Chapter 7 - The Woman Behind the MaskThe bullet hit the tree beside my head.
I ran.
Richard fired back.
Victoria disappeared behind the SUV.
Amelia was dragged toward the vehicle.
I chased them.
One guard swung at me.
I ducked.
Richard tackled him.
“Get Amelia!”
I reached my sister.
She was shaking.
I cut her restraints with a knife from my pocket.
She grabbed my face.
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
She cried.
For a second, everything disappeared.
Eleven years of questions collapsed into one embrace.
Then she whispered:
“Dad is alive.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She stared at me.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“He isn't the person you think he is.”
“What does that mean?”
Amelia looked toward Victoria.
“She knows.”
We hid in the forest until dawn.
Then Amelia told me everything.
Daniel Cross had built a private network called the Meridian Circle.
The Solmere had been the financial engine.
My father had once intended to expose it.
But someone betrayed him.
He vanished.
My mother believed he had been murdered.
Instead, he had gone underground.
And Amelia discovered him.
“He contacted me,” she said.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
“Why did you disappear?”
“Because he wanted me to help him destroy the Circle.”
I stared.
“Why didn't Mom know?”
“She did.”
My heart sank.
“Mom lied to me.”
“She was trying to keep you alive.”
Then Amelia gave me a flash drive.
“Everything is here.”
I plugged it into my laptop.
Thousands of files appeared.
Names.
Payments.
Coded communications.
Then I saw one folder.
SOLMERE SUCCESSION.
Inside was my name.
And another name.
Victoria Sterling.
I opened the document.
It was a succession agreement.
According to the document, if I died before formally taking control of the company, Victoria's family would inherit the hotel.
I stared.
“Victoria isn't just a socialite.”
“No.”
“She was chosen.”
Amelia nodded.
“They planned to marry her into the Vale family.”
“Who?”
Amelia looked at me.
“Your uncle.”
I felt sick.
Richard had been helping them.
Maybe all along.
Then another file opened automatically.
A video.
Daniel Cross appeared on screen.
Older.
His hair gray.
His face scarred.
He looked directly at the camera.
“Charlotte.”
I froze.
“If you're seeing this, then Amelia has found you.”
He paused.
“I need you to hear the truth before you trust anyone.”
He leaned closer.
“Your mother didn't die of natural causes.”
I whispered:
“I know.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No, you don't.”
He pressed a button.
The video changed.
Security footage.
My mother's car.
A black sedan following her.
Then another clip.
A man entering her hotel room.
I recognized him.
Richard.
I stared at the screen.
My uncle was holding a syringe.
Amelia grabbed my hand.
“Charlotte…”
I couldn't breathe.
Then the footage continued.
Richard placed something beside my mother's bed.
A note.
The final image zoomed in.
It carried one word.
SORRY.
I shut the laptop.
Richard had told me he wasn't involved.
But the footage showed him standing over my mother on the night she died.
I turned to Amelia.
“We're going back to the hotel.”
She stared.
“Why?”
“Because I want to ask my uncle one question.”
“What question?”
May you like
I picked up my coat.
“Why did he kill our mother?”
