MY DAUGHTER, THE ASSASIN

CHAPTER THREE: THE NIGHT HE DISAPPEARED

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Eleanor stood at the bottom of the staircase, staring at the man she had spent twenty-one years mourning.

Victor Hayes.

Older.

Harder.

There were silver strands in his dark hair now, and a thin scar ran from the corner of his jaw toward his ear.

But there was no mistaking him.

It was the face she had kissed.

The face she had once trusted with everything.

The face she had watched disappear from her life.

"Victor."

His name escaped her lips like a question.

Victor's expression didn't change.

"Hello, Eleanor."

Her knees nearly gave way.

Sophia caught her before she fell.

"Mum."

Eleanor pushed herself upright.

"No."

She stared at Victor.

"No, this isn't possible."

Victor descended one step.

"It is."

"You died."

"I was supposed to."

Eleanor's eyes narrowed.

"What does that mean?"

Victor looked toward Sophia.

"She doesn't know?"

Sophia's hand tightened around the weapon hidden beneath her jacket.

"Don't involve her."

Victor gave a quiet, humorless laugh.

"She's already involved."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know more about you than you think."

Sophia stepped between him and her mother.

"Don't come any closer."

Victor stopped.

His eyes moved to the weapon.

"You still hold it the same way."

Sophia's expression hardened.

"You taught me."

"I taught you many things."

"You abandoned me."

Something flickered across Victor's face.

Pain.

Regret.

Then it disappeared.

"I didn't abandon you."

"You disappeared."

"I was forced to."

"You let them take me."

Victor's silence was answer enough.

Sophia's eyes filled with anger.

"You knew."

Eleanor looked between them.

"Knew what?"

Sophia didn't answer.

Victor did.

"I knew they would come for her."

Eleanor's voice trembled.

"Who?"

Victor looked at her.

"The Black Room."

Eleanor shook her head.

"You built that organization."

"No."

"You just told me—"

"I helped create something that eventually became it."

Victor's voice was calm.

"I thought I was building an intelligence network. Something designed to protect people."

"What happened?"

"People happened."

He stepped down another stair.

"Power attracts the wrong kind of people. Eventually, the people running it stopped protecting governments and began controlling them."

Eleanor stared at him.

"And you?"

"I tried to stop them."

Sophia laughed bitterly.

"That isn't what they told me."

Victor's eyes shifted toward her.

"What did they tell you?"

"That you betrayed them."

"I did."

"That you killed people."

"I did."

"That you were responsible for the disappearance of innocent families."

Victor didn't deny it.

"I made mistakes."

Sophia's voice became colder.

"They told me you were the reason I was taken."

Victor looked at her for a long moment.

"That part is true."

Eleanor gasped.

"What?"

Sophia turned toward him.

"You knew they would take me?"

Victor nodded.

"But I didn't know when."

Sophia's face changed.

"You could have stopped them."

"I tried."

"Not hard enough."

"I nearly died trying."

"You should have."

Eleanor stepped forward.

"Sophia!"

Her daughter looked at her.

For the first time, Eleanor saw the little girl beneath the assassin's exterior.

A wounded child.

A child who had spent years blaming herself for something that had never been her fault.

Victor slowly walked toward them.

Sophia raised her weapon.

"Stay there."

Victor stopped.

"Put it down."

"No."

"I am not here to hurt you."

"How convenient."

Victor's eyes remained fixed on hers.

"If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have heard me coming."

Sophia's jaw tightened.

"Don't threaten me."

"I'm not."

"Then why are you here?"

Victor looked at Eleanor.

"Because they know where she is."

Eleanor's heart sank.

"Who?"

"The people who trained her."

Sophia lowered the weapon slightly.

Victor continued.

"They know she has discovered the truth."

"Which truth?" Eleanor asked.

Victor's eyes met hers.

"The truth about the night I disappeared."

Eleanor felt cold.

"You said we needed to talk about that."

"We do."

"Then talk."

Victor glanced toward the windows.

"Not here."

"Why?"

"Because your house is no longer safe."

Sophia immediately understood.

She turned toward the security monitors in the hallway.

Every screen was black.

"How long?"

Victor looked at his watch.

"Twenty-three minutes."

Sophia's eyes narrowed.

"Since what?"

"Since they disabled your security system."

Eleanor looked toward the cameras.

"They've been inside the house?"

Victor nodded.

"Possibly."

Sophia moved quickly.

She checked the hallway.

Then the kitchen.

Then the entrance.

Nothing.

"No one."

Victor shook his head.

"That's what makes them dangerous."

Sophia turned toward him.

"Who sent the order?"

Victor's expression changed.

"What order?"

"The order to kill my mother."

Victor stared at her.

"Who told you?"

Sophia said nothing.

"Was it sent through your usual channel?"

She nodded.

Victor's face became grim.

"Then we have less time than I thought."

Eleanor looked confused.

"What are you talking about?"

Victor walked toward the dining room.

"We need to leave."

Eleanor didn't move.

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

Victor stopped.

"I understand."

"You disappeared."

"I know."

"You allowed me to believe you were dead."

"I had no choice."

"You always have a choice."

Victor turned.

"You think I don't know that?"

His voice finally cracked.

"You think I wanted to leave you?"

The room fell silent.

Victor looked at Eleanor.

"I watched you from a distance."

Eleanor's eyes widened.

"You watched me?"

"Every year."

"Every birthday?"

"Yes."

"Every Christmas?"

"Yes."

"When Sophia was sick?"

Victor looked down.

"Yes."

Eleanor's voice broke.

"Then why didn't you come home?"

"Because if I did, you would have died."

Eleanor stared at him.

Victor continued.

"They were watching you. They had people around you. Your staff. Your business associates. Your friends."

"My friends?"

"Some of them."

Eleanor's face hardened.

"Who?"

Victor shook his head.

"I can't tell you yet."

"Yet?"

"There are things you need to remember first."

Sophia stepped closer.

"What things?"

Victor looked at her.

"The night you were born."

Sophia frowned.

"What does my birth have to do with this?"

Victor's eyes darkened.

"Everything."

Eleanor suddenly felt dizzy.

"Victor..."

He looked at her.

"Tell her."

Eleanor stared at him.

"No."

Sophia looked between them.

"Tell me what?"

Victor remained silent.

"Mom?"

Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.

"I wanted to protect you."

"From what?"

"The truth."

Sophia's voice became quiet.

"Was Dad really my father?"

Victor's expression hardened.

"Yes."

Sophia looked at him.

"Then what are you hiding?"

Eleanor closed her eyes.

Twenty-one years.

Twenty-one years of silence.

Twenty-one years of pretending.

She had promised herself she would take the secret to her grave.

But now Victor was standing in her house.

Sophia was no longer a child.

And the people who had destroyed their family were coming back.

"I didn't know what to do," Eleanor whispered.

Sophia stepped closer.

"Mom."

"The night you were born..."

Eleanor stopped.

Victor suddenly raised his hand.

"Wait."

Sophia turned.

Victor was staring toward the window.

"What?"

He listened.

A faint sound came from outside.

An engine.

Then another.

Victor's expression changed.

"They're here."

Sophia immediately moved toward Eleanor.

"Get down."

The first window exploded.

Glass flew across the room.

Eleanor screamed.

Victor grabbed her and pulled her behind the wall.

Sophia drew her weapon.

Three dark figures moved through the garden.

Sophia watched them carefully.

"How many?"

Victor looked through the narrow opening beside the curtains.

"Six."

Sophia's eyes narrowed.

"Six?"

"At least."

She looked at him.

"You said they were coming for us."

"They are."

"Then why are you still standing here?"

Victor looked at his daughter.

"Because this time, I'm not leaving you."

Another shot struck the wall.

Eleanor covered her ears.

Sophia moved toward the hallway.

Victor caught her arm.

"Where are you going?"

"To stop them."

"Alone?"

"I've done it before."

"That's exactly what they expect."

Sophia pulled her arm free.

"Then what do you suggest?"

Victor looked at her.

"Trust me."

Sophia almost laughed.

"That's the one thing I don't know how to do."

Victor's eyes softened.

"I know."

Then the lights went out again.

Darkness swallowed the house.

Sophia heard movement behind her.

She turned.

A shadow appeared at the end of the hallway.

She raised her weapon.

"Don't move."

The figure stopped.

Then a familiar voice whispered:

"Sophia."

Her blood ran cold.

It wasn't Victor.

It wasn't Eleanor.

It was a voice from her past.

A voice she had not heard since the night she escaped the Black Room.

The voice of the man who had trained her.

"You were always my best student."

Sophia's finger tightened around the trigger.

Victor's face went pale.

"That's impossible."

Sophia stared into the darkness.

"Who is he?"

Victor whispered one word.

"Marcus."

A soft laugh came from the hallway.

Then the lights suddenly returned.

The hallway was empty.

But on the floor lay a single white envelope.

Sophia walked toward it.

Victor grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't."

Sophia looked down.

Her name was written across the envelope.

SOPHIA HAYES.

She opened it.

Inside was a photograph.

Her breath caught.

It showed her at fourteen years old.

Standing inside the Black Room.

Beside the man who had trained her.

Marcus.

But that wasn't what frightened her.

It was the person standing behind them.

A woman.

Sophia stared at the photograph.

She knew that woman.

She had seen her every day of her childhood.

She had kissed her forehead.

Held her hand.

Called her daughter.

Sophia slowly turned toward Eleanor.

"Mum..."

Eleanor looked at the photograph.

The color drained from her face.

Victor whispered:

"They found out."

Sophia's voice trembled.

"You knew her."

Eleanor couldn't answer.

"You knew the woman who trained me."

Silence.

Sophia looked at her mother with tears in her eyes.

"Who is she?"

Eleanor finally whispered:

"Your grandmother."

Sophia stopped breathing.

And somewhere outside the house, a car door slammed.

The hunt had begun.