Chapter 6 - Lucian Revealed Why I Had Been Chosen as the Sacrifice—and His Answer Changed Everything I Believed About the GalaLucian explained.
The assassin had been ordered to shoot Caleb.
But only because Victor knew I would protect him.
The real objective was my identity.
If I died publicly, the Black Ledger could recover the stolen list from whatever hiding place they believed I had used.
Lucian had been tracking me.
He had found my location.
He had infiltrated the gala.
He hadn't expected me to survive.
"Then why did you smile?"
I asked.
"Because I knew Dominic would protect you."
I shook my head.
"You expected me to get shot."
"No."
"You took the risk."
"I did."
"You let me walk into this."
"I didn't know they'd fire before I could stop them."
I looked at him.
"Where is the list?"
He smiled.
"You still haven't figured it out."
Dominic frowned.
"What?"
Lucian looked at me.
"The list was never stolen."
My blood froze.
"What?"
"You memorized it."
I remembered.
The Black Ledger's documents had been encoded in a language my father taught me.
I had burned the originals.
But I had memorized every name.
That was why they couldn't simply kill me.
They needed me alive.
Dominic understood.
"That's why they kept targeting her."
Lucian nodded.
"Exactly."
Then he revealed something else.
Gabriel had betrayed Victor.
He had been protecting Caleb in secret.
But someone higher inside the network was still controlling the moves.
Someone neither Victor nor Gabriel had identified.
A woman.
Known only as The Archivist.
She had access to every record.
Every birth.
Every death.
Every false identity.
Every financial transaction.
She was the person who erased people from history.
And she had one particular interest in me.
Because my mother had once been the Archivist.
I stared.
"My mother?"
Lucian nodded.
"She left the network when she discovered what it had become."
"Then why did she disappear?"
"Because she was trying to destroy it."
Dominic stepped forward.
"Is she alive?"
Lucian looked at me.
May you like
"Yes."
My heart stopped.
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