Chapter 5 - MY HUSBAND FINALLY LEARNED WHO MY FATHER WAS
Silas Vance had always underestimated quiet people.
That was his fatal flaw.
He mistook silence for weakness.
Kindness for stupidity.
Loyalty for dependence.
He had made that mistake with me.
He had made it with Daniel.
And most catastrophically, he had made it with my father.
At 7:14 p.m., while I was being transferred to a secure maternity suite under protest, Silas called me.
I answered.
“Amara.”
His voice shook.
Not much.
But I knew him.
He was terrified.
“What?”
“We need to talk.”
“You sent your mistress to beat me.”
“I didn't tell her to hurt you.”
I laughed.
“You gave her your elevator key.”
Silence.
“I told her to get the documents signed.”
“While I was hospitalized.”
“You wouldn't answer my calls.”
“So naturally you sent your girlfriend.”
“Amara—”
“Did you know about the belt?”
“No.”
I believed him.
It changed nothing.
“You knew she would threaten me.”
“I thought she'd persuade you.”
“By threatening to take my daughter?”
Silence.
There it was.
“You knew.”
“I was trying to protect us.”
“From what?”
“Gabriel.”
My father stood beside the window listening.
“Say his last name.”
Silas hesitated.
“Kade.”
Dad's expression remained unreadable.
I asked:
“How long have you known him?”
“Three years.”
Three years.
Longer than the affair, probably.
“How much did you borrow?”
“It's complicated.”
“One hundred and eighty million isn't complicated.”
Silas stopped breathing.
“How do you know that?”
I looked at Dad.
“Turns out my father knows your lender.”
Silas laughed nervously.
“Your father fixes cars.”
My father held out his hand.
I gave him the phone.
“Silas.”
A pause.
“Marcus?”
Dad's voice changed.
Not louder.
Just colder.
“I understand you've been using my daughter to pay Gabriel Kade.”
Silas tried to recover.
“This is between Amara and me.”
“No.”
“You don't understand the situation.”
“I understand you diverted two hundred and fourteen million dollars through Kade Capital.”
Silence.
“I understand you pledged intellectual property you don't own.”
Silence.
“I understand you conspired to have my daughter declared incompetent.”
Silence.
“And I understand the woman you've been sleeping with assaulted my pregnant child in a locked hospital room.”
Silas's breathing changed.
“Who are you?”
My father looked at me.
Then said:
“Ask Gabriel.”
The line went silent.
We waited.
Silas apparently turned toward Kade.
His voice came faintly.
“Who is Marcus Osei?”
There was a pause.
Then Gabriel began laughing.
Not amused laughter.
The kind a man gives when he realizes someone has made an unimaginably stupid mistake.
“You married Marcus Osei's daughter?”
Silas whispered:
“What?”
Gabriel laughed harder.
My father said nothing.
Finally, Gabriel spoke.
“You idiot.”
Silas's voice rose.
“Who is he?”
Gabriel answered.
“The reason I spent twenty-six years looking over my shoulder.”
Silas went silent.
Gabriel continued.
“You've been stealing from Osei's daughter?”
No answer.
“You put your hands on his granddaughter?”
“No. Odalys—”
“And you brought me into this without telling me whose family I was touching?”
“I didn't know!”
That was the first time I had ever heard Silas Vance panic.
My father took the phone.
“Now you know.”
He ended the call.
I stared at him.
“That was dramatic.”
“I've been told.”
“By Mom?”
“Constantly.”
Then his smile disappeared.
“Silas is frightened now.”
“Good.”
“No.”
Dad looked toward the hospital window.
“Frightened men become unpredictable.”
He was right.
Twenty minutes later, Silas tried to run.
Not from the building.
From Gabriel.
Security footage showed him leaving Sublevel Four through a maintenance corridor.
Odalys followed.
Gabriel's men followed them.
Then the feed went dark.
At the hospital, my contractions continued.
Four centimeters.
Priya had stopped arguing with me about whether I was in labor.
Now we were negotiating how long we could safely delay delivery.
Steroids had been administered earlier for the baby's lungs.
The neonatal team was ready.
My daughter was stable.
I was not.
Emotionally, I was furious.
Physically, my body had decided it was done participating in my plans.
At 8:03, a message arrived from Silas.
HELP ME.
I stared at it.
Another.
HE'S GOING TO KILL US.
Us.
Interesting word.
I typed:
Who is us?
Three dots.
Then:
Me and Odalys.
I laughed.
Dad looked at the screen.
“Don't answer.”
I typed anyway.
You should ask your girlfriend. She's very resourceful when she wants privacy.
Dad almost smiled.
Then a photograph arrived.
Silas and Odalys inside what looked like a mechanical room.
Odalys had blood near her temple.
Silas looked terrified.
Text:
I HAVE EVIDENCE.
I stopped.
“What evidence?”
Dad read.
“Ask.”
I did.
Silas replied:
KADE CAPITAL. PAYMENTS. JUDGES. DOCTORS. BOARD MEMBERS. EVERYTHING.
Elena leaned over.
“He's offering a deal.”
“Of course he is.”
My husband had always believed everything could be negotiated.
Love.
Loyalty.
Truth.
Apparently survival too.
Where?
I asked.
His answer:
SAFE IN MY OFFICE. BIOMETRIC LOCK. ONLY ME OR YOU.
Dad shook his head.
“Trap.”
“Probably.”
Another message.
ODALYS HAS A COPY.
I looked up.
“She has evidence?”
Elena frowned.
“Why?”
I knew.
Because Odalys never trusted Silas either.
Mistresses who help married men betray their wives rarely build relationships on faith.
Then Odalys called.
I answered.
Her voice was shaking.
“Amara.”
The last time she'd spoken my name, she was holding a belt.
“What?”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
“Gabriel is going to kill Silas.”
“Sounds like a personal problem.”
“And me.”
“Still not seeing my emergency.”
She began crying.
I felt nothing.
“I'm sorry.”
“No, you're scared.”
“I didn't know.”
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“I didn't know who your father was.”
There.
Not remorse.
Consequences.
“You would've beaten me if my father actually were a mechanic?”
Silence.
That silence condemned her more completely than any confession.
“I thought Silas loved me.”
“Congratulations. We were both stupid.”
“He said you were controlling him.”
I almost laughed.
“He stole two hundred million dollars.”
“He said you kept him from his own company.”
“My company.”
“He said—”
“I don't care what he said.”
Another contraction hit.
I breathed.
Odalys heard.
“Are you in labor?”
“Because you beat me.”
Silence.
Then she started sobbing.
Good.
“Amara, I can give you everything.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel has a list.”
“What list?”
She whispered:
“People he intends to remove after tonight.”
My father leaned closer.
“Who?”
I asked.
“You.”
Expected.
“Marcus.”
Expected.
“Daniel.”
Expected.
Then she said:
“And your daughter.”
Every person in the room went still.
My father took the phone.
“Where are you?”
Odalys began crying harder.
“Mr. Osei?”
“Yes.”
“I didn't know.”
His face became ice.
“You knew enough.”
“Please.”
“Where are you?”
She gave him a location inside Vance Dynamics.
Dad gestured.
His men moved.
Then Odalys whispered:
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“Gabriel isn't alone.”
Dad stopped.
“He has someone inside your organization.”
Silence.
“Name.”
“I don't know.”
“Male?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Maybe fifty.”
“Description.”
She described him.
Dad's expression changed.
For the first time since arriving, Marcus Osei looked genuinely betrayed.
“Dad?”
He lowered the phone.
“Who?”
He didn't answer.
“Dad.”
Finally:
“Samuel.”
“Who's Samuel?”
“My brother.”
I stared.
“You have a brother?”
“Had.”
“Another dead person?”
Dad looked at me.
“No.”
Then:
“I've trusted him with my life for forty years.”
May you like
Outside the maternity suite, one of Dad's armed men slowly reached beneath his jacket.
And Nurse Priya saw him.
