Chapter 5 - Dominic’s Dead Grandfather Had Been Running the Black Ledger for Twelve Years—and He Had One Reason to Keep Caleb AliveDominic refused to believe it.
Not until Gabriel showed us the files.
Bank transfers.
Phone records.
Encrypted messages.
All linked to the same identity.
Victor Mercer.
Dominic's grandfather.
Officially dead for twelve years.
Unofficially, still running the network.
The Black Ledger.
The man who had once controlled Dominic's father.
The man who had ordered my father's death.
The man who had tried to erase my identity.
I stared at the evidence.
"Why Caleb?"
Gabriel answered.
"Because Caleb is the first child born with both bloodlines."
Dominic shook his head.
"Bloodlines don't matter."
"To you."
"To criminals, perhaps."
Gabriel corrected him.
"To your grandfather, blood is everything."
Victor believed the network needed one legitimate heir.
A child who could unite the Mercer fortune with the Voss intelligence network.
Caleb was that child.
That's why he couldn't simply be killed.
He had to be controlled.
The shooting had been designed to trigger fear.
To make Dominic hide Caleb.
To make him move the child to a more predictable safe location.
And I had ruined that plan by taking the bullets.
I looked at Dominic.
"Why me?"
Gabriel's face tightened.
"Because Victor knew you'd protect Caleb."
I stared.
"How?"
"Because he knew who you were before you arrived."
My blood went cold.
"What?"
Gabriel nodded.
"The forged references weren't yours."
I stared.
"Then whose were they?"
"Victor's people created them."
I looked at Dominic.
He understood immediately.
"You weren't hiding from them."
I whispered:
"They were bringing me here."
Exactly.
I hadn't chosen Blackthorne House.
They had chosen it for me.
I was bait.
Caleb was bait.
Dominic was the target.
And Lucian had known.
That explained his presence.
But not why he had called me by my real name.
We found him two days later.
He wanted to meet.
Alone.
Dominic came with me anyway.
Lucian stood in an abandoned church.
He looked older.
Tired.
Alive.
I stared at him.
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I had to."
"You betrayed me."
"No."
"You watched me disappear."
"I was protecting you."
"You lied."
"I saved your life."
I hated him.
But I still wanted answers.
"Why did you come to the gala?"
"To stop the shooting."
"Then why did the shooting happen?"
He looked at Dominic.
"Because Victor wanted you to believe Caleb was the target."
I felt cold.
"Then what was the real target?"
May you like
Lucian looked at me.
"You."
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