Chapter 14 - My Father's Last Message
"Get it back."
Agent Cole tapped the screen.
"I'm trying."
The video resumed.
Dad appeared again.
My chest hurt just looking at him.
He wore a plain Army T-shirt.
No rank.
No medals.
Just Dad.
"I've spent most of my adult life telling people that courage means acting when you're afraid."
He smiled faintly.
"I left out the harder part."
His eyes lowered.
"Sometimes courage means admitting you caused the danger in the first place."
Mom sat beside Sienna's stretcher.
Tears ran silently down her face.
Dad continued.
"I helped create Northstar."
The words hurt even though Voss had already told me.
"It began as a legal intelligence-finance program. We traced hostile money, protected service members, and exposed bribery networks."
He paused.
"Then Richard Voss began selling access."
Dad's jaw tightened.
"By the time I understood what he'd built inside our operation, dozens of people had been compromised."
Mason stood beside me.
His hand found mine.
"I shut it down."
Dad looked exhausted.
"But shutting down a system isn't the same as destroying it."
He explained the nine point three million.
The money wasn't stolen.
It had been seized from Northstar financial channels during a classified counterintelligence operation.
Because exposing its origin publicly would have compromised hundreds of investigations, Dad buried the money under protected legal structures until Nightglass could be recovered.
Then he said something that made Mom gasp.
"Linda was never part of Northstar."
Mom covered her mouth.
"She made mistakes. Serious ones. Richard used her hunger for independence, her resentment of my control, and later her fear of losing our lifestyle."
Dad looked toward the camera.
"But she never knowingly betrayed this country."
Mom broke down.
I felt something in my chest loosen.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But truth mattered.
Dad continued.
"Richard will tell you I died because I betrayed him."
A pause.
"That's partly true."
My heartbeat quickened.
"Three days from now, I'm meeting a source who claims to know where Richard has been hiding."
I knew the date.
Dad died three days after recording this.
"If something happens to me, assume the meeting was compromised."
He leaned closer.
"The leak came from inside my protection detail."
Grant.
I looked toward Agent Cole.
"Thomas?"
She shook her head.
"Keep watching."
Dad continued.
"Do not blame Colonel Grant. He was the only person who argued against the route."
Relief hit me.
"Then who?"
As though answering me, Dad looked into the camera.
"His name is Evan Rourke."
The fake attorney.
Of course.
"Rourke has worn multiple identities. If I die, he likely arranged it."
Dad's voice softened.
"Olivia, don't spend your life trying to avenge me."
Tears blurred my vision.
"Please."
He smiled.
"You were always stubborn."
I laughed through the tears.
Mason squeezed my hand.
"Use Nightglass to protect the people still alive."
Dad looked directly at me.
"That is an order."
I whispered, "Yes, sir."
The video continued.
"And one more thing."
His expression changed.
"When you finally understand why I hid the truth from you, you'll be angry."
"You got that right," I whispered.
"I hope you'll forgive me."
He breathed slowly.
"Not because I deserve it."
A pause.
"Because carrying anger is heavy, Liv."
My throat closed.
"You don't need to carry every heavy thing just because you're strong enough to lift it."
That sentence broke me.
For years, everyone had assumed I could handle more.
Mom.
Sienna.
The Army.
Even me.
I had confused strength with endless endurance.
Dad had seen it.
Before I did.
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Sienna said quietly, "He was talking about us too."
I turned.
She looked at Mom.
Then me.
"He knew."
Mom wiped her face.
"He always knew."
Agent Cole's phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Then looked at us.
"We found Voss."
My body tightened.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"State police stopped an ambulance twelve miles south."
Mason frowned.
"Ambulance?"
"Stolen."
"Voss?"
"In custody."
I let out a breath.
Finally.
Then Cole's expression changed.
"But Rourke is still missing."
I looked at the tablet.
The fake attorney had stolen Dad's folder.
"He has the documents."
"Yes."
My phone vibrated.
A text from an unknown number.
One photograph.
My apartment.
Taken from inside my bedroom.
Below it, a message.
YOUR FATHER LEFT ONE LAST FILE.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT IT.
I showed Mason.
His face hardened.
Then a second message appeared.
A picture of something resting on my bed.
Dad's stolen folder.
May you like
And beside it...
a bomb.
