Chapter 8 - My Father Returned Just in Time to See Me Open the Archive—But He Warned Me the Truth Could Destroy Dominic TooMy father looked older.
But he was alive.
He had escaped the burning estate.
I hugged him.
This time, longer.
Dominic watched.
My father looked at him.
"You look like him."
"My father?"
"Yes."
Dominic asked:
"Was he good?"
My father hesitated.
"Not always."
"Was he evil?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"A man who wanted control and didn't know when to stop."
Dominic looked away.
My father turned to me.
"You opened the archive."
"I had to."
"Now everyone knows."
"Yes."
"Then you must be careful."
"Why?"
"Because truth has consequences."
He was right.
The information exposed hundreds of people.
Some deserved prison.
Others had been victims.
The archive contained family histories.
Private medical records.
Secrets.
We had to decide what should be released and what should remain protected.
I made the hardest choice of my life.
Not everything.
Only evidence of crimes.
Nothing that would harm innocent people.
Dominic helped.
The world saw what mattered.
Not everything.
Enough.
The ten-million-dollar reward became irrelevant.
People stopped talking about the journal.
They talked about the fourteen-year-old who opened it.
That was dangerous.
Vane remained missing.
And someone else wanted revenge.
A group tied to Dominic's father's old network.
They blamed me.
They blamed Dominic.
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They wanted the archive back.
I had become their target.
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