Chapter 6 - The Forgotten Daughter
The shock stole the breath straight from my lungs. “Clara? You’re alive?”
Clara’s eyes were hard, tempered by years of survival. “I escaped that labor camp ten years ago. I changed my name, laid low, and spent the last decade tracking Gloria’s network. I was the one who tipped off Ian. I sent him the anonymous message about the false wall.”
She drove us to a brightly lit, heavily fortified FBI field office in the city. Clara had been working as a confidential informant for federal investigators. They had been building a massive RICO case against the network my parents were part of, but they hadn't had the physical evidence tying Gloria directly to the violence.
Until now.
Within minutes of our arrival, federal agents swarmed Ian, rushing him to a secure medical bay. Clara and I were taken to an interrogation room, where a team of federal prosecutors debriefed us.
“Detective Ramirez?” I asked immediately, panic rising in my throat.
An agent smiled gently. “He’s alive, Mrs. Mercer. He took a bullet to the shoulder, but he managed to hold off the mercenaries until our tactical teams arrived. Gloria and her hired guns are in federal custody.”
I slumped into the chair, burying my face in my hands, sobbing tears of absolute relief.
But there was one loose end. Walt.
“Your father wasn't at the cabin,” the agent said. “He’s currently barricaded inside his mansion. We have a SWAT team outside, but he’s refusing to come out.”
I wiped my eyes. “Let me talk to him.”
The agents set up a secure line. The phone rang three times before my father picked up.
“Natalie?” he sounded small, pathetic. A broken old man.
“It’s over, Dad,” I said, my voice cold and steady. “Gloria is in federal custody. The FBI has the ledger. They have Clara. They have Ian.”
A pathetic sob came through the speaker. “I didn’t want this, Nat. I swear. Your mother… she has such a powerful personality. I was just trying to keep the peace. I didn't want anyone to get hurt.”
“You hit your own son with a iron poker, Dad. You let her lock Lizzy in a closet. You’re a coward. And if you have a shred of humanity left, you will walk out that front door right now with your hands on your head.”
There was a long silence. Then, the sound of a heavy sigh.
“I’m sorry, Natalie.”
The line disconnected. A minute later, the federal agent tapped his earpiece. “Subject is in custody. Walter Mercer surrendered peacefully.”
It was done. The empire of lies my parents had built had finally crumbled into dust.
Adam arrived at the FBI office two hours later, holding Lizzy in one arm and Noah in the other. When Lizzy saw me, she wriggled out of Adam’s grip and ran to me, burying her face in my stomach.
“Auntie Nat! The bad men didn't get you!”
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“No, baby,” I smiled through my tears, lifting her up. “The bad men are gone forever.”
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