Facade of Love

Chapter 451 Alice's Father

The name Chandler hit me like a bolt of lightning. Kobe's last words to me included a badge number I had ignored because I never thought twice about it. Kobe was not a cop, but he had been using Chandler's name all along. Everyone in the mountains had been convinced he was one of their own, a policeman. It had thrown me off completely. Why did he do that? Why had he taken Chandler's identity?

In the video, Kobe kept on with his story, telling us how he and Chandler hit it off and became inseparable. The more time they spent together, the more Kobe got to know him. Then, out of the blue, Kobe discovered Chandler's big secret: he was an undercover cop sent to the border to sniff out evidence against Kenneth and his crew.

The two buddies were in trouble, but Chandler, who had been playing the long game undercover, was always careful. He had managed to dig up a bunch of dirt on Kenneth's shady dealings.

No one saw it coming when Kenneth almost bit the dust in a drug deal gone wrong at the border five years back, with the cops closing in. After that close call, Kenneth got wind of a snitch in his circle and started hunting for the mole.

Chandler was more than capable of handling it. However, Kobe, with his heart of gold and a conscience as clean as a whistle, just could not stand by and watch someone else take the fall for him. His slip-up ended up dragging Chandler down too.

Kenneth's goons put them through the wringer. Chandler knew a ton about Kenneth from his years undercover, but the boys had not had the chance to pass on what they knew. They made a run for it.

However, in the thick of their escape, Chandler took a hit for Kobe and did not make it. With his last breaths, he handed Kobe the intel, making him promise to get it back home at all costs.

He even asked Kobe to look after his wife and kid back home.

Hearing Kobe talk about Chandler's family, I froze, my mind racing. I turned to Gregory, my eyes wide with shock, hardly able to believe what I was hearing.

Gregory nodded and slid an old, faded photo across the table. It showed a young mother with her little girl. Even though the picture was from years ago, the girl's features were a dead ringer for Alice’s today. The photo might have been old, but there was no mistaking that face.

Chandler was Alice's dad. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. Mom had talked about Mary’s past once, how she fell head over heels when she was just a kid, got pregnant young, and had to quit school. The guy she was crazy about turned out to be a total flake, vanishing into thin air before the baby even arrived. All those years, it had been just Mary and her daughter making it on their own. After Alice was all grown up, Mary finally moved on and tied the knot with someone else.

I had always seen Alice's dad as a lowlife or deadbeat. I never, ever pegged him for a hero.

Kobe kept going with the story in the video. After Chandler died, he kept running from Kenneth, but he ended up getting nabbed and dragged back. However, Kenneth did not kill him. Instead, Lucas whisked him away to the mountains and laid it out for him: he had to keep his mouth shut about who he was if he wanted to stay breathing, or else he was toast.

He was cooped up in those mountains in Chandler’s name, countless unsuccessful escapes under his belt. They made him pay a heavy price every time they caught him.

I bit my lip, lost in thought as he wrapped up his tale. Five years back, did Lucas already know that Kobe was Idris's old man?

I remembered bumping into Idris in Hartfield. He said he was on a mission to find his dad. They were so close back then, just a hair away from a father-son reunion.

Gregory watched me stew in silence, then cleared his throat. "Ms. Scott, take a look at this," he urged, offering me something else to consider.

He passed me his phone, and I caught sight of a news headline that made my eyebrows knit together in worry. [Rich Girl on the Run with Drug Dealer for Love, Comes Back to Haunt Her Ex with Blood on Her Hands.]

I skimmed the article. It did not call anyone out by name, but it was not hard to figure out they were talking about me.

I glanced up at Gregory, my frown deepening. "Mr. Long, this... what's this about?"

He pressed his lips together before answering, "I just got wind of it myself. It's a fresh post, and hasn't really caught fire yet. We've got people on it, trying to sort it out."

I nodded, letting out a small sigh, my mind still replaying Kobe's video. After a quiet moment, I shot him a confused look. "Mr. Long, why are you showing me this stuff?"

Kobe's final message... There was no reason for him to share that with me. Especially since I felt like I was partly to blame for his death.

He dragged a chair over and sat down, facing me. "You deserve to know. You were trying to save him. You're probably wondering why he went by some random name when he was, well, Kobe."