Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Sold My Name
Samantha was gone.
By the time we returned, she had vanished.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone was destroyed.
Her bank account had been drained.
But she left behind one clue.
A photograph of me.
And a note.
SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT SHE IS.
I stared at it.
Adrian looked at the handwriting.
“Caleb.”
“What does he mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Everyone keeps saying I'm important.”
“You are.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Because your father didn't just hide a ledger.”
“What else?”
“He hid money.”
“How much?”
“Enough to start a war.”
That evening, Adrian brought me to a private meeting.
A man named Vincent Morello was waiting.
He was older.
Scarred.
He looked at me.
“So you're the girl.”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“She's not a thing.”
Vincent smirked.
“She's a Bennett.”
I sat.
“What do you know about my father?”
“He owed us.”
“What did he owe?”
“A favor.”
“What kind?”
Vincent looked at Adrian.
“Protection.”
Adrian said nothing.
Vincent continued.
“Your father once saved my life.”
“Why didn't you protect him?”
“Because I was too late.”
He looked at Adrian.
“Your father sent the order.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Vincent smiled.
“And now you are protecting his daughter.”
Adrian stood.
“This meeting is over.”
Vincent laughed.
“You're making the same mistake.”
“What?”
“Falling in love with something you cannot keep.”
I froze.
Adrian said nothing.
We left.
In the car, silence stretched.
Finally I asked:
“Are you in love with me?”
He looked forward.
“No.”
That should have relieved me.
It didn't.
“Good.”
“I didn't say I don't care about you.”
I looked at him.
“I can't afford caring.”
“Neither can I.”
The next day, Caleb called.
He wanted to meet.
I refused.
He sent a photograph.
My mother.
Sitting at her kitchen table.
Alive.
I nearly dropped the phone.
Adrian took it.
“She was supposed to be under guard.”
“She wasn't.”
He called security.
No answer.
My mother was gone.
Caleb had taken her.
We met at an abandoned theater.
I was terrified.
Adrian came with five men.
Caleb appeared alone.
“You brought security.”
“Yes.”
“You brought the girl.”
“I am the girl.”
Caleb smiled.
“You look like your father.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
“You have the key.”
I looked at my pendant.
“I don't know how it works.”
Caleb laughed.
“You really don't.”
He stepped closer.
“Your father hid the ledger inside the one place nobody would search.”
“Where?”
He pointed at me.
“Inside your mother.”
I froze.
“What?”
Caleb explained.
The ledger wasn't physical.
It had been encrypted onto a biometric device.
A device implanted years ago.
Into my mother.
My stomach turned.
“No.”
He smiled.
“The pendant is only the access key.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Caleb smiled.
“Ask her mother where the scar came from.”
I remembered.
A small scar beneath my mother's collarbone.
She had told me it came from a childhood surgery.
My blood went cold.
Caleb continued.
“Your mother doesn't carry money.”
“She carries names.”
“Every person in the network.”
Adrian's expression became murderous.
“How do we get it out?”
Caleb looked at him.
“You don't.”
He smiled.
“You let me transfer it.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Your mother dies.”
I stepped forward.
“Do it.”
Adrian grabbed my arm.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“She's my mother.”
Caleb smiled.
“Good.”
Then the lights went out.
Gunshots exploded.
Caleb vanished.
But my mother's voice screamed from somewhere backstage.
“Ava!”
I ran toward it.
Adrian followed.
And that was when I saw her.
Bound to a chair.
Alive.
Terrified.
And wearing the necklace I'd thought was ordinary.
The pendant began to glow.
May you like
Adrian stared.
“It's activating.”
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