Chapter 6 - The Mother Everyone Thought Was Dead Had Been Saving Us From the Shadows
My mother had never died.
Another lie.
Another ghost returning from the past.
She appeared in front of us wearing a dark coat.
She looked older.
But I knew her immediately.
I couldn't move.
She whispered,
“Caleb.”
I wanted to hate her.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I asked,
“Why?”
She started crying.
“Because your father joined the Black Circle.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He wanted power.”
“And you?”
“I tried to stop him.”
She revealed the truth.
My father had arranged the deaths of several competitors.
He had also tried to kill me.
When my mother discovered the plan, she helped Anna escape.
Arthur found them.
Anna pretended to die.
My mother disappeared.
Together, they kept Lily hidden.
But Arthur remained powerful.
Until the night Lily entered Alder & Stone.
Everything had been carefully planned.
My mother had sent Lily because she knew no adult would believe a frightened child.
Only Caleb would listen.
I looked at Lily.
“She saved me.”
My mother nodded.
“She saved everyone.”
Then Arthur appeared behind her.
He fired.
My mother fell.
I caught her.
“Mom!”
She smiled weakly.
“Don't let hatred finish what they started.”
Arthur escaped.
The police arrived.
But the Black Circle still had one leader.
The Crow.
We finally learned his identity.
My father.
Alive.
He had staged his own death.
He had been controlling everything.
He had poisoned my dinner.
He had manipulated Nolan.
He had hunted Anna.
He had used Arthur.
He had planned to inherit the Vance fortune through my death.
I stared at the evidence.
My own father was the monster.
Jack Vance.
The man I had buried twenty years ago.
The man I had mourned.
The man who wasn't dead.
We found him in the old family mansion.
He was waiting.
“You finally came home.”
I walked inside.
Lily stood behind me.
Jack smiled.
“My granddaughter.”
“No.”
His smile faded.
“She isn't yours.”
“She is blood.”
“She is innocent.”
He laughed.
“Innocence is weakness.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
May you like
“What?”
“Innocence is what survived you.”
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