Chapter 5 - The Bitter Truth
The revelation that Arthur Reed was still alive hit the room like a localized earthquake.
Clara stared at the radio, tears brimming in her fierce eyes.
She had believed her father was dead for two decades.
“Dad?” Clara whispered toward the speaker, her voice breaking.
“I'm here, my sweet girl,” Arthur replied, his tone shifting to false warmth.
He commanded Clara to open the panic room door and deliver the Hales to him.
I raised my gun at Clara, not knowing which side of her bloodline she would choose.
My mother pulled her oxygen mask down and looked at Arthur's daughter.
“He didn't betray the family, Bennett,” my mother confessed, tears streaming down her face.
I stared at my dying mother in absolute shock.
She explained that my father was actually the one losing his mind and planning to slaughter innocent families.
Arthur had tried to stop him, and my mother had secretly helped Arthur fake his death to escape my father's wrath.
“Then why is he attacking us now?” I demanded, struggling to process the lies.
“Because isolation turns good men into monsters,” Arthur answered through the radio.
He declared that he was taking back the empire he built, starting with my life.
He gave Clara exactly sixty seconds to open the door, or he would pump lethal gas through the ventilation system.
Clara looked at me, then looked at her father's radio.
May you like
She walked slowly toward the heavy steel door and placed her hand on the locking mechanism.
Before I could stop her, she pulled the main release lever.
