Chapter 10 - The False Victory
My father looked exactly as I remembered him, just with a little more gray in his hair.
I stood there, completely unable to breathe, my mind rejecting what my eyes were seeing.
“Dad?” I whispered, my voice breaking into a fragile sob.
“You're alive?”
I took a step forward, wanting to throw my arms around the man I had mourned for five years.
He did not smile.
He did not open his arms to welcome his grieving daughter.
Instead, he looked at me with an expression of cold, absolute disgust.
“You really are an incredibly stubborn girl,” he said, his voice entirely devoid of affection.
I stopped moving, a deep sense of dread washing over my initial shock.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
My father walked over to my dresser and casually adjusted his expensive Rolex watch.
“Arthur was an idiot, and Julian was a sloppy fool,” he sighed heavily.
“But they were my idiots, running my money laundering operation exactly as I designed it.”
The room began to spin violently.
My father hadn't faked his death to escape the cartel.
He had faked his death to run the criminal empire from the shadows, leaving me as the perfect, innocent face of the company.
“You orchestrated this?” I gasped, clutching the doorframe for support.
“You were going to let me take the fall for the shipping container?”
He finally looked directly into my eyes, a cruel smirk playing on his lips.
“I needed a fall guy, Avery, and you were always so desperate to protect the family legacy.”
He took a slow step toward me, reaching into his tailored jacket pocket.
“But you ruined a perfectly good operation today.”
“And worse, you attracted the FBI directly to my doorstep.”
He pulled a small, silver pistol from his pocket and aimed it directly at my heart.
“I am your daughter!” I screamed, tears of pure betrayal streaming down my face.
My father cocked the weapon, his eyes completely dead.
“That is the funny part,” he chuckled darkly.
May you like
“You aren't my daughter, Avery.”
“You are the girl I kidnapped twenty years ago to replace the real Avery Sterling after she died.”
