by C. D. Gill
Because I forced my biggest clients to pay for secrecy. My backup was stored on a chip that was placed in your side a few years ago. Governments only know a fraction of what is actually happening and the world would be terrified to know the truth of who runs and owns over seventy-two percent of the populated world.
Recently, hackers managed to partially crack the impenetrable firewalls I had set around my life, specifically where the money was going when they paid for my secrecy. They started not to believe that their information would be released if they didn’t pay. And they figured once they found the gatekeeper to the information, they could intimidate him into giving up the files I have on them which is why they tried to shake you down.
A paid informant was the one who stitched you back together in prison and inserted my chip into your skin, but did so for the payday and without knowing who or what it was all about. People can be easily bought and I couldn’t risk anyone else knowing. Eventually, I was able to trust Benny with pieces and being the intelligent man he is, he put the puzzle together when he met you.
I am also the one who hand-delivered the Brady violation information to your lawyer, Maddox Callahan. I won’t apologize for my intrusion. The university was going to attempt to screw you over and not give you a dime and try to discredit everything if it went to court. They might have succeeded too, but that won’t happen now, because I told you I would repay you for your trouble and I will.
Why contact you at all?
Detective Mayfield has been trying to crack my cases for over a decade now without knowing that I’m behind it. The gangs’ interest in you has had him sniffing around. Now that he knows about a chip he will spend all his energy trying to find it and attempting to put the pieces together. He will continue to hound you, but he will only ever find out what I want him to know.
See, I have a little problem.
The world believes I’m dead. You believe I’m dead.
They aren’t wrong. Jerry Sorentino, my covert operative identity, is dead. But I, Dr. Colin Morgan, am very much alive. I faked my death in prison, so I could get out once and for all.
A real body with my facial likeness was cremated with witnesses.
I’ve been free to run my empire from the shadows for the last four years. I tell you all of this to establish my credibility in your eyes and come clean about the trouble you’ve endured on my behalf.
To further my making good on a promise to do right by you, you should know that your father is headed for prison soon when the investigators get hold of the final key evidence they need to nail the whole operation. I don’t care a fraction for your father after the way he has treated you, but he’s your blood.
You hold the key.
Either we let them go down together, or we try to rescue your father before the ship sinks.
I will do the heavy lifting as you have more than enough on your plate legally and otherwise. But know, you have a formidable ally when it comes to convincing your sheep-like father to do the right thing.
I’ll be in touch. Best of luck with Ms. Carter. Her family are some of the good ones.”
With that, the recording clicked off leaving Xander in stunned silence. Jerry was alive. Dad was in massive trouble. And Maddox hadn’t been selling him a line.
He really did have an angel watching over him.
The drama in his life was far from over.
His alarm rang on his phone, his reminder that it was time to pick Gia up from the airport. She didn’t know it yet, but they were going ring shopping on the way home at one of those fancy jewelry shops in downtown Denver.
The thought had occurred to him one night that, as an architect, she might want to design her own ring.
And he’d do everything in his power to keep his promises and make her dreams come true. He’d never felt a love this powerful, this free, before. Now that he had a taste of it, he wouldn’t ever let her go. She was his future, come what may.
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As with every book I finish, the list of people who contributed to its development is always longer than I anticipate when first starting to write it. My gratefulness is deep and heartfelt to these kind souls continue to allow me to invade their world with questions and needs or freely offer support when I need it most.
I have a fabulous wealth of friends who are experts in diverse fields. A big thank you to Chuck Hervas, attorney at law, for the legal advising—both in getting fictional characters into trouble and out of it.
To Peter Gill, my father-in-law and very tolerant medical adviser both fictionally and in real life, I am ever so grateful for your willingness to entertain my uneducated questions about what it takes to live and die.
Thank you, Kyle McVey, for always redirecting my sports world knowledge. It’s been invaluable in the creation of Xander’s world and beyond.
Clara, Isla, and Joan— your eagle eyes, love of story, and grammatical prowess are lifesaving. Thank you for using your talents to benefit my novels.
Sherri, you are a gift in so many ways that I cannot possibly write out here. Your encouragement and support has driven me to keep on.
No thank-you section would be complete without thanking the ones in my life who allow me the space to chase this dream of being an author. My husband and girls are my biggest supporters and a big reason I write. I couldn’t be more grateful for who they are and how they show me love every day.
And to my amazingly faithful readers, your encouragement, excitement, and voracious reading push me to continue. Your support is a lighthouse in this dark world we navigate. I will always be grateful for you.
Thank you to God, who led me to writing as a way of healing and being vocal about the world. His guidance and loving hand never fail.
I hope you are loving Gia and Xander as much as I am. Theirs is a story that I will never truly put aside. We will have one more book to finish out their story and then see them with Gia’s cousins’ stories. Thank you for reading! Please stay in touch!
All the best,
C.D. Gill