Chapter 6 - My Mother Admitted the One Betrayal I Could Never Forgive

The recording revealed something none of us expected.

Elena had not simply disappeared from Daniel's life.

She had made a deal with Victor.

Years ago.

To save me.

Victor had promised he would leave me alone if Elena handed over the location of Daniel's original records.

She had agreed.

But Daniel discovered the betrayal.

He moved the records before Victor arrived.

Elena believed she had saved everyone.

Instead, Victor used her.

He kept hunting.

Daniel forgave her.

But their relationship was never the same.

I felt angry.

Not because she had made the deal.

Because she had hidden it.

My mother was alive.

I wanted to hate her.

But I could not.

Then Victor sent another message.

He wanted the trust documents.

He wanted my signature.

And he wanted Ken dead.

Ken's answer was simple.

"No."

I looked at him.

"You didn't even consider it."

"He's not getting either."

"What if we give him the documents?"

"He'll still come for you."

"So what do we do?"

"We let him think he has won."

We created false trust records.

We leaked them deliberately.

Victor took the bait.

Within twenty-four hours, three of his shell companies moved money.

Mercer tracked the transfers.

We found his inner circle.

But Victor escaped again.

Then Reeve found something.

A hidden account belonging to Elena.

It contained regular payments to a small orphanage.

I recognized the name.

St. Claire's.

It was where I had spent three years as a child after my father's disappearance.

I remembered a woman there.

Mrs. Bell.

She used to tell me my mother was proud of me.

I had always believed she was comforting me.

Now I wondered.

We visited the orphanage.

Mrs. Bell was elderly.

She recognized Elena's necklace from a photograph.

"She came here every month."

My heart broke.

"Why?"

"To see you."

I closed my eyes.

"Did she ever speak to me?"

"She stood across the street."

"Why?"

"She was afraid."

I sat down.

All those years I had believed she abandoned me.

She had been there.

Just not close enough to touch me.

Then Mrs. Bell gave me a package.

"She asked me to keep this until you were thirty."

I opened it.

A letter.

My mother wrote:

I know you will hate me.

You should.

I lied because I wanted you alive long enough to become someone who could choose her own life.

I cried before finishing.

Ken sat beside me.

He didn't speak.

He didn't try to fix it.

He simply took my hand.

Then Mrs. Bell whispered something.

"There's another letter."

"Where?"

"Your father left it too."

She handed me another envelope.

Daniel's handwriting.

This one contained a single sentence.

Trust Ken.

No matter what happens.

I looked at him.

"Why?"

Ken shook his head.

"I don't know."

Then Reeve's phone rang.

He answered.

His expression changed.

"Boss."

Ken stood.

"What?"

"Victor has the trust."

I froze.

"How?"

Reeve looked at me.

"Someone stole the original key."

My hand went to my neck.

The pendant.

Gone.

Someone had taken it without me noticing.

The only person close enough to do it had been—

I turned toward Ken.

He looked shocked.

"Marin."

I stepped back.

For one terrible moment, doubt entered the room.

Then the lights went out.

A voice echoed through the orphanage.

"That's right."

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Victor.

"Trust no one."