Chapter 5 - The Memory She Was Never Supposed to Recover
Jasmine remembered the night her father died.
Not all of it.
But enough.
She remembered sitting in the back seat.
Rain on the windows.
Her father driving.
Her mother crying beside him.
Then the car stopped.
A man had approached.
Samuel told Jasmine to hide.
Her father had given her a small red music box.
“Remember this,” he had whispered.
“What does it mean?”
“You’ll understand when you’re older.”
Jasmine remembered the number.
But there was more.
A song.
The melody played every night when she was a child.
She had thought it was something her mother invented.
It wasn't.
Her father had written it.
Derek understood immediately.
“Your father encoded the password into the melody.”
Victor's face darkened.
“Where is the music box?”
Jasmine stepped behind Derek.
“At my mother’s house.”
Victor smiled.
“Then we'll visit her.”
Derek's eyes hardened.
“You're not touching her.”
Gunfire erupted.
Derek pushed Jasmine behind a steel pillar.
Marcus and the security team returned fire.
The warehouse became chaos.
Evan pulled Jasmine toward a side exit.
“Move!”
She followed.
They escaped through a loading tunnel.
Outside, Derek found them.
He grabbed Jasmine.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
His hands shook as he checked her.
“I told you never to leave me.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
She looked at him.
“And I choose you.”
His anger disappeared.
They returned to the penthouse.
Jasmine's mother brought the music box.
When Derek opened it, the tune began.
Jasmine stared.
She recognized it immediately.
The melody contained pauses.
Three notes.
Nine notes.
Eight notes.
But beneath the wooden mechanism was a second compartment.
Inside was a microfilm.
Derek held it up.
“Your father left proof.”
They spent the night decoding it.
The files revealed everything.
Bribes.
Bank accounts.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police commanders.
Corporate executives.
And one name that shocked Derek.
Marcus.
Derek stared at the screen.
“No.”
Marcus stood silently behind him.
“Boss…”
“You knew?”
“I knew there was a leak.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Marcus looked at Jasmine.
“I was protecting you.”
Derek raised his gun.
Jasmine stepped between them.
“Wait.”
Marcus dropped his weapon.
“I worked undercover inside Victor's network for six years.”
Derek looked stunned.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because there was someone higher than Victor.”
“Who?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Your uncle.”
Derek went still.
His father’s brother.
Arthur Drake.
The man who had advised Derek since the day he inherited the organization.
The man who had always been loyal.
At least, that was what Derek believed.
“He ordered Samuel’s murder,” Marcus said.
Jasmine whispered, “Why?”
“Because your father discovered Arthur had been secretly working with Victor.”
Derek looked at the evidence again.
The documents were undeniable.
Arthur had signed transactions.
Arthur had authorized payments.
Arthur had ordered surveillance.
And one document contained a phrase that made Derek's blood run cold.
Eliminate Carter family.
Marcus said, “There’s more.”
He opened a hidden file.
“Arthur isn’t acting alone.”
The screen loaded.
A photograph appeared.
A woman.
Jasmine stared.
Her face went white.
It was her mother.
She looked at Derek.
“No.”
Derek's voice softened.
“She’s alive in the photograph.”
Jasmine couldn't understand.
Her mother stood beside Arthur.
Smiling.
Holding the red music box.
“What is she doing with him?”
Before anyone could answer, the penthouse doors exploded inward.
Arthur Drake walked in.
Surrounded by armed men.
He looked directly at Derek.
May you like
Then at Jasmine.
“Because,” Arthur said, “your mother was never the victim.”
