Chapter 6 - Silas Montgomery
Nobody moved.
Silas appeared in the doorway.
He was older than Nora expected.
Late seventies.
Silver hair.
Elegant gray suit.
A walking cane in one hand.
He looked more like a retired professor than a man who had haunted the Montgomery family for decades.
His eyes, however, were cold.
David stepped forward.
Silas.
Silas smiled.
David Bell.
Still protecting people who don't deserve it.
David's expression hardened.
Stay away from Nora.
Silas looked at her.
I have never been away from Nora.
Nora felt a chill.
You watched me.
I protected you.
You stalked me.
I monitored you.
You ruined my family.
Silas smiled faintly.
Your family ruined itself.
Evelyn stepped forward.
You murdered my father.
Silas looked at her.
No.
I didn't.
Evelyn's face hardened.
I heard you.
You heard an argument.
You assumed the rest.
Nora looked at Silas.
Then who killed my grandfather?
Silas's smile disappeared.
That's the question.
He glanced toward Charles's name on one of the documents.
Your father has spent twenty-five years making sure nobody asks it.
Nora clenched her fists.
What do you want?
Silas looked at the pendant.
That.
Nora instinctively covered it.
Silas nodded.
Good.
Your grandfather was very clever.
He knew people would eventually come looking.
So he hid the truth in the one place nobody would search.
What place?
Silas looked directly at Nora.
With you.
Nora felt her pulse accelerate.
What does that mean?
Silas stepped forward.
The pendant opens the first lock.
The second lock is your blood.
Nora stared at him.
That doesn't make sense.
It will.
Julian stepped between them.
You're not going near her.
Silas studied Julian.
You sound like your father.
Julian froze.
Silas smiled.
That's not a compliment.
David stepped closer.
Why are you here?
Silas looked at him.
Because Charles made a mistake.
What mistake?
He brought Nora into the light too early.
Nora frowned.
Why?
Because now everyone knows she exists.
Silas turned toward the warehouse entrance.
And everyone who wants what she inherited knows where to find her.
A gunshot sounded outside.
Everyone ducked.
David shouted.
Move!
The veterans rushed into the warehouse.
Silas calmly stepped backward.
Nora looked at him.
You knew this would happen.
Yes.
Then why stay?
Silas looked at her.
Because I needed you to hear one thing.
What?
Your father isn't the man you think he is.
Nora's eyes narrowed.
I already know that.
Silas shook his head.
No.
You don't.
Then he disappeared through a hidden door.
Julian rushed after him.
But the passage was empty.
On the floor lay a single photograph.
Nora picked it up.
It showed Charles.
Standing beside Silas.
Twenty-five years earlier.
May you like
And between them stood a little girl.
Nora.
