Chapter 7 - THE BETRAYAL AT THE TOPThe traitor was discovered within days.
Raven's chief operating officer.
Thomas Vale.
The man who had worked beside his father.
The man who had been one of Raven's most trusted advisers.
The man who had hired me.
Thomas had been feeding Lucia information for eighteen years.
But he wasn't the mastermind.
He was protecting someone.
Victoria.
Raven confronted his mother.
“You knew.”
She cried.
“Yes.”
“You knew she was using Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe it was Lucia.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Raven laughed.
“You always say that.”
Victoria looked at me.
“There is one more truth.”
I stepped closer.
“What?”
“Lucia did not kill your mother.”
Silence.
“Then who did?”
Victoria whispered,
“Thomas.”
Raven's face changed.
“Why?”
“Because your mother had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Victoria looked at me.
“Your father's final decision.”
She handed me a letter.
My mother had written it.
Sarah,
You were born because Marcus believed there could still be a future outside the darkness.
Raven read over my shoulder.
The letter continued.
Your father asked me to protect you because he knew the family would eventually tear itself apart.
At the bottom was one sentence:
When the time comes, tell Raven that his father loved him more than the empire.
Raven closed his eyes.
For a long time, he couldn't speak.
Then he whispered,
“I spent twenty years hating him.”
I touched his hand.
“He knew.”
“I know.”
A tear fell.
Just one.
I had never seen Raven cry before.
He looked at me.
“I don't know how to forgive the dead.”
“You don't have to.”
He leaned against me.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“It isn't.”
“No.”
He smiled sadly.
“But you make it possible.”
Thomas kidnapped Victoria.
He demanded the ledger.
Lucia wanted control.
Thomas wanted revenge.
The old family wanted both.
Raven decided to end it permanently.
He called every legitimate partner.
Every board member.
Every prosecutor.
Every journalist.
He opened every file.
No more secrets.
No more hiding.
The Moretti and Cavalcante networks collapsed within weeks.
Lucia was arrested.
Thomas surrendered after Victoria was recovered.
And Raven did something nobody expected.
He resigned from every criminal-connected company.
Then he turned Cavalcante Holdings into a completely legitimate investment firm.
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People said he was insane.
He said he was free.
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