Chapter 4 - Leon Learned His Mother Had Been Alive the Night His Father DiedSamuel told Leon everything.
Victor was not merely his father's firstborn.
He had been the original heir.
But Leon's father had chosen Leon's mother instead.
Victor believed he had been abandoned.
He built a shadow organization.
He manipulated money.
He turned family members against one another.
And when Leon was nineteen, he orchestrated the disappearance of Leon's parents.
But he did not kill them.
Leon stared at Samuel.
“What happened to my mother?”
“She escaped.”
“Where?”
Samuel hesitated.
“She lived under another name.”
“Where?”
“She came back.”
Leon froze.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Where is she?”
Samuel looked at him.
“She was the one who arranged Camille's kidnapping.”
Leon stared.
“No.”
“She believes Victor is going to kill you.”
“What does she want?”
“To force you to leave.”
Leon laughed bitterly.
“So everyone has decided they know what is best for me.”
Samuel nodded.
“Yes.”
The discovery devastated him.
His mother was alive.
His father wasn't the villain he'd believed.
Victor wasn't the father figure he'd trusted.
Everything was wrong.
He went to the old family home.
There, behind a sealed wall, he found his mother's letters.
Dozens.
Unsent.
All addressed to him.
The first read:
My son,
If you ever find these, I'm sorry.
I left because staying would get you killed.
Victor blamed you for my leaving.
He told you that I abandoned you.
That was a lie.
Leon sat on the floor.
He read until his vision blurred.
Then came the final letter.
I trusted Victor once.
That was my greatest mistake.
He told me Leon would become like his father.
I didn't believe him.
But I was afraid.
At the bottom:
If Camille enters your life, protect her.
Leon stopped.
His mother had known about Camille.
How?
He flipped the page.
Victor has been tracking her family since the day you met her.
Leon felt sick.
Camille had never been random.
Victor had engineered their meeting.
The bakery.
The charity gala.
Their first date.
Everything.
He had been manipulated into falling in love with the woman Victor believed could control him.
Except Victor had underestimated one thing.
Camille wasn't a weakness.
She was the first person who made Leon question the cage.
He called Carmine.
“Find the bakery.”
“It’s closed.”
“Find every camera around it.”
Within an hour, they discovered footage.
A black vehicle had followed Camille for weeks before her kidnapping.
Then they found a hidden account.
Payments from a shell company.
Recipient:
Camille Dawson.
But the money wasn't sent to Camille.
It was sent to her grandmother.
Leon stared at the account.
“When?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
His face tightened.
“Before I met her.”
Carmine nodded.
“So what was the purpose?”
“Protection.”
Leon looked up.
“From whom?”
Carmine answered:
“Victor.”
Leon finally understood.
Victor had not chosen Camille because she was useful.
Someone else had protected her because Victor had been hunting her family for years.
Camille's grandmother knew the truth.
Her grandfather had kept the accounts that linked Victor to the original empire.
That meant Camille's family held the missing evidence.
Evidence Victor needed.
Evidence Leon needed.
And evidence someone had murdered for.
Leon received another message.
A location.
An old train station.
He went.
Camille was not there.
Instead, he found his mother.
She stood beneath the platform lights.
Older.
Thin.
Eyes full of grief.
Leon stopped ten feet away.
“Mom?”
She cried.
“Yes.”
He couldn't move.
She whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
Leon shook his head.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You left me.”
“To save you.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let Victor raise me.”
“I thought he was protecting you.”
Leon laughed bitterly.
“He was turning me into him.”
His mother looked down.
“I know.”
Leon stepped closer.
“Where is Camille?”
She answered:
“Your father kept her family's evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one that proves Victor didn't build your empire.”
Leon went still.
“Then who did?”
His mother looked directly into his eyes.
“Your father.”
“And Victor?”
“He stole it.”
“And Camille?”
“Her grandfather recovered a copy.”
Leon understood.
The entire war had always been about one ledger.
Camille's family had the copy.
Victor wanted it.
Leon needed it.
And Camille was caught in the middle.
Then his mother whispered:
“Your father left you something.”
She handed Leon a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Leon as an infant.
His father holding him.
Victor standing beside them.
And behind Victor was a younger woman.
Eleanor Dawson.
Camille's grandmother.
Leon stared.
Their families had been connected since before he was born.
May you like
He had not met Camille by chance.
He had been moving toward her all his life.
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