed.
Daniel caught him.
“Dad.”
Richard looked up.
For the first time, Daniel saw fear in his father’s eyes.
Not fear of death.
Fear of judgment.
“Your mother was right.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“About what?”
“Me.”
Richard coughed.
“I thought control was protection.”
Daniel said nothing.
“I hurt people.”
“Yes.”
“I told myself it was necessary.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
Richard smiled faintly.
“That’s how men like me survive ourselves.”
Sirens approached.
Daniel held his father.
Richard whispered:
“Don’t become me.”
Daniel looked toward Evelyn.
Sophie.
Lily.
Then Charles.
“I won’t.”
Richard closed his eyes.
But he was still breathing.
Police arrived.
Federal agents followed.
Ambulances surrounded the industrial district.
Marcus surrendered without resistance.
Before officers took him away, he stopped beside Daniel.
“I’m sorry about Lily.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You’ll answer for what you did.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
Daniel looked at him for several seconds.
“Rebecca deserved the truth.”
Marcus’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“So did my daughters.”
Marcus lowered his head.
“I know.”
They took him away.
Richard survived emergency surgery.
Three days later, federal investigators opened one of the largest corruption investigations in Cross Industries history.
Charles voluntarily stepped down as chairman during the investigation.
Daniel suspended company operations connected to the secret accounts.
Evelyn gave investigators Rebecca’s recording.
And for the first time in seven years, Rebecca’s death was officially reopened.
The media exploded.
Cross Industries stock collapsed.
Reporters surrounded the estate.
Old allies disappeared.
But inside the Cross home, something unexpected happened.
The family became quieter.
Smaller.
More honest.
One evening, Daniel entered Lily’s nursery.
Evelyn stood beside the crib.
Sophie slept on the couch nearby.
Daniel approached his wife.
“I owe you an apology.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“For tonight?”
“For seven years.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I didn’t ask.”
He looked toward Sophie.
“I assumed the past was dead because remembering hurt.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“So did I.”
Daniel touched her hand.
“Was any part of us real?”
Evelyn stared at him.
Then she placed his hand against her heart.
“Every part after the lie.”
Daniel kissed her forehead.
It wasn’t forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was a beginning.
A week later, Daniel visited Richard in the prison hospital.
His father looked older.
Smaller.
Daniel sat beside him.
Richard smiled.
“You came.”
“I need one answer.”
“Only one?”
“For now.”
Daniel placed Margaret’s photograph on the table.
“Why did Mom tell us not to let you leave Warehouse Seventeen alive?”
Richard stared at the photograph.
His face changed.
Daniel noticed immediately.
“What?”
Richard whispered:
“Because she knew.”
“Knew what?”
Richard looked toward the guard.
Then toward Daniel.
“The fire wasn’t built to kill me.”
Daniel frowned.
“Charles?”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel felt cold.
“Then who?”
Richard looked directly at him.
“You.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Richard leaned forward.
“And the person who ordered it…”
May you like
His voice became barely audible.
“…is still inside your house.”
