Chapter 2 - Claire Revealed That Luca Had Secretly Survived for Thirteen Years, and the “Dead” Brother I Mourned Had Been Hiding to Protect His DaughterI locked the armored room.
Three steel doors separated us from the rest of the building.
Emma sat on a leather chair holding her rag doll.
Claire paced.
I watched her.
“You have ten minutes.”
She frowned.
“For what?”
“To tell me everything.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“No.”
I slammed my palm against the table.
“Thirteen years, Claire.”
She flinched.
“Thirteen years, I believed my brother was dead.”
“He wanted you to.”
“Why?”
“Because if they knew he was alive, they would have killed Emma.”
I stared.
“Who?”
“The Vale family.”
I laughed.
“My family?”
“Not you.”
“My uncle?”
She nodded.
I walked toward the wall.
My uncle's name had never appeared in our family records.
Not once.
My father had claimed he had no siblings.
Claire told me that was a lie.
My father had one older brother.
Nathan Vale.
A brilliant man.
A ruthless man.
A man who disappeared before my father inherited the family organization.
Nathan wanted control.
My grandfather chose my father instead.
Nathan vanished.
But he didn't die.
He created another organization.
A hidden one.
He eventually returned.
And Luca discovered him.
That's when everything went wrong.
Claire showed me photographs.
Luca.
Nathan.
My father.
A younger woman.
The woman was Emma's grandmother.
There was a child.
Emma's biological mother?
No.
The child was Luca.
I felt sick.
My family history had been deliberately rewritten.
Claire continued.
“Luca discovered that Nathan had been manipulating the family trust.”
“What trust?”
“The Vale Legacy Fund.”
I knew the name.
It was an old account.
A family reserve.
Billions.
Hidden assets.
Companies.
Properties.
But I had been told it was destroyed after my grandfather's death.
Claire shook her head.
“It wasn't destroyed.”
“Where is it?”
“Locked behind bloodline restrictions.”
“Whose?”
“Luca's.”
I stared.
The fund had been designed for the direct descendants of my grandfather.
My father had controlled it.
After he died, control should have moved to me.
But the documents had never been activated.
Because Luca had disappeared.
Now I understood.
Emma was a direct heir.
If Luca was alive, so was his claim.
And if Emma was the only known child...
She could become the key.
Claire explained that Nathan had been trying to control the trust for years.
Luca resisted.
He vanished.
Claire fled with Emma.
Then Luca resurfaced.
He gave Claire the wolf tattoo.
His half of the symbol.
“Why did he do that?”
“He said one day you would understand.”
I looked at my own tattoo.
The broken moon.
The wolf.
The mark had always been a private symbol between us.
I never imagined it was also a key.
Claire took Emma's hand.
“The second half is not just a tattoo.”
“What is it?”
“A code.”
A biometric key.
Bloodline identification.
I stared.
My family had built an inheritance system that required physical symbols.
But why?
Claire explained:
“Your grandfather trusted nobody.”
“Not even his sons.”
“He created a secret archive.”
“Only the wolves could access it.”
I understood.
The tattoos were not decorative.
They were identification symbols.
One half belonged to my father.
The other to his brother.
Later, the symbols passed to the sons.
Luca and me.
Two wolves.
Two bloodlines.
One legacy.
But someone had altered the records.
They wanted the family to believe only one wolf remained.
Me.
That would make me the sole heir.
Unless Luca's daughter existed.
Then everything changed.
Emma was the second wolf.
I looked at her.
She was coloring.
Completely unaware that powerful people might kill her for a family fortune.
I asked:
“Does she know who she is?”
Claire shook her head.
“She knows her father loves her.”
“That is all?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Claire looked at me.
“What?”
“She remains a child.”
Then the armored door shook.
Someone had found us.
My security chief shouted from outside:
“Sir!”
I opened the inner communication line.
“Status?”
“Six men.”
“Casualties?”
“Two injured.”
“Hold them.”
My men knew what that meant.
No one gets through.
Emma looked at me.
“Are we going to die?”
I crouched.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I promised.”
She nodded.
Then whispered:
“Daddy promised too.”
I looked at Claire.
“What does Luca promise?”
“He promised he'd come back.”
“When?”
“When it was safe.”
“And is it safe?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Claire stared toward the door.
“Because he isn't hiding from your enemies.”
She swallowed.
“He's hiding from someone who works for you.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
“The man who has been protecting you for thirteen years.”
I understood immediately.
My chief of security.
Marcus Reed.
He had been with me since Luca disappeared.
He knew every secret.
Every safe house.
Every family document.
Every access code.
If someone had been protecting the truth...
It was him.
The armored door opened.
Marcus stepped inside.
I raised my weapon.
He stopped.
“Boss.”
“Don't move.”
His eyes went to Emma.
Then Claire.
He sighed.
“So you found her.”
That answer was enough.
I felt betrayed.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Six years.”
“Where is Luca?”
Marcus looked down.
“Alive.”
My hands tightened.
“Where?”
“He's gone.”
“You said you knew.”
“I knew where he was.”
“Past tense?”
Marcus nodded.
“He left three days ago.”
“Why?”
“He knew you were finally going to discover the truth.”
I stared.
“Where?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Broken Moon.”
My blood froze.
The abandoned family estate.
The place my brother had told me to forget.
I looked at Emma.
Then at Claire.
And finally at Marcus.
“Get the cars.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because the people attacking us aren't here to kill you.”
May you like
He looked at Emma.
“They're here to make sure she never reaches Broken Moon.”
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