CHAPTER 11: THE GIRL BEHIND THE NAME
The photograph slipped from Richard's fingers.
It landed on the cold stone floor.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because every person in that chamber had just seen the impossible.
A little girl.
Yellow dress.
Bare feet.
Standing between Edward Sterling and the mysterious old man.
The same girl who had appeared tonight.
The same girl who had saved Richard's life.
Luna.
Richard looked at her.
The child who slept behind a fish market.
The child everyone ignored.
The child who somehow knew secrets hidden for decades.
"Who are you?"
His voice cracked.
Luna stared at the photograph.
For the first time since they met...
She looked like a child.
Not a witness.
Not a survivor.
Just a frightened seven-year-old girl.
"I don't know."
Richard frowned.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"My mother never told me everything."
"She only told me one thing."
"What?"
Luna slowly looked up.
"That my real name wasn't Luna Reyes."
The room became silent.
Marina stepped closer.
"Then what is it?"
The girl opened her mouth.
But before she could answer...
The old man with the silver cane interrupted.
"Her name was supposed to disappear."
Everyone turned toward him.
He walked slowly into the chamber.
No guards.
No fear.
As if he owned the place.
"Who are you?"
Richard demanded again.
The old man looked at him.
"My name is Alexander Vale."
The name meant nothing to Richard.
But it meant everything to Mr. Collins.
The old butler looked horrified.
"Alexander Vale..."
He whispered.
"The founder."
Richard looked at Collins.
"Founder of what?"
Vale smiled sadly.
"The company your family built its empire on."
He pointed upward.
"Sterling Industries."
Richard shook his head.
"My grandfather founded that company."
"No."
Vale's voice became colder.
"Your grandfather inherited it."
"From me."
The truth hung in the air.
A truth that had been buried beneath money, power, and generations of lies.
Richard stared at the old man.
"If you owned the company, why disappear?"
Alexander looked at the photographs.
"Because someone inside my own organization tried to erase everyone connected to the original company."
"Your father discovered it."
"And he tried to fix it."
Richard clenched his fists.
"My father hid everything from me."
"Because he wanted you alive."
Alexander stepped closer.
"Your father knew the people behind this would not stop."
"Not until every person who knew the truth was gone."
Hayes interrupted.
"Then who is the Collector?"
For the first time...
Alexander's expression changed.
Fear.
A tiny crack in the man's confidence.
"The Collector..."
He whispered.
"Was never one person."
Everyone froze.
"What?"
"The Collector is a title."
"A position passed from one person to another."
Richard felt a chill.
"How long has it existed?"
Alexander looked toward the endless names on the wall.
"Longer than your family."
"Longer than my company."
"Longer than anyone remembers."
Suddenly...
The lights flickered.
A warning alarm started blaring throughout the mansion.
Hayes checked his radio.
"Security system is failing."
Richard turned.
"Can you stop it?"
Hayes shook his head.
"No."
A voice came through every speaker.
Calm.
Controlled.
Familiar.
"Richard."
Everyone froze.
It was the Collector.
"You finally found Alexander."
Richard grabbed the microphone connected to the security system.
"Where is Luna's mother?"
Silence.
Then laughter.
"You still don't understand."
"She wasn't taken."
Richard's face hardened.
"Then where is she?"
The voice answered:
"She's been waiting for you."
The screen on the wall suddenly activated.
A live video appeared.
A woman sat in a dark room.
Her face was bruised.
Her hands were tied.
But she was alive.
Luna gasped.
"Mom..."
Richard stared.
Impossible.
After all these years.
The woman lifted her head.
And looked directly into the camera.
"Richard..."
Her voice trembled.
"Don't believe him."
The screen suddenly glitched.
A second image appeared.
A man standing behind her.
A man wearing a Sterling Industries ring.
Richard's blood went cold.
Because he knew that ring.
He had seen it before.
On his own hand.
The video distorted again.
Then one final message appeared.
Written across the screen:
THE PERSON YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS NOT OUTSIDE YOUR FAMILY.
THEY ARE INSIDE IT.
The screen went black.
And slowly...
Everyone in the room turned toward Richard.
Because sitting in his pocket...
Was a small silver ring he had found inside his father's journal.
May you like
A ring he had forgotten about.
A ring that matched the one in the video.
