Chapter 5 - My Dead Uncle Was Alive and Running the Organization From the Shadows, and He Had Been Using My Father’s Empire to Prepare for One Final TakeoverRichard Cross.
My uncle.
My father's younger brother.
The man who taught me business.
The man who had helped raise me after my father died.
The man whose funeral I had attended.
Dead.
Except he wasn't.
He had disappeared.
He had been building Helix.
My father had opposed him.
Amelia had discovered it.
Warren had joined him.
Everything connected.
Richard wanted my empire.
But more importantly, he wanted the archive.
I found the location.
An underground facility beneath the old family shipping terminal.
We went.
I took Ruby.
She refused to stay behind.
“I know the key.”
She was right.
The bracelet contained a biometric device.
Only her hand could activate it.
We opened the vault.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Every secret my family had ever kept.
Political payments.
Illegal operations.
Names.
Everything.
Richard appeared on a screen.
“Sebastian.”
I froze.
“You always were stubborn.”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
“What do you want?”
“Your daughter.”
“No.”
“She belongs to the family.”
“She belongs to herself.”
He laughed.
Then the screen showed Amelia.
Alive.
Not current.
A recording.
She looked directly at the camera.
“Sebastian, if you're watching this, don't trust anyone.”
The video stopped.
Ruby began crying.
“She knew.”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
Then another screen activated.
Amelia appeared again.
This time, she said one sentence:
“The person who knows where Richard is... is your mother.”
My blood froze.
My mother.
She had been silent for years.
Could she have known?
I returned home.
She was waiting.
She knew.
Before I even spoke.
“Yes.”
I stared.
“You knew Richard was alive.”
“Yes.”
“And Amelia?”
She cried.
“I tried to protect both of you.”
“You let me believe my uncle was dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone says that.”
She looked at Ruby.
“I was afraid.”
“Of Richard?”
“Yes.”
“What did he have?”
She whispered:
“Your father's final ledger.”
I knew the ledger.
My father had kept one final record.
The one thing Helix couldn't destroy.
Where Richard kept his money.
Who funded him.
Who protected him.
And the identity of The Architect's successor.
My mother said:
“Your cousin.”
I froze.
“Which cousin?”
She looked at me.
“Warren.”
I stared.
May you like
“He isn't just an employee.”
“He's family.”
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