CHAPTER 9 — CASSANDRA'S FINAL BETRAYAL
Outside the Mercer Estate...
More than fifty police vehicles surrounded the property.
Helicopters circled overhead.
Federal agents poured through the gates.
News helicopters broadcast everything live across America.
Inside the mansion...
Cassandra watched the chaos unfold on security monitors.
Her expensive white dress was stained with dust and blood.
Richard Wells crawled toward her.
"We're finished..."
She calmly loaded another magazine into her pistol.
"No."
"We're survivors."
She opened a hidden safe behind a painting.
Inside...
Not cash.
Not jewelry.
A single passport.
One plane ticket.
And a small remote control.
Richard frowned.
"What's that?"
Cassandra looked at him almost pityingly.
"Insurance."
Deep beneath the mansion...
Emily suddenly stopped running.
Her earpiece crackled violently.
Then one sentence came through.
"Bomb detected."
Emily's face turned pale.
She grabbed Lily.
"We have to move!"
Marcus heard the warning at exactly the same moment.
"Cassandra..."
He whispered.
"She rigged the estate."
The countdown had already begun.
05:00
Hidden explosives planted throughout the underground tunnels activated simultaneously.
Adrian, bleeding heavily, looked toward Marcus and laughed.
"Looks like neither of us wins."
Marcus ignored him completely.
His eyes searched only for one person.
"Lily!"
Far down the tunnel, the little girl heard her father's voice.
"Daddy!"
She broke free from Emily's hand and ran.
Marcus ran toward her.
Between them...
A steel blast door suddenly crashed down from the ceiling.
BOOM!
Father and daughter were separated by only a few feet.
Lily pounded desperately on the metal door.
"Daddy!"
Marcus slammed both fists against it.
"Lily!"
The countdown echoed through the tunnel.
04:21...
04:20...
04:19...
Then...
From behind Marcus came Cassandra's calm, chilling voice.
"You always chose her over me."
Marcus slowly turned around.
She was pointing the pistol directly at his chest.
But she wasn't smiling anymore.
She was crying.
"There was never room for me in your heart..."
"So if I can't have your love..."
"...you'll spend the rest of your life remembering the moment you lost hers."
Her thumb moved onto the detonator.
And in that instant...
A small voice echoed through the tunnel.
Not Lily's.
Another child's voice.
Soft.
Weak.
"Daddy...?"
Everyone froze.
Marcus looked toward the darkness beyond Cassandra.
A little boy—no older than six—stepped out, frightened and barefoot, clutching a faded teddy bear.
He looked at Cassandra...
Then at Marcus.
And whispered the words that left every person speechless.
May you like
"Mom said... you're my father too."
— END OF CHAPTER 9 —
