My Dad is the CEO who wants me Dead

Confession

They ran through the streets like their lives depended on it.

Because they did.

Liam's lungs were burning. His legs were screaming. But he kept running, pulling Maya behind him, weaving through alleys and jumping over fences.

Behind them, they could hear shouts. Car doors slamming. Engines revving.

"They're coming!" Maya gasped.

Liam spotted a narrow gap between two buildings. He shoved Maya through first, then squeezed in behind her. The space was so tight they had to turn sideways to fit.

They stumbled out the other side into a deserted parking lot.

"This way." Liam grabbed her hand and pulled her toward a rusted delivery truck. They ducked behind it, pressing their backs against the cold metal.

The shouts grew closer. Then faded.

Liam waited, counting his heartbeats. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Nothing.

He let out a shaky breath and slumped against the truck.

Maya was crying again. Silent tears streaming down her face.

"Liam," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I know you don't believe me. I know you hate me. But I'm so sorry."

Liam didn't say anything.

"I was going to tell you," she continued, her voice cracking. "At the warehouse. Before everything went wrong. I was going to tell you the truth about who I was. But then Elena showed up, and everything happened so fast, and I just—"

"Why didn't you?" Liam's voice was cold. "You had plenty of chances."

"Because I was scared!" Maya's voice broke. "My sister, Liam. She's twelve years old. Julian has people watching her school. Her house. If I didn't do what he said, he was going to hurt her. He's already killed people. You know that."

Liam stared at the ground. He didn't know what to believe anymore.

"I know you found the file," Maya said quietly. "The one Julian planted. About me being recruited."

Liam's head snapped up. "You knew about that?"

"Julian told me." Maya wiped her eyes. "He said he'd planted evidence to make you doubt me. He said if you ever found it, you'd never trust me again. He was right, wasn't he?"

Liam didn't answer.

"I was recruited three years ago," Maya continued. "But I never did anything. Not really. I just reported on people. Told Julian who was working on what. I didn't know about the murders. I didn't know about Mike. I swear."

"You didn't think to warn him?" Liam's voice was bitter. "You didn't think to say something?"

"I tried!" Maya was crying again. "I tried to tell Mike two weeks ago. But Julian found out. He told me if I said anything to anyone, he'd kill my sister. So I kept my mouth shut. I was a coward. I know I was."

Liam wanted to be angry. He wanted to scream at her, to push her away, to never look at her again.

But he couldn't.

Because underneath all the anger, he understood.

He'd been a coward too. For five years, he'd run and hidden and pretended to be nothing. He'd let Mike die because he was too scared to come out of hiding.

"Liam?" Maya's voice was tiny. "Are you going to leave me?"

Liam looked at her. Her face was a mess, tears and makeup and dirt smeared everywhere. She looked young. Scared. So much like he'd felt five years ago.

"No," he said quietly. "I'm not leaving you."

Maya's face crumpled with relief. She threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she kept saying. "I'm so sorry."

Liam hugged her back, feeling her shake against him.

"Okay," he said finally. "Okay. We're going to figure this out. Together."

They made it back to the laundromat just before dawn.

Elena was waiting for them, her face pale with worry. When she saw them, she ran over and grabbed Liam's arm.

"What happened? I saw the news. Julian put out a statement saying you attacked his guards and stole classified information—"

"He knows everything," Liam said. "He knows I was at the server room. He knows about Maya."

Elena's eyes flicked to Maya, narrowed. "And you trust her?"

"No," Liam said. "But I'm not leaving her behind."

Elena opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. She looked at Maya's tear-streaked face and sighed.

"Fine," she said. "But if she does anything—"

"She won't," Maya said quickly. "I swear. I'm done with Julian. I don't care what he does to me anymore."

Elena studied her for a long moment. Then she nodded.

"Okay. We need to move. This place isn't safe anymore. Julian knows about it."

"Where do we go?" Maya asked.

Elena looked at Liam. "I have another location. But it's risky."

"How risky?"

"Very." Elena's voice was grim. "It's Julian's old house. The one he grew up in. He sold it years ago, but nobody's bought it since. It's been empty for a decade."

Liam frowned. "Why would we go there?"

"Because that's where I found something," Elena said. "When I was digging through his past. There's a basement. Hidden. And inside that basement, there's a safe."

Liam's heart started beating faster. "What's in the safe?"

"I don't know." Elena shrugged. "I couldn't get in. But Julian kept the house even after he sold it. He still owns it. There has to be a reason."

"Or it's a trap," Maya said.

"Probably." Elena smiled grimly. "But we don't have any other options. Julian's got the police, the media, and half the city looking for us. We need to hit him somewhere he doesn't expect."

Liam thought about it. The house. The safe. The secrets Julian was hiding.

"Okay," he said. "Let's go."

The house was at the edge of the city. Old. Victorian. Creepy.

Liam, Elena, and Maya approached it from the back, staying in the shadows. The neighborhood was quiet, mostly empty. Perfect for hiding.

"Stay low," Elena whispered. "Follow me."

They crept through the overgrown garden, past dead bushes and rusted lawn furniture. The back door was unlocked, just like Elena had said.

They stepped inside.

The house smelled like dust and decay. Old furniture covered in white sheets. Cobwebs in every corner. It looked like nobody had been here in years.

"The basement entrance is in the kitchen," Elena said.

They made their way through the dark house, their footsteps echoing on the wooden floors.

The kitchen was a disaster. Broken cabinets. Old appliances. But the floor was clean.

Too clean.

Liam knelt down and ran his fingers over the tiles. "Someone's been here recently."

Elena nodded. "That's what I figured. There's a trapdoor under the rug."

She pulled back the dusty rug, revealing a hidden door.

Liam grabbed the handle and pulled.

The door swung open, revealing a staircase leading down into darkness.

"After you," Maya said nervously.

Liam took a deep breath and started walking down.

The basement was smaller than he'd expected. Bare concrete walls. A single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. And in the corner, a massive safe.

Liam walked up to it. The lock was old-fashioned, a combination dial. No electronics. No biometrics.

"It's not going to be that easy," Elena said. "I've tried every combination I could think of."

Liam stared at the safe. Then he remembered the document in Julian's server. The one that listed everyone who'd helped him.

There'd been a date on it. A date that didn't make sense at the time.

But now it did.

He reached out and started turning the dial.

"What are you doing?" Maya asked.

"Julian's birthday," Liam said. "He used it for everything else. Why not this?"

The dial clicked into place.

The safe door swung open.

Inside was a single folder. Thick. Yellowed with age.

Liam opened it and his world fell apart.