Chapter 6 - The Woman I Used to Be Was Hidden Inside My Memory, and the Key to Finding Her Was Buried in My Mother’s Last LetterMy mother had left a letter.
Jericho found it in an old safe.
The handwriting was mine to recognize.
But I couldn't remember reading it.
My Little Bird,
If you're reading this, then someone has already changed you.
Do not trust anyone who tells you your past is dangerous.
Your past is the only thing that can save you.
I cried.
Jericho stood nearby.
He didn't interrupt.
The letter continued.
Rafael will protect you.
Gabriel will help him.
Your father will try to find you.
Do not let him convince you that forgetting is the same as safety.
Then:
The Crown is beneath the place where we first met.
I stared.
“Where did they first meet?”
Jericho thought.
“Blackwood's old hospital.”
“Hospital?”
“My father owned it.”
We went.
Beneath the abandoned hospital was a sealed basement.
No records.
No cameras.
Only one locked door.
My fingerprint opened it.
Inside was a laboratory.
I froze.
The walls were covered in photographs.
Me.
My mother.
Rafael.
Gabriel.
Jericho.
I touched one.
Memory flooded back.
A little girl.
A man.
A machine.
A voice.
“Forget.”
I screamed.
Jericho caught me.
“Lennox.”
“My name is Evelyn.”
He froze.
I looked at him.
“My name is Evelyn Vale.”
He nodded.
“You remembered.”
“I remember.”
The memories came in fragments.
My mother working in the laboratory.
Rafael visiting.
Gabriel protecting me.
My father shouting.
A machine.
A needle.
Pain.
And a door.
My father had been trying to erase me.
But the procedure had failed.
Rafael stopped it.
My mother escaped.
Gabriel took me.
They created the identity Lennox Pierce.
I remembered one more thing.
A little boy.
Rosie.
No.
Not Rosie.
A photograph of Jericho as a child.
He had been there too.
His father had protected both of us.
I looked at Jericho.
“You knew me.”
“As a child.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“My father brought you to our estate.”
“When?”
“The summer before you disappeared.”
“I don't remember.”
“You do now.”
I did.
A boy.
A pool.
A little girl.
My mother laughing.
Jericho at fifteen.
He had given me a blue crayon.
I smiled through tears.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“That was you.”
“Yes.”
Then memory changed.
A gunshot.
Rafael falling.
My mother screaming.
Gabriel carrying me.
I remembered my father's face.
He had smiled.
Not lovingly.
Triumphantly.
“He did this.”
Jericho's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
The laboratory contained the original Crown archive.
A computer still worked.
It required a memory sequence.
Mine.
Symbols appeared.
A blue bird.
A black rose.
A crown.
A key.
I recognized them.
The code opened.
Files appeared.
Names.
Payments.
Experiments.
Everything.
The Shadow Crown wasn't just a criminal organization.
It had infiltrated private hospitals.
Research centers.
Universities.
Police.
Politicians.
It had been operating for decades.
At the top was one name.
Daniel Pierce.
Then another.
Victor Blackwood.
Jericho stared.
“My uncle.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Victor was my father's brother.”
“He worked with your father.”
“Yes.”
“The Shadow Crown.”
“Yes.”
“That means your family was involved.”
“My family built it.”
“Your father tried to stop it.”
“Too late.”
I opened another file.
A photograph.
Victor.
Daniel.
And a woman.
My mother.
She was alive in the picture.
Taken four years ago.
I froze.
My mother had survived.
“She's alive.”
Jericho stared.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The photograph showed her in a clinic in Europe.
The file said:
Subject protected.
We had to find her.
But someone else was already searching.
The computer screen changed.
A message appeared.
HELLO, EVELYN.
I froze.
Then:
WELCOME BACK.
Jericho drew his gun.
The entire laboratory went dark.
A voice came through the speakers.
My father.
“You finally remembered.”
I whispered:
“Dad.”
“You should have stayed Lennox.”
The lights returned.
A countdown appeared.
Five minutes.
Four.
Three.
Jericho grabbed my hand.
“Run.”
We escaped.
The laboratory exploded behind us.
The Shadow Crown was burning its own history.
But I had already copied the archive.
Now we had proof.
And a new mission.
Find my mother.
May you like
Find Victor.
And stop my father.
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