Chapter 7 - Elise Discovered Her Family Had Been Protecting A Secret For Decades
Elise spent the next week investigating her grandmother.
Every box.
Every notebook.
Every photograph.
She found letters she had never seen.
A hidden room beneath the old family house.
And one locked cabinet.
Inside was a collection of documents.
The first was dated 1991.
The second 1994.
The third 1999.
All of them connected to the Voss family.
Elise read until sunrise.
Then Sebastian found her.
“You haven't slept.”
“No.”
“What did you learn?”
“My grandmother worked with your grandfather.”
He sat beside her.
“To stop the network.”
“Yes.”
“And the forged provenance?”
“She helped expose it.”
“Then why was she hiding?”
“Because someone betrayed her.”
“Who?”
Elise turned a page.
“There.”
A name.
Arthur Ward.
Her grandfather.
Her stomach dropped.
“My grandfather.”
Sebastian leaned closer.
“Was he involved?”
“Yes.”
Elise's voice broke.
“He was the one who created the original system.”
Silence.
“But why?”
“Money laundering.”
She shook her head.
“Then my grandmother turned on him.”
Sebastian read the documents.
“And your mother?”
“Witness protection.”
He looked at her.
“She wasn't abandoning you.”
“No.”
“She was protecting you.”
Elise closed her eyes.
Her entire childhood had been built on a lie.
Her mother hadn't left because she didn't care.
She had left because someone was hunting her.
And the reason was Elise.
A final document contained a photograph.
Elise at six years old.
Beside her grandmother.
On the back:
She can read it.
Keep her away from the Voss family until she is ready.
Elise stared.
“But I grew up in Chicago.”
“You were never supposed to become part of this.”
“Yet here I am.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“Yes.”
She smiled sadly.
“That sounds like you regret meeting me.”
His answer was immediate.
“Never.”
The word settled between them.
He touched her hand.
“Elise.”
She looked up.
“I don't want to lose you.”
“You won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“But I know I choose you.”
Sebastian leaned closer.
“You should know something.”
“What?”
“I don't know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Love someone.”
Her breath caught.
“Sebastian…”
“I know.”
“You don't have to say it.”
“I want to.”
He kissed her.
It was gentle.
Not possessive.
Not hurried.
Just honest.
For the first time, Elise understood how much danger there was in being loved by someone who had spent his entire life learning not to love.
Then the door opened.
A security officer stood there.
“We found Vivian's second ledger.”
Sebastian turned.
“Where?”
“Inside the Mercer estate.”
Elise stood.
“What is in it?”
The officer handed her a copy.
Names.
Transactions.
One final account.
Her grandmother's name.
And next to it—
ELISE WARD.
She went cold.
Sebastian took the page.
“What?”
“I don't know.”
The officer hesitated.
“There is more.”
A final line.
TRANSFER TO PROJECT DAWN.
Sebastian frowned.
“What is Project Dawn?”
Elise shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The officer said,
“We found the same phrase in an old Voss file.”
Sebastian looked at Elise.
“Then that's where we go.”
The clue led them to an abandoned estate in Vermont.
Inside, they found a hidden vault.
And a recording.
Elise pressed play.
Her grandmother's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, my granddaughter is finally old enough to know the truth.”
Elise covered her mouth.
“I am sorry.”
The recording continued.
“Your father believed power was something you inherited.”
A pause.
“He was wrong.”
“He believed the Voss family could be controlled.”
“Your grandmother believed the opposite.”
“She believed the only way to end the system was to make the people who created it destroy one another.”
Sebastian stared.
“What does that mean?”
The recording answered.
“Project Dawn was not an operation.”
“It was a person.”
Elise's heart stopped.
Her grandmother whispered the final sentence.
May you like
“Project Dawn is Elise.”
The recording ended.
