Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHOSE NAME I NEVER KNEW
“My father was Daniel Carter.”
That was the name on my birth certificate.
That was the man whose photograph Mom kept in a drawer.
He died before I was born.
Or so I’d been told.
Roman stared at the frozen video.
“Adrian Falcone.”
Declan stopped breathing.
Gabriel sat down slowly.
“Who is Adrian?” I asked.
Nobody answered fast enough.
“Who?”
Roman finally spoke.
“Our father’s younger brother.”
My stomach dropped.
Victor Falcone had two brothers.
Michael.
The triplets’ father.
And Adrian.
My father.
That made Roman, Declan, and Gabriel my cousins.
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because if I didn’t laugh, I might scream.
“I came here to mop floors.”
Gabriel rubbed his face.
“This family does not do simple.”
“Apparently.”
Declan looked at me differently now.
Not suspicious.
Protective.
I hated that immediately.
“Do not start treating me like glass.”
His eyebrow rose.
“You’re ordering the wrong triplet.”
Roman reopened the video.
Mom continued after the frozen frame.
“Adrian loved me. He wanted out of the family business.”
My chest tightened.
“He discovered Victor was using Falcone construction projects to move illegal weapons and stolen medical supplies.”
Roman’s expression darkened.
“We never knew about the medical supplies.”
“Adrian planned to testify.”
Mom swallowed.
“Victor found out.”
I already knew what came next.
“My father wasn’t dead before I was born.”
Mom’s eyes filled with tears on-screen.
“No.”
I whispered.
“He died when I was two.”
Roman found an old record.
Adrian Falcone.
Declared dead twenty-two years earlier in a boating accident.
No body recovered.
Of course.
Mom continued:
“Adrian survived the boat explosion. Michael helped hide him.”
The triplets’ father.
“For three years, Adrian lived under the name Daniel Carter.”
That was the man on my birth certificate.
Both identities were true.
He was my father.
“When Victor finally found him, Adrian disappeared for good.”
“Disappeared?” I whispered.
The video ended before Mom explained.
Then Declan’s phone rang.
Federal agent.
Lily had been located.
Alive.
Relief hit me so hard I sat down.
“She’s okay?”
“Still inside,” Declan said. “They have eyes on the building.”
“What about Victor?”
“Unknown.”
Then the agent said something that changed Declan’s face.
“What?”
He looked at Roman.
“Another hostage.”
“Who?”
Declan stared at me.
“Older male. Approximately fifty-five.”
I felt cold.
“What does he look like?”
Declan repeated the description.
Dark hair gone mostly gray.
Scar on his right temple.
Roman pulled up Adrian’s old photograph.
Aged digitally.
The resemblance was close.
Too close.
The agent sent a surveillance image.
A man sat beside Lily.
May you like
My father.
Alive.
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