Chapter 13 - THE LAST LIELena screamed.
Daniel threw himself toward her.
The bullet struck the wall.
Vale lowered the weapon.
Cross stared at him.
“You missed.”
Vale smiled faintly.
“No.”
He turned the gun toward Cross.
The room erupted.
Guards fired.
Lights shattered.
Daniel dragged Lena behind a concrete pillar.
Mara crawled toward the evidence files.
Vale shot two guards.
Cross disappeared through a hidden door.
Daniel shouted:
“Vale!”
Vale looked at him.
“Your wife was right.”
“About what?”
“She never trusted me.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“You betrayed her.”
“I betrayed Cross.”
“Why?”
Vale's voice cracked.
“Because I realized what he had done to the children.”
He threw Daniel a key.
“The basement.”
Then Vale ran after Cross.
Daniel grabbed Lena.
“Come on.”
They found a hidden elevator.
It descended beneath the estate.
Deep underground.
The doors opened onto a corridor.
At the end was a red door.
Lena stopped.
Her breathing became shallow.
“I know this.”
Daniel took her hand.
“Then we're going in together.”
They opened the door.
Inside was a small room.
One chair.
One camera.
One old wooden box.
Lena walked toward it.
She began crying.
“My mother.”
Daniel looked around.
There was a recording device.
He pressed play.
Sarah's voice.
“If you're here, then Lily remembered.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“The evidence is inside the box.”
Lena opened it.
Inside was a ledger.
Hundreds of names.
Bank transfers.
Judges.
Police officers.
Doctors.
Politicians.
Everything Cross had built.
Daniel turned the final page.
There was one handwritten note.
Project Amira.
Daniel looked at Lena.
“What does this mean?”
She stared at the page.
Then her eyes widened.
“Amira wasn't my mother.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“What?”
“She was the project.”
Daniel frowned.
Lena continued.
“They created Amira.”
Daniel stared.
“What are you saying?”
“She was part of the organization.”
“But she protected you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lena looked at the final page.
“Because she betrayed them.”
A gunshot came from the hallway.
Mara screamed.
Vale's body fell into the doorway.
Daniel rushed toward him.
Vale was bleeding.
“Who shot you?”
Vale gasped.
“Cross.”
“Where is he?”
Vale smiled weakly.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Cross isn't the one who started this.”
Daniel froze.
“Who did?”
Vale looked at Lena.
“The person who ordered your daughters taken was someone much closer to you.”
Daniel felt the world disappear.
“Who?”
Vale whispered:
“Your wife.”
Daniel stared at him.
“That isn't possible.”
Vale's eyes closed.
“She asked us to take Lily.”
Then he died.
Daniel looked at the recording.
May you like
Sarah's face appeared on the monitor.
And for the first time, Daniel wondered whether the woman he had loved for thirty years had been the villain all along.
