Chapter 6: The Blood That Changed Everything
For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood him.
The words were too impossible.
Too heavy.
Too absurd to fit inside reality.
“Your blood?””
My father didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
His silence confirmed it.
I stared at him.
The man I had spent twenty-five years believing was gone.
The man who had returned with answers.
The man who had spent the last hour revealing secrets one layer at a time.
And somehow, every answer created another question.
“You were there.””
It wasn’t a question.
My father looked down.
“Yes.””
My voice became colder.
“You were there when Elena disappeared.””
“Yes.””
“And you never told me.””
His face tightened.
“I thought I was protecting you.””
I laughed.
But there was no humor in it.
“Everyone keeps saying that.””
I walked toward him.
“Everyone keeps saying they were protecting me.””
My hand touched my chest.
“But nobody ever thought I deserved the truth.””
My father looked like he wanted to respond.
He didn’t.
Because he knew I was right.
My mother stood near the desk, shaking.
“Richard…”
My father looked at her.
“I should have told her years ago.””
“Yes.””
My mother’s voice broke.
“You should have.””
That surprised me.
After everything I had learned, I expected my mother to defend him.
Instead, she looked exhausted.
Like she had spent twenty-five years waiting for this moment.
I turned back to my father.
“What happened at the cliff?””
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time, I saw the memory hurting him.
Not as a story.
As a wound.
“It started with Elena.””
He sat down slowly.
“She called me that night.””
I remained standing.
“What did she say?””
“She told me she had proof against Victor.””
My father’s hands tightened.
“She sounded scared.””
“Scared?””
“Yes.””
“Then why did you go alone?””
His jaw clenched.
“Because Elena told me not to tell anyone.””
I frowned.
“Why?””
“She said she didn’t know who she could trust.””
The sentence settled between us.
Because now I understood.
Twenty-five years ago, my family had been surrounded by lies.
Nobody knew who was loyal.
Nobody knew who was watching.
Nobody knew who was dangerous.
My father continued.
“When I arrived at the location she gave me, Elena’s car was already there.””
“And she wasn’t?””
“No.””
“What did you see?””
He stared at the floor.
“Her phone.””
I froze.
“What?””
“It was on the ground near the car.””
My father swallowed.
“I picked it up.””
“Why?””
“Because I thought she dropped it.””
“And?””
His face darkened.
“The last message on the phone was from Victor.””
The room went cold.
“What did it say?””
My father looked at me.
“Come alone. I have what you need.””
I looked at the photograph of Elena.
She trusted him.
She believed he would help.
But she had walked into a trap.
“What happened next?””
“I heard a noise.””
My father’s voice lowered.
“Someone was behind me.””
My fingers tightened.
“Victor?””
“No.””
That answer surprised me.
“Then who?””
My father looked at my mother.
She looked away.
“I never saw his face.””
I frowned.
“You never saw him?””
“No.””
“Then how do you know there was someone else?””
My father’s expression changed.
“Because they attacked me.””
Silence.
“I was hit from behind.””
He touched the side of his head.
“I fell.””
I stared.
“The blood.””
“Yes.””
“That was your blood.””
“Yes.””
“And then?””
My father looked at the window.
“When I woke up, the car was gone.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
“Elena’s car.””
“Gone?””
“Yes.””
“But you said it was there.””
“It was.””
He looked at me.
“When I woke up, someone had moved it.””
A terrifying thought formed.
“Someone tried to make it look like something happened.””
“Yes.””
I felt sick.
“So Victor framed you?””
My father didn’t answer immediately.
“I don’t know.””
I stared at him.
“What do you mean you don’t know?””
“Because the person who attacked me knew things only a few people knew.””
My mother whispered:
“Richard.””
He looked at her.
“She knew.””
I turned toward my mother.
“What?””
My father’s voice was quiet.
“Your mother knew Elena was meeting me that night.””
My mother closed her eyes.
“I told Victor.””
The confession landed like a physical blow.
Again.
Another secret.
Another betrayal.
“You told him?””
My mother cried.
“I didn’t know he would hurt her.””
“How many times are you going to say that?””
My voice cracked.
“How many times did you trust the wrong person?””
My mother had no answer.
I looked away.
Because my anger was becoming too complicated.
There was no single villain.
No simple explanation.
Just people making choices.
And those choices destroying lives.
My phone buzzed.
I looked down.
Another message.
This time, it wasn’t a threat.
It was a photograph.
My blood ran cold.
The image showed a young woman.
Elena.
But she wasn’t twenty-four.
She was older.
Much older.
The picture looked recent.
Taken within the last few years.
My hands trembled.
I looked at my father.
“Where did this come from?””
He stared at the screen.
His face changed completely.
“No.””
My mother stood.
“What?””
My father took the phone from me.
His eyes scanned the image.
“That’s impossible.””
“Why?””
He zoomed in.
The woman in the photograph stood outside a small building.
Older.
Different.
But unmistakably Elena.
“Because…”
His voice disappeared.
“Because Elena is dead.””
I stared at him.
“You don’t know that.””
“I saw the car.””
“You didn’t see her body.””
The words left my mouth before I realized it.
My father looked at me.
And I saw something shift.
A tiny crack in the certainty he had carried for twenty-five years.
My mother stepped closer.
“Lucienne…”
I pointed at the phone.
“She’s alive.””
Nobody spoke.
The possibility was terrifying.
And somehow, it was the first hopeful thing I had heard all day.
My father looked at the image again.
“Where did you get this?””
I checked the message.
The sender had written only one sentence.
*If you want the truth about Elena, come alone.*
I looked at the three words.
Come alone.
A trap.
Obviously.
But whoever sent it knew something.
Something about Elena.
Something my parents had never discovered.
My father grabbed my arm.
“No.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
“You’re not going.””
“Why?””
“Because that’s what Victor wants.””
“You don’t know that.””
“I know exactly how he thinks.””
My anger rose.
“And I know exactly how secrets work.””
I pulled away.
“You spent twenty-five years hiding things from me. You don’t get to tell me what I can handle now.””
My father looked hurt.
But he didn’t stop me.
My mother did.
“Lucienne.””
I looked at her.
She was holding the silver bracelet around her wrist.
The same bracelet I had given her as a child.
“I lost one daughter because I made the wrong choice.””
Her voice shook.
“I cannot lose another.””
The words stopped me.
Another daughter.
Not an empire.
Not a business.
Not a reputation.
A daughter.
For the first time, I saw my mother not as the woman who abandoned me.
But as a woman who had spent twenty-five years living with the consequences of her choices.
I looked at the photograph again.
Elena.
My sister.
Alive.
Maybe.
My father stepped closer.
“Let me go with you.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“Lucienne—”
“If someone is watching us, they expect you.””
He stopped.
I continued.
“They expect my father to come running after his missing daughter.””
My eyes moved to the photograph.
“But they won’t expect me.””
My mother whispered:
“What are you going to do?””
I looked out over the city.
The same city where I had built my empire.
The same city where someone had been manipulating my life from the shadows.
For twenty-five years, I had survived because I trusted nobody.
Now I was going to use the one thing everyone underestimated.
My ability to survive alone.
“I’m going to find my sister.””
My phone buzzed one final time.
A location appeared.
A warehouse on the edge of Cresthaven.
And beneath it, one final message.
*Come before midnight.*
*Bring the bracelet.*
I looked down at my mother’s wrist.
My heart stopped.
Because whoever sent the message didn’t just know about Elena.
They knew about the night I gave my mother that bracelet.
They knew something nobody outside my family should have known.
And suddenly, I understood.
May you like
The person who had been watching us for twenty-five years…
Had been watching me since I was a child.
