Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Came From Inside the Mansion
We returned to the mansion at three in the morning.
Vincent arrived twenty minutes later.
Blood covered his shirt.
None of it was his.
He found me sitting beside Lily’s sleeping body.
“You’re alive,” I whispered.
“So are you.”
I looked at the blood.
“Are they dead?”
“Some.”
“What about the others?”
“Running.”
Vincent sat across from me.
He looked exhausted.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“I dragged you into this.”
“You didn’t.”
His eyes met mine.
“You walked into my house with a child.”
“I needed a job.”
“And I turned that desperate decision into a war.”
He sounded almost ashamed.
I swallowed.
“Tell me about Isabella.”
He was quiet.
“She was the only person who ever challenged me.”
“You loved her.”
“More than anyone.”
“What happened?”
“I was blind.”
Vincent told me the truth.
Isabella had discovered the network.
She wanted to expose it.
Vincent wanted to protect her.
Instead, they fought.
She left.
That night, her car exploded.
Vincent believed the wrong person had killed her.
A trusted lieutenant named Adrian Cole.
But the ledger suggested something worse.
Adrian had only been a middleman.
The real traitor was closer.
Much closer.
Someone inside the mansion.
Someone with access to the security system.
Someone who had taken pictures of Lily.
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Vincent shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
A scream came from upstairs.
Everyone moved.
Nico drew his weapon.
I pulled Lily close.
The sound came from the nursery.
We ran.
The room was empty.
The window was open.
And on the floor sat another drawing.
The black bird.
The red circle.
But this time, beside it was the word:
VINCENT.
Written in shaky block letters.
Vincent stared.
“Who wrote that?”
Nico shook his head.
“Not Lily.”
A voice came from the hallway.
“Maybe I did.”
Elena.
Everyone turned.
She stood there crying.
Vincent raised his weapon.
“Step away from the door.”
Elena shook her head.
“I didn’t hurt her.”
“You knew the symbol.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Isabella trusted me.”
Vincent froze.
Elena continued.
“Seven years ago, before she died, she came to me.”
“Why?”
“She was pregnant.”
Vincent’s eyes widened.
“She told me about Lily.”
“Then you knew where the child was.”
“Yes.”
“And you let her grow up believing Mark was her father.”
“I was following your sister’s instructions.”
Vincent lowered the weapon.
“What instructions?”
Elena pulled a small envelope from her pocket.
“She told me to give this to the child when she was old enough to understand.”
“What is it?”
“A letter.”
Vincent took it.
Then Elena whispered something that changed everything.
“There is another person in this house who knew.”
“Who?”
Elena looked toward the staircase.
“Your father.”
Vincent’s face turned to stone.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
“He left instructions.”
“For whom?”
Elena looked at Lily.
“For his granddaughter.”
Silence.
I stared.
“Lily is his granddaughter?”
Vincent looked at me.
“No.”
Elena answered softly.
“Yes.”
She explained the impossible.
Lily was not Isabella’s daughter.
She was Vincent’s biological daughter.
Isabella had been protecting her from Vincent’s enemies.
My mother had helped hide the pregnancy.
Mark had agreed to pretend to be Lily’s father.
And I had unknowingly raised a child born into one of the most dangerous families in America.
My knees weakened.
Vincent stepped toward me.
“Sarah.”
I backed away.
“You’re her father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
I looked at Lily.
“My whole life has been a lie.”
Vincent’s voice broke.
“So has mine.”
Then the lights went out again.
A recording began playing from the nursery speaker.
A man’s voice.
Old.
Distorted.
But clear enough.
“Vincent, if you're hearing this, the person who betrayed Isabella is still inside your house.”
Vincent stared at the speaker.
May you like
The voice continued.
“And he has been waiting for your daughter to come home.”
