Chapter 7
Emily’s hand slowly fell from her father’s wounded shoulder.
The towel slipped.
Robert caught it.
“Emily.”
“Don’t.”
“You need context.”
She laughed.
“Context?”
“Yes.”
“My therapist drugged me until I doubted my own memory. I was declared dead. I woke up inside a coffin. My mother was kidnapped. My dead father is alive. And now I find out he created the drug that helped make all of it possible.”
Robert looked down.
Emily’s voice shook.
“What context fixes that?”
“None.”
“Then stop saying it.”
The ambulance sped through the wet streets.
Daniel asked, “Where are we going?”
Robert answered, “Cross estate.”
Evelyn immediately said, “No.”
“It’s secure.”
“It was secure six months ago.”
“It still has the old shelter.”
Emily looked between them.
“What shelter?”
Neither parent answered.
She closed her eyes.
“Another secret.”
Robert sighed.
“It’s beneath the west wing.”
“Of course it is.”
Maria almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
They reached the Cross estate twenty minutes later.
Iron gates opened after Evelyn entered a code.
The mansion stood dark behind rows of trees.
Robert instructed Daniel to drive into a separate garage.
Inside, Evelyn pressed her palm against a concealed scanner.
A wall panel opened.
Maria stared at a steel elevator.
“What kind of family needs this?”
Robert answered, “One that made enemies.”
Emily looked at him.
“Apparently.”
They descended.
The shelter was larger than Maria’s apartment.
Beds.
Food.
Medical supplies.
Computers.
A wall of surveillance screens.
Robert sat while Evelyn cleaned his wound.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder.
Painful.
But not immediately life-threatening.
Daniel locked the elevator.
Maria watched Emily.
She stood alone at a metal table.
Finally, she said, “Tell me everything.”
Robert nodded.
“In 2018, Cross Medical started researching medication for traumatic memory.”
Emily stared.
“To erase it?”
“No. To reduce the emotional response connected to it.”
“Like PTSD treatment.”
“Yes.”
“What went wrong?”
Robert looked ashamed.
“The compound did more than expected.”
“It erased memory.”
“Temporarily at first.”
“And you continued.”
“We believed controlled suppression could help trauma patients.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“Did patients consent?”
“The original group did.”
“Original?”
Robert hesitated.
That hesitation answered too much.
Emily whispered, “There were others.”
“Yes.”
“Who authorized them?”
“I didn’t.”
“But your company did.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Robert looked toward Evelyn.
Evelyn tied the bandage tighter than necessary.
He winced.
“Tell her,” she said.
Robert looked back at Emily.
“Nathan.”
“My uncle.”
“Yes.”
“The man who looked exactly like you.”
“Yes.”
Maria finally understood something.
“Nathan used your identity.”
Robert nodded.
“Sometimes.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“So even people inside your company might not have known which brother they were speaking to.”
“Correct.”
Daniel said, “That’s how Blackridge got inside.”
Robert looked at him.
“Partly.”
Emily crossed her arms.
“Start earlier.”
Robert did.
Nathan had disappeared from the Cross family when the brothers were twenty-six.
Robert wanted legitimate business.
Nathan wanted faster money.
For years, Nathan moved through offshore investment groups.
Eventually, he connected with Blackridge.
Blackridge did not officially exist.
It was a network.
Investors.
Doctors.
Former intelligence contractors.
Politicians.
Corporate officers.
People who profited from information and leverage.
When Nathan learned Cross Medical was developing memory suppression medication, he saw its true value.
Not therapy.
Control.
A witness could forget.
A whistleblower could doubt herself.
A victim could become unreliable.
A prisoner could lose crucial hours.
And unlike a bullet, missing memory left few visible marks.
Emily looked sick.
“So he came back.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He impersonated me at one of our research facilities.”
“And nobody noticed?”
“We were identical.”
“Voices?”
“Close enough.”
“Security?”
“He had help.”
“Warren.”
Robert nodded.
“Dr. Cole had worked with us for twenty years.”
Evelyn said quietly, “I trusted him.”
Robert continued.
“Nathan moved the research to hidden trials.”
“Like Riverside.”
“Yes.”
“How many people?”
Robert looked away.
Emily slammed her palm against the table.
“How many?”
“Seventy-three confirmed.”
Maria whispered, “My God.”
“Deaths?”
Robert closed his eyes.
“Six.”
Emily stared at her father.
“And you hid this?”
“No.”
“You’re hiding underground.”
“I spent months collecting evidence.”
“You could have gone to police.”
“I didn’t know which police contacts Blackridge controlled.”
“So you staged your death.”
“Yes.”
“And used your own brother’s body.”
Robert’s face hardened with pain.
“He was already dead.”
“That doesn’t make it normal.”
“No.”
Emily walked away.
Maria followed.
“Emily.”
She turned.
Her face was wet.
“How do I know any of them are telling the truth?”
Maria did not answer quickly.
“You don’t.”
Emily nodded.
“Exactly.”
“But we can verify things.”
“How?”
“Documents. Records. Claire.”
At the sound of Claire’s name, Daniel moved.
“I need to find her.”
Emily looked at him.
“Why?”
“She’s in danger.”
“She also helped drug me.”
“She called to warn us.”
“And she slept with you.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“This isn’t about that.”
“For you.”
“Emily—”
“For me, it is all connected.”
He stepped toward her.
“I made terrible choices.”
“Choice.”
“What?”
“Stop calling them mistakes.”
Emily’s voice sharpened.
“A mistake is forgetting an appointment. You lied to me for months. You stole millions from my family. You cheated on me with my therapist. You told her I was unstable. Those were choices.”
Daniel looked as if she had hit him.
“Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“They were choices.”
Emily looked away.
Daniel continued.
“And I’m responsible for them.”
Silence.
Maria saw Emily’s face change slightly.
Not forgiveness.
But perhaps the first time Daniel had said something useful.
A computer alarm suddenly sounded.
Robert stood.
One surveillance screen showed movement near the front gate.
Three vehicles.
No license plates.
Evelyn whispered, “They found us.”
Robert stared at the screen.
“Impossible.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Apparently not.”
Maria looked around.
“How do we leave?”
“There’s a tunnel,” Robert said.
Emily groaned.
“Of course there is.”
Robert ignored her.
“It exits near the old greenhouse.”
Daniel studied the camera feed.
“Too late.”
Men were already entering the house.
At least eight.
Maybe more.
Evelyn opened a cabinet.
Inside were weapons.
Maria stepped back.
“No.”
Robert handed Daniel a pistol.
Daniel took it.
Emily stared at him.
“Do you know how to use that?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Later.”
She almost screamed.
Robert looked at Maria.
“You don’t need to fight.”
“I need to stay with Emily.”
“Then stay behind us.”
Emily crossed her arms.
“No.”
Robert stared.
“No?”
“I am done being moved around like cargo.”
“Emily, armed men are upstairs.”
“And every time I let someone else decide what I know or where I go, I end up in a coffin.”
She looked at the surveillance screens.
“There are cameras through the house?”
“Yes.”
“Audio?”
“Some rooms.”
“Can we speak through them?”
Robert understood.
“Yes.”
Emily sat at the console.
“What are you doing?”
“Buying time.”
She activated the mansion speakers.
Her voice echoed upstairs.
“This is Emily Hayes.”
The armed men on camera stopped.
Emily continued.
“If you came here for Robert Cross, you already know he’s alive.”
Robert stared at her.
She kept speaking.
“But you may not know we copied every Blackridge file.”
Robert whispered, “We didn’t.”
Emily muted the microphone.
“They don’t know that.”
Then she unmuted.
“If anyone enters the lower level, the files go to every major newspaper, federal agency and competing company associated with your investors.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Maria whispered, “That might actually work.”
One armed man looked directly at a hallway camera.
He raised his phone.
A second later, the bunker phone rang.
Robert answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Emily Cross.”
“Hayes,” she replied.
Daniel looked at her.
She did not look back.
The caller laughed.
“You sound healthier than expected.”
“I disappoint people.”
“You have nothing.”
“Then come downstairs.”
A pause.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Yes.”
Everyone stared at her.
She smiled without humor.
“But you don’t know about which part.”
The caller went quiet.
Emily leaned toward the microphone.
“Leave my property.”
“Your property?”
“My father is legally dead.”
Robert looked at Evelyn.
Emily continued.
“My mother controls Cross Medical. I’m her sole heir. Legally, you’re standing in my house.”
The caller laughed.
“You learn quickly.”
“I had a bad day.”
“Give us Robert.”
“No.”
“Give us the drive.”
Emily looked at Robert.
He shook his head.
She knew immediately.
“There is a drive.”
Robert whispered, “Not here.”
Emily said into the phone, “Which one?”
The caller hung up.
She turned.
“Where is it?”
Robert said nothing.
Emily stood.
“Dad.”
“The evidence Nathan brought.”
“The original drive.”
“Yes.”
“You still have it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Robert looked at Evelyn.
Her mother looked confused.
Then Robert answered.
“Inside Nathan’s grave.”
Emily stared.
“You buried the evidence with the man everyone thinks is you.”
“It was the safest place.”
Maria said, “Was.”
Robert nodded grimly.
On the surveillance screen, the armed team suddenly began leaving.
Daniel frowned.
“They’re going.”
Emily watched the vehicles pull away.
“No.”
Her stomach tightened.
“They got what they needed.”
“What?” Maria asked.
Emily turned toward Robert.
“The location.”
Robert’s face drained.
She pointed toward the room.
“Is this bunker bugged?”
Robert rushed to a wall panel.
He opened it.
Checked cables.
Then stopped.
A tiny blinking device had been attached behind the console.
A listening device.
Evelyn whispered, “How long?”
Robert ripped it free.
Daniel stared at him.
“Long enough.”
Emily looked toward the surveillance camera showing the empty driveway.
“They’re going to the cemetery.”
Robert reached for his jacket.
“So are we.”
Maria stared at him.
“You were shot.”
“It won’t matter if they get that drive.”
Emily looked at her father.
Then at Daniel.
Then at her mother.
“Who else knows what’s on it?”
Robert answered.
“Only me.”
“And Nathan?”
“He’s dead.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“You sure?”
Robert stared at her.
May you like
Emily continued.
“In this family, I think we should stop assuming anyone is dead until we personally check the coffin.”
