Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Had Been Hiding the Truth for Twenty Years
I wanted to go alone.
Cassian refused.
The location in the note was an abandoned Aldridge factory.
We entered through the side door.
Margaret waited beneath a hanging light.
My mother sat in a chair beside her.
Alive.
Terrified.
And Margaret smiled.
“You came.”
Cassian stepped forward.
“You have five seconds.”
Margaret laughed.
“Still dramatic.”
“Four.”
“Fine.”
She looked at me.
“Your father owed us.”
“My father died.”
“Exactly.”
I felt sick.
“For what?”
“He stole something.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
The same ledger.
My father had taken the evidence.
But Margaret claimed he hadn’t taken it for himself.
“He gave it to your mother.”
I looked at Helen.
“Is that true?”
My mother nodded through tears.
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“I don't know anymore.”
Margaret smiled.
“That’s not the answer we need.”
Cassian drew his weapon.
Margaret's men raised theirs.
“Put it away,” she said.
Cassian didn't.
Margaret looked at me.
“The vault only opens with your fingerprints and a sequence.”
I realized.
The math.
My father's games.
“You trained me.”
“Yes.”
My mother sobbed.
“I never wanted this.”
Margaret continued.
“Your father believed the Vale organization would eventually destroy itself. He created a backup system.”
“The vault.”
“Yes.”
“What's inside?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“Every powerful person who ever paid Elias Voss.”
Margaret smiled.
“Judges. Politicians. CEOs. Police commanders.”
I realized why everyone was afraid.
The evidence could destroy half the city’s elite.
Cassian lowered his weapon.
“Where is the vault?”
Margaret looked at me.
“You tell me.”
“I don't know.”
“Then remember.”
I closed my eyes.
Numbers.
My father’s voice.
Three.
Seven.
Twelve.
Four.
I whispered the sequence.
Margaret smiled.
“There.”
She had her answer.
Cassian attacked first.
The room exploded into chaos.
Thomas disarmed one guard.
Cassian took down another.
I grabbed my mother and pulled her behind a concrete wall.
A shot rang out.
Margaret escaped.
But not before she screamed:
“You’ll never reach the vault before he kills you!”
“Who?”
She smiled.
“Your own husband.”
I froze.
Cassian appeared beside us.
“Move.”
“My husband?”
“We’ll talk later.”
The factory caught fire.
We barely escaped.
Outside, Cassian turned toward me.
“You need to trust me.”
“Margaret said someone will kill me.”
“She’s trying to divide us.”
“Is she?”
He looked hurt.
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“I don't know anymore.”
He stepped closer.
“You think I would use you?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I would burn down everything I built before I let them touch you.”
He said it quietly.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
Because I believed him.
Back at the estate, my mother finally told us everything.
Twenty years earlier, my father had hidden the vault key inside a piece of jewelry.
The silver bird pendant.
My mother had given it to me when I was seventeen.
I had lost it years ago.
Or so I thought.
I searched my old belongings.
Nothing.
Then Beatrice entered.
“I may have something.”
She returned with a small box.
Inside was the necklace.
I stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“Your father gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
I put it on.
Nothing happened.
Then the pendant warmed.
A tiny panel opened.
Inside was a fingerprint sensor.
Cassian stared.
“Your father planned for you.”
“What if I can't open it?”
“You can.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he spent twenty-two years waiting for the right person.”
That night, we took the pendant to the vault.
It was hidden beneath an old Vale property.
A massive steel door waited underground.
I placed my hand on the sensor.
The numbers came to me.
Three.
Seven.
Twelve.
Four.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside were thousands of documents.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
Bank accounts.
Everything.
And in the center was a folder labeled:
CASSIAN VALE.
He picked it up.
His hands shook.
Inside was a DNA test.
Cassian’s bloodline.
And another name.
Vincent Vale.
Cassian looked at his uncle.
“I'm not my father's only son.”
Vincent shook his head.
“No.”
A second DNA report.
My eyes moved to the final line.
Probability of relation: 99.99%.
I looked at Cassian.
“What does this mean?”
Vincent whispered:
“Elias Voss is not merely your enemy.”
Silence.
“He is your biological uncle.”
Cassian stared at the page.
The room went cold.
Everything made sense.
The organization.
The betrayals.
The obsession with his family.
The marriages.
The murders.
The attacks.
Voss hadn't been trying to destroy Cassian.
He had been trying to control his bloodline.
And I was holding the only evidence that could expose him.
The vault alarm suddenly began screaming.
Someone had entered the building.
Cassian turned.
“Take Lydia upstairs.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“This ends tonight.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Then I took the gun from Thomas.
“If they want the vault, they’ll have to come through me.”
May you like
Cassian stared.
And for the first time, he looked proud.
