Chapter 6 - The Secret Chloe Carried
The attack began at midnight.
Security lights went dark.
Vehicles surrounded the safe house.
Shots struck the windows.
Matteo pushed Nebula toward the basement.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Now.”
She grabbed his hand.
“Not without you.”
His eyes softened.
“I'll be there.”
He kissed her forehead.
“Go.”
She hated herself for listening.
In the basement, Chloe was already there.
“Where's Matteo?”
“Fighting.”
“We have to help.”
A hidden tunnel opened behind a bookshelf.
Nebula stared.
“Where does this go?”
“To the old harbor.”
“Who built it?”
“Dad.”
They crawled through.
At the end, they emerged into a warehouse.
A car waited.
They drove.
Chloe was crying.
“I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“The letter.”
“What about it?”
“I know where the final evidence is.”
“Where?”
“Inside the wedding ring Dad gave Mom.”
Nebula stopped.
“Mom's ring?”
Chloe nodded.
“He told me never to lose it.”
“Where is it?”
“At my house.”
They returned under cover of darkness.
The ring was hidden inside a jewelry box.
Beneath the gemstone was a tiny rolled photograph.
On the back:
THE FIRST PLACE SHE DANCED.
Nebula remembered.
Her parents had danced in an old ballroom above the harbor.
They found the building abandoned.
Inside was a floorboard.
Beneath it was a small iron box.
The final ledger was inside.
But there was something else.
A recording.
Her father appeared on a screen.
“Elaine,” he said.
Nebula cried.
“I know I'm going to die.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
“I know Victor is responsible.”
“But I also know my daughter will blame herself.”
He looked directly at the camera.
“She must never believe that.”
Nebula collapsed.
The recording continued.
“Matteo Moretti is the only man I trust to protect her.”
Nebula looked at Chloe.
Her father's voice grew softer.
“He will love her.”
A pause.
“And she will be afraid of him.”
Nebula cried harder.
“That's why I arranged the marriage.”
Matteo's name appeared in the documents.
The marriage had never been about debt.
Their fathers had planned it as protection.
The debt had been fabricated by Richard.
Nebula had been manipulated.
Her father had wanted her to be with Matteo.
But Richard had intercepted the documents.
He had changed the agreement.
He had turned a planned alliance into coercion.
The recording ended.
Nebula couldn't move.
Then Matteo entered the room.
His shirt was torn.
Blood marked his sleeve.
He was alive.
She ran to him.
“You're hurt.”
“Not badly.”
She touched his face.
“I know everything.”
He stared.
“What?”
She told him.
The marriage.
The fake debt.
Her father's plan.
The recording.
Matteo listened.
When she finished, he looked away.
“You should have known.”
“I know.”
“I couldn't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed you to choose me without being told your father wanted it.”
She cried.
“I would've chosen you.”
“I know.”
He held her.
“I know now.”
Outside, sirens approached.
Federal agents had arrived.
Gabriel Sloan was arrested.
Richard was captured.
Victor escaped.
But they found one last message.
May you like
Victor knew where the final ledger was.
And he wanted Nebula.
