Chapter 8: The Last Game Patricia Plays
Chapter 8: The Last Game Patricia Plays
I stared at the picture until my vision blurred.
Lily.
My little girl.
Sitting in the back of a car.
Tears running down her face.
And beside her…
Patricia.
The woman who had started all of this.
The woman who had already taken so much.
My hands went numb.
“No.”
The word came out quietly.
Almost like I was trying to convince myself.
“No.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Daniel.”
I ignored him.
I called Claire.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
Straight to voicemail.
My chest tightened.
“She took her.”
Richard looked at the phone.
His face changed.
Not surprise.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Patricia wouldn’t do this.”
I turned toward him.
“You said she was dangerous.”
“I said she was ruthless.”
He shook his head.
“But taking Lily…”
His voice lowered.
“That means she’s desperate.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Good.”
Everyone looked at me.
Because there was something in my voice they had never heard before.
Something darker.
“Because now she made the biggest mistake of her life.”
Ethan grabbed my shoulder.
“Daniel.”
I looked at him.
“We need a plan.”
He was right.
I knew that.
Walking into Patricia’s world blindly was exactly what she wanted.
She wanted emotion.
She wanted anger.
She wanted me to lose control.
And the worst part?
It was working.
But there was one thing Patricia didn’t understand.
She thought being a father was a weakness.
She was wrong.
It was the reason I would win.
Two hours later, we had a location.
Not because Patricia told us.
Because Ethan found it.
“The car’s GPS.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
He held up a file.
“Your old insurance records.”
I frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Claire’s car.”
My stomach dropped.
“She’s driving the same car?”
Ethan nodded.
“She never changed it.”
Richard looked confused.
“And Patricia didn’t know?”
“No.”
Ethan pointed at the screen.
“She thinks she’s invisible.”
A small location appeared.
An old Whitmore property outside the city.
A place abandoned years ago.
I knew immediately.
A trap.
But I didn’t care.
“Let’s go.”
Richard grabbed my arm.
“Daniel.”
I looked back.
“You don’t know what she’s capable of.”
I pulled away.
“You spent twenty years hiding from her.”
My voice hardened.
“I spent one night watching my daughter cry because of her.”
A pause.
“We’re different.”
Richard looked at me.
Then slowly nodded.
“I was wrong about you.”
I frowned.
“What?”
He looked toward the door.
“You’re not your father.”
A sad smile.
“You’re stronger.”
The old Whitmore property was nothing like the mansion.
No lights.
No luxury.
No guests.
Just a huge empty building surrounded by dead trees.
The kind of place where families buried secrets.
Ethan stayed back.
“I’m calling the police.”
I nodded.
“Do it.”
Richard looked at me.
“You’re going inside alone?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
I turned.
He stepped closer.
“For twenty years, I ran.”
He looked at the building.
“I’m done running.”
For the first time, I saw him differently.
Not as the man who abandoned me.
But as someone who had been broken too.
We walked inside.
The door was unlocked.
Too easy.
That worried me.
“Patricia?”
My voice echoed.
A light turned on.
Then another.
A path.
Just like the warehouse.
She loved controlling entrances.
Controlling exits.
Controlling people.
At the end of the hallway, we found a room.
And there she was.
Patricia Whitmore.
Sitting calmly.
Like she was waiting for dinner.
Lily was beside her.
Tied to a chair.
My entire body reacted.
“Lily!”
She looked up.
“Daddy!”
I moved forward.
But Patricia raised one finger.
“Stop.”
I froze.
“Touch her and I call the police.”
I stared.
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
She smiled.
“Careful.”
Her voice was calm.
“You’re making emotional statements.”
I hated how familiar that sounded.
How easily she twisted words.
“You hurt her.”
“No.”
She looked at Lily.
“I corrected her.”
My hands curled into fists.
Richard stepped forward.
“You’re finished, Patricia.”
She looked at him.
And for the first time, her calm expression cracked.
“Richard.”
A pause.
“I wondered when you would finally crawl out.”
He smiled sadly.
“I’m here to take back what you stole.”
Patricia laughed.
“What exactly did I steal?”
She looked around.
“This?”
She gestured.
“The company?”
“The money?”
“The reputation?”
She looked at me.
“No.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“I stole the truth.”
Silence.
Then she looked at me.
“Your father knew too much.”
I felt my heartbeat in my ears.
“You killed him.”
She tilted her head.
“Such an ugly word.”
“You killed him.”
She sighed.
“He made a choice.”
My voice shook.
“What choice?”
“He chose loyalty to Richard over his own life.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Don’t rewrite history.”
Patricia ignored him.
“Your father was weak.”
That sentence broke something inside me.
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“No?”
I stepped closer.
“He raised me.”
My voice became stronger.
“He loved me.”
I pointed at her.
“You destroyed him because he was a better person than you.”
For the first time…
Patricia looked angry.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
The mask slipped.
“You have no idea what power costs.”
I laughed.
“No.”
I looked at Lily.
“I know exactly what it costs.”
A pause.
“It costs people like you everything.”
The room went silent.
Then Patricia smiled.
Not a normal smile.
A dangerous one.
“Do you really think you won?”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
She looked toward the door.
“Your wife.”
I froze.
“Where is Claire?”
Patricia smiled.
“She made her choice.”
“No.”
“She came to me willingly.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it?”
She picked up her phone.
Pressed a button.
A recording started playing.
Claire’s voice.
“I’ll bring Lily.”
My blood went cold.
The recording continued.
“I’ll do whatever you ask.”
The sound stopped.
I stared at Patricia.
My heart broke.
Because even though I knew there might be an explanation…
Hearing it still hurt.
“Where is she?”
Patricia smiled.
“Gone.”
Richard stepped forward.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
She looked at me.
“Ask yourself why she always protects the Whitmore family.”
I couldn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know anymore.
Patricia stood.
“Your wife has always been a Whitmore.”
She walked toward the exit.
“Blood remembers.”
I moved.
But suddenly the lights went out.
A loud alarm started.
Smoke filled the room.
“Daddy!”
I heard Lily scream.
I ran toward her.
Not toward Patricia.
Not toward Richard.
My daughter.
Always my daughter.
I found her chair.
Untied her.
Pulled her into my arms.
“I’m here.”
She was crying.
“Daddy, I knew you would come.”
That sentence almost destroyed me.
Then the smoke cleared.
Patricia was gone.
Richard was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A phone on the floor.
Claire’s phone.
I picked it up.
One new message.
From Claire.
I’m sorry. I had no choice.
Then another message appeared.
A video.
I pressed play.
Claire was sitting alone.
Crying.
Looking directly at the camera.
“Daniel…”
Her voice broke.
“If you’re watching this, it means I failed.”
I froze.
The video continued.
“I need you to know something.”
A tear rolled down her face.
“I never betrayed you.”
My breath stopped.
“Then why?”
She looked terrified.
“Because my mother threatened Lily.”
A pause.
“She said she would kill her.”
The video shook.
Claire whispered:
“And Daniel…”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Patricia doesn’t know I found the evidence.”
My heart pounded.
“What evidence?”
Claire continued:
“The evidence that can destroy her.”
She looked behind her.
Like someone was coming.
Then she whispered:
“I hid it where nobody would ever look.”
The video ended.
But one final frame appeared.
A location.
A place I recognized.
My childhood home.
The house where my father died.
And beneath it…
May you like
A message.
Your father left you the truth.
