Chapter 13 - The Real Betrayal
Everyone Had a Version of the Truth
Dad shouted.
“She's lying!”
Elena didn't blink.
Caleb stood silently.
For the first time, he wasn't smiling.
That frightened me.
I looked at Rowan.
“Who is telling the truth?”
“I don't know.”
Dad stared at me.
“Lyra, listen to me.”
“No.”
He stopped.
“You've all lied.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“That excuse is dead.”
Dad lowered his head.
Then he said the sentence I never expected.
“I betrayed Elena.”
Silence.
Mom closed her eyes.
“Adrian…”
He continued.
“I didn't kill Samuel.”
“But I gave Caleb access to him.”
My heart cracked.
“Why?”
“Because Caleb had Ivy.”
Ivy gasped.
“What?”
Dad looked at her.
“Ivy was born with a heart condition.”
Mom shouted, “Don't!”
Dad kept going.
“She needed surgery.”
“That's not true,” I whispered.
“It was.”
“Ivy is healthy.”
“Now.”
He looked at me.
“Caleb controlled the hospital.”
My mind raced.
The medications.
The hospital forms.
The records.
Everything.
“I cooperated because I thought I could save both of you.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You saved neither.”
Dad looked broken.
“I tried.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You chose.”
I turned to Elena.
“Then why did you let me believe you were dead?”
“Because I needed Caleb to think he won.”
“What about Mom?”
Elena looked at her.
“She wasn't supposed to become your mother.”
Mom began crying.
“I didn't have a choice.”
Elena looked at me.
“The woman you called Mom was my sister.”
I froze.
“What?”
Mom nodded.
“My name is Mara Vale.”
My brain couldn't process another name.
“So Elena is…”
“My sister.”
“And you raised me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Mara whispered,
“Because Elena asked me to.”
Elena stepped closer.
“I knew I couldn't keep you alive myself.”
“Then who attacked us?”
Caleb finally answered.
“Me.”
“Why?”
“Because the system is breaking.”
“What system?”
“Meridian.”
He pointed to a massive computer terminal.
“The identities it created are collapsing.”
“Why do you need me?”
“Because the final authorization will reset the system.”
“To save it?”
“To control it.”
Rowan raised his weapon.
“Step away from the terminal.”
Caleb smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
He pressed a button.
Every screen lit up.
Thousands of names.
Thousands of identities.
People who supposedly didn't exist.
My name appeared.
Then Ivy's.
Then Dad's.
Then Mara's.
Then Elena's.
I looked at the list.
There was one final entry.
Caleb Vale.
Status:
DECEASED.
I looked at him.
“You're legally dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then who am I really?”
Caleb's expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“You are Samuel's daughter.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
I stared at her.
She whispered,
“Lyra is mine.”
Caleb looked at me.
“She was never supposed to survive.”
I understood.
“Why?”
“Because Samuel hid the final access key inside her.”
I touched my chest.
“So he made me the lock.”
“No.”
Elena stepped closer.
“He made you the witness.”
She looked at Caleb.
“And that's why you can never control Meridian.”
Caleb raised his weapon.
Everything happened at once.
Rowan fired.
The terminal exploded.
The lights went out.
And in the darkness, someone grabbed my wrist.
I screamed.
A hand covered my mouth.
A voice whispered into my ear.
“Come with me.”
I knew that voice.
May you like
It belonged to Dad.
But when the lights flickered back on, Dad was still tied to the chair.
