Chapter 15 - The GraveWe returned to the cemetery at midnight.
Emily's grave was near the back wall.
No flowers.
No visitors.
Just rain.
Marcus had the grave legally opened.
When the coffin was exposed, nobody spoke.
The wood was untouched.
The seal remained intact.
I expected a body.
Instead, there was nothing.
Only a black envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Emily stood beside a woman I had never seen.
Both were covered in blood.
On the back:
THE WRONG SISTER DIED.
Sarah stared at it.
“No.”
I turned.
“What?”
She recognized the woman.
“My mother.”
I froze.
“Your mother?”
Sarah nodded.
The woman beside Emily was Helen Carter.
Our mother.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken shortly before the staged accident.
That meant Emily had been working with her.
Not against her.
I looked at Marcus.
“What happened to the body?”
“We never had one.”
“Then whose body was reported?”
He didn't answer.
Sarah began crying.
“Mine.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“My body.”
She explained.
Years ago, Black Compass had staged Sarah's death.
But when Emily discovered the organization, she used the same method.
She made the world believe Emily had died.
Instead, Sarah was the unidentified body.
The grave contained no remains because someone had removed them after the funeral.
The entire death story had been engineered.
But for what?
Then my phone rang.
Emily.
I answered.
“Emily?”
“James.”
“Where are you?”
“Not where you think.”
“Tell me.”
“I am in the old Black Compass facility.”
“Where?”
She paused.
“Under the country club.”
I thought of the wedding.
The ballroom.
The service tunnels.
The security doors.
The hidden cameras.
The wedding had not been a wedding.
It had been a transfer.
Ryan was supposed to complete the final step.
Vanessa was supposed to secure Lily.
And Emily had walked directly into the trap because she needed to activate the archive.
I suddenly understood.
“Why did you come back at the wedding?”
“To make Ryan panic.”
“And me?”
“To make you angry enough to stop asking permission.”
I almost laughed.
“You could have just called me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because someone was listening.”
Then her voice changed.
“James, I need you to hear this carefully.”
“What?”
“Your grandfather didn't create the archive to control anyone.”
I waited.
“He created it to expose Black Compass.”
My pulse quickened.
“Then who changed it?”
Emily whispered:
“Your father.”
Silence.
I could barely breathe.
“My father?”
“He took control.”
“Why?”
“To protect us.”
“And the people who were harmed?”
“He believed there was no other way.”
I sat beside the grave.
“What are you telling me?”
Emily answered:
“The villain you've been chasing isn't Edward.”
The line went silent.
Then she said:
“It's someone you've never suspected.”
A car stopped behind us.
Headlights flooded the cemetery.
Marcus drew his weapon.
Sarah whispered:
“James…”
May you like
The driver's door opened.
And my father stepped out.
