Chapter 5 - The Truth My Mother Had Buried for Twenty Years
The pendant unlocked a tiny compartment.
Inside was a chip.
My mother began crying.
“I never wanted you to know.”
I sat beside her.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father begged me.”
“Begged you to do what?”
“Protect you.”
“From who?”
“Everyone.”
She looked at Adrian.
“Especially his family.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What did my father do?”
My mother shook.
“He ordered Thomas to disappear.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No.”
She looked directly at him.
“He didn't just order him killed.”
“He ordered him to be hunted.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Evidence that your father had planned to take control of every criminal organization in Chicago.”
I stared.
“And my father stole it.”
“Yes.”
“Then he hid it.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
My mother looked at me.
“Inside you.”
I froze.
“What?”
She explained.
The chip was not in her body.
The chip was hidden inside the pendant.
The biometric key was mine.
My father's final safeguard.
Only my DNA could activate the ledger.
Adrian took the chip.
It wouldn't open.
Then I touched it.
The device lit up.
A screen appeared.
Hundreds of names.
Accounts.
Locations.
Orders.
Kill lists.
Everything.
Adrian stared.
“What did you do?”
I looked at him.
“Nothing.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Your father designed this.”
The screen displayed one message.
IF ADRIAN KANE IS READING THIS, TRUST HIM.
Adrian stared.
I saw tears in his eyes.
“My father trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was supposed to become like mine.”
He swallowed.
“Then I didn't.”
The screen changed again.
A final file appeared.
A video.
Thomas Bennett.
My father.
Alive.
He looked older.
Tired.
“Ava.”
I cried.
“If you're watching this, I failed.”
He explained everything.
He had not died.
He had disappeared.
He had spent years hiding the ledger.
He had been hunted by his former allies.
Then he said the words that shattered me.
“I chose the Kane family because Adrian is different.”
Adrian looked away.
Thomas continued:
“He hates what I became.”
“He hates what his father built.”
“And one day, if he meets you, he will need you more than he knows.”
The video ended.
I looked at Adrian.
“You knew my father.”
“I knew the man he became.”
“Not the man he was?”
“No.”
“Was he a good man?”
Adrian thought.
“He tried to become one.”
I cried.
Maybe that was enough.
Then the screen flashed.
ACCESS DETECTED.
A location appeared.
An old warehouse.
Caleb's.
Adrian looked at me.
“We go now.”
We entered the warehouse at midnight.
Caleb was waiting.
But he wasn't alone.
Samantha stood beside him.
I stared.
“You.”
She smiled.
“You really have your father's eyes.”
“You sold me.”
“I protected myself.”
“You almost got me killed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Caleb promised me freedom.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You trusted the wrong man.”
Samantha laughed.
“He owns half the city.”
“Not anymore.”
Adrian handed me a phone.
The ledger had already been transmitted to federal investigators.
Caleb's network was collapsing.
Caleb looked at me.
“You think this ends because you have a file?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“It ends when you stop being useful.”
He raised a gun.
Adrian moved first.
A shot.
Caleb fell.
Samantha screamed.
The warehouse erupted in chaos.
Then someone grabbed me from behind.
A gun pressed against my head.
I knew the voice.
Marco.
May you like
Adrian's most trusted man.
“You were never supposed to survive.”
