Chapter 8 - The Father I Never KnewThe man in the photograph was younger than my mother.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
A scar across his jaw.
Marcus recognized him immediately.
"Gabriel Vale."
"Who?"
"A man your grandfather feared."
Gabriel had once controlled the financial network before the Mercer family took it.
He was believed to have died overseas.
But the photograph proved something else.
He had known my mother.
And he was my biological father.
I felt sick.
"My father knew?"
Marcus nodded.
"Richard raised you."
"Why?"
"Because Gabriel disappeared."
"Why?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Because your grandfather ordered his death."
The family history became uglier with every answer.
My mother finally confessed.
She had loved Gabriel.
But when she became pregnant, the Mercer family threatened him.
He disappeared to protect her.
Richard married Evelyn later.
He knew Caroline wasn't his daughter.
But he raised me anyway.
Until the ledger appeared.
Until money became more important than family.
My mother's final secret was even worse.
Gabriel was alive.
And he had been watching me for years.
I found him in an abandoned theater.
He stood alone on the stage.
When he saw me, he smiled.
"You have your mother's eyes."
I wanted to hate him.
Instead I asked:
"Why didn't you come for me?"
He looked down.
"Because I thought you were dead."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"I believed the lie."
"Who created it?"
He looked toward the balcony.
"Your grandfather."
Then the lights came on.
Juliette stood there.
Holding a gun.
"Gabriel."
He turned.
She fired.
I screamed.
Gabriel fell.
Juliette lowered the weapon.
"You don't know what he did."
I ran toward Gabriel.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He grabbed my hand.
"Don't trust..."
His eyes moved toward Juliette.
"...the woman who cries."
Then he lost consciousness.
Juliette stared at me.
"I saved you."
I looked at the gun.
"By shooting my father?"
She started crying.
And suddenly I realized what Gabriel had meant.
The woman who cries.
Juliette wiped her tears.
Then smiled.
The expression was completely different.
Cold.
Empty.
"You're finally learning."
She raised the gun toward me.
Before she could fire, the theater lights went dark.
A struggle followed.
When the lights returned, Juliette was gone.
So was Gabriel.
Only one thing remained on the stage.
A black envelope.
Inside was a list of names.
Every person who had helped fake my death.
May you like
At the bottom was one final name.
CAROLINE MERCER.
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