Chapter 451 Alice''s Father


    The name Chandler hit me like a bolt of lightning. Kobe''sst 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 offpletely. 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 Keh and his crew.


    The two buddies were in trouble, but Chandler, who had been ying the long game undercover,


    was always careful. He had managed to dig up a bunch of dirt on Keh''s shady dealings.


    No one saw iting when Keh 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, Keh 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.


    Keh''s goons put them through the wringer. Chandler knew a ton about Keh 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 hisst


    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 ke, 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 Keh, but


    he ended up getting nabbed and dragged back. However, Keh did not kill him. Instead, Lucas


    whisked him away to the mountains andid 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 unsessful 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 nced up at Gregory, my frown deepening. "Mr. Long, this... what''s this about?"


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    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 reying 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 me 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."