Chapter 8 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER DIED
I forgot how to breathe.
My mother screamed his name.
“Rafael!”
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
“No.”
Mom was crying uncontrollably.
“He died.”
Apparently not.
Julian called Marcus.
“Trace it.”
“Working.”
I looked at my mother.
“You saw his body?”
She shook her head.
“Closed casket.”
“Why?”
“Electrical burns.”
My stomach twisted.
Victor had staged everything.
Dad hadn’t been killed.
He had been hidden.
For fifteen years.
Why?
The audit file said death authorization.
Maybe Victor intended murder.
Maybe something changed.
Marcus found a partial signal from an abandoned Vale research property upstate.
We left immediately.
No arguments.
No billionaire orders.
Julian just said:
“We get him back.”
The facility sat behind locked gates near the Hudson.
Federal agents moved in.
Inside, we found medical rooms.
Server racks.
Old trust systems.
And my father.
Alive.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
But alive.
Mom reached him first.
I stopped in the doorway.
Because sometimes joy can hurt too much to enter quickly.
Dad looked at her.
Then at me.
His face broke.
“Lena?”
I started crying.
He opened his arms.
I crossed the room.
Fifteen years disappeared.
Not really.
But enough for one hug.
Later, after doctors examined him, Dad explained.
Victor had kept him alive because only Rafael understood the original trust architecture.
“He wanted the override.”
“Yes.”
“Why wait fifteen years?”
“Because the trust did not activate until Julian approached thirty-nine.”
I looked at Dad.
“Did you know they would use me?”
His eyes filled.
“I built you into the safeguard because I believed no one would find you.”
“Victor did.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not angry.”
I was.
But not only at him.
Dad looked toward Julian.
“You married her.”
Julian nodded.
“Contractually.”
I covered my face.
Dad stared.
“How much?”
“Six hundred thousand.”
Dad looked at me.
“You negotiated poorly.”
Julian laughed.
I stared at both of them.
“Unbelievable.”
Then Dad became serious.
“Sebastian?”
“Working with Victor.”
His face hardened.
“I knew.”
“You knew?”
“He visited me.”
“When?”
“Years.”
“Why?”
“He wanted the system.”
My stomach turned.
“So he wasn’t manipulated once.”
“No.”
“He chose this.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked away.
That betrayal hurt him.
I saw it.
Then Dad said something stranger.
“Sebastian isn’t Victor’s partner.”
“What?”
“He’s Victor’s son.”
Julian froze.
“My cousin is my uncle’s son. That isn’t surprising.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Julian.
“Victor is not your uncle.”
Silence.
“Your father was.”
Julian’s face emptied.
May you like
Dad continued.
“Victor Vale is your biological father.”
