Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Vincent Never Saw Coming
His name was Adrian Cross.
He had been Vincent's godfather.
He had attended family dinners.
Business meetings.
Funerals.
He had advised Vincent after his father's death.
And according to the files, he had been financing Grant Mercer for years.
Vincent refused to believe it.
Until the bank records proved it.
Adrian had moved millions through charitable foundations.
Those foundations had paid Mercer Development.
Mercer Development had purchased properties.
Properties where families disappeared.
Elena stared at the documents.
“How could someone you trusted do this?”
Vincent said nothing.
Because he didn't know.
They returned to the townhouse.
Vincent sat alone in the library.
Elena found him there at two in the morning.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
He looked exhausted.
“I don't know who I am without the people I trusted.”
She sat across from him.
“You're still you.”
“You don't know me.”
“I know enough.”
He looked at her.
“You're the woman who ran into my elevator because she would rather face a stranger than return to the man hurting her.”
He stayed silent.
“That tells me you're brave.”
She continued.
“I know you're powerful.”
“Dangerous.”
“Maybe.”
She smiled weakly.
“But you stopped the elevator.”
He looked away.
“Anyone would have.”
“No.”
Her voice became quiet.
“Not anyone.”
Silence settled between them.
Vincent finally said:
“I don't know how to protect people without controlling everything.”
Elena understood.
“So don't control me.”
He looked at her.
“Then what?”
“Stand beside me.”
That sentence changed something.
The next morning, Vincent gave Elena access to every document.
No secrets.
No locked files.
She helped connect the names.
They discovered one missing payment.
One account.
One person.
A city judge named Thomas Hale.
Elena recognized the surname.
Victor Hale.
The gray-haired man.
“He's the judge's father.”
Vincent nodded.
“And his business partner.”
Suddenly, the pieces aligned.
Grant wasn't just bribing judges.
He was blackmailing them.
Using family secrets.
Using missing people.
Using Elena's father.
Then Elena noticed something.
A photograph.
Adrian Cross standing beside Victor Hale.
Behind them was a young Grant Mercer.
And beside Grant stood Vincent.
Young.
Maybe twenty.
Elena froze.
“You knew Grant.”
Vincent stared at the picture.
“Not well.”
“But you met him.”
“Yes.”
“And you don't remember?”
“I remember.”
He pointed to a small girl in the corner.
“I don't remember her.”
Elena zoomed the photograph.
Her breath stopped.
The girl was her.
She looked five years old.
Standing beside her father.
Vincent stared.
“That photograph was taken the year your father disappeared.”
Elena felt dizzy.
“Why was I there?”
Neither knew.
Until Elena remembered.
Her father had once told her about a boy with dark eyes.
“A family friend,” he called him.
“You were there.”
Vincent nodded slowly.
“We met.”
The memory returned.
A garden.
A boy.
A red toy car.
A little Elena crying because someone had taken her doll.
A teenage Vincent giving it back.
Elena looked at him.
“You were kind.”
He smiled faintly.
“You were loud.”
She laughed.
Then her expression changed.
“So we've known each other before.”
“Yes.”
“And Grant knew.”
Vincent's smile disappeared.
“He used the past too.”
That afternoon, the mansion's security system triggered.
Someone had entered the townhouse.
No forced doors.
No alarms.
Someone with a key.
Vincent looked at Elena.
Then at the hallway.
Adrian Cross stepped into the room.
He smiled.
“Vincent.”
Vincent raised his gun.
“Leave.”
Adrian's smile faded.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand everything.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“You've made this unnecessarily complicated.”
Vincent stepped between them.
“You threatened her.”
“No.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I protected her.”
“From what?”
“From you.”
Elena whispered:
“Why?”
Adrian's eyes moved to her.
“Because your father promised the evidence would never become public.”
“Then why did you kill him?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Vincent's face became stone.
“You did.”
Adrian sighed.
“He was going to destroy everyone.”
“You destroyed him.”
“I preserved the family.”
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“My family.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You don't know what your father really built.”
The lights suddenly flickered.
Adrian was gone.
A note lay on the table.
MIDNIGHT. BLACKTHORN ROOFTOP. COME ALONE.
Vincent read it.
Then looked at Elena.
“You stay here.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
He stared.
“I know.”
