Chapter 17 - The Woman Behind EverythingWhen I woke, the cemetery was empty.
No father.
No Sarah.
No Marcus.
Only rain.
My phone lay beside me.
One message.
Bring Lily to the courthouse. Midnight.
Another message arrived.
A photo.
Marcus tied to a chair.
Sarah beside him.
Emily behind them.
And sitting in the center was Vanessa.
But Vanessa wasn't crying anymore.
She looked calm.
Powerful.
A third message appeared.
You still think Edward is in control.
Then:
He isn't.
I stared at the photograph.
Someone else was running the operation.
Someone above Edward.
Someone who had predicted every move.
I called Edward.
He answered immediately.
“You're finally seeing it.”
“Where's Vanessa?”
“Ask her.”
“Who controls Black Compass?”
Silence.
Then Edward laughed bitterly.
“My daughter.”
I froze.
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
I thought of the church.
The wedding.
Her fear.
Her secrets.
Her perfect timing.
She had been playing both sides.
Edward had believed he controlled her.
Ryan had believed she loved him.
Emily had believed Vanessa could be trusted.
And I had believed she was afraid.
All of us had been wrong.
Vanessa had orchestrated the entire thing.
“She recruited Ryan.”
“Yes.”
“She arranged Emily's captivity.”
“Yes.”
“She staged the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she needed Lily.”
I closed my eyes.
“For the archive.”
“No.”
Edward's voice became dark.
“For the people behind the archive.”
“What does that mean?”
“Lily's DNA doesn't just unlock the archive.”
“It can rewrite it.”
My stomach dropped.
Vanessa wasn't trying to access the evidence.
She was trying to erase it.
Every secret.
Every crime.
Every record.
The perfect weapon.
And Lily was the key.
Edward gave me one final location.
An underground courthouse beneath Dallas.
I went alone.
At midnight, the doors opened.
Vanessa was waiting.
Marcus was chained to a chair.
Sarah was alive but injured.
And Emily stood beside a computer.
Vanessa smiled.
“You came.”
“Where is my father?”
She smiled wider.
“He's alive.”
“Where?”
“Close.”
I stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
“Lily.”
“No.”
“I don't want to hurt her.”
“You already did.”
Vanessa's face hardened.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“My father built this world.”
She gestured toward the screens.
“Your grandfather started it.”
“Your parents tried to destroy it.”
“Ryan tried to escape it.”
“And Emily?”
Vanessa looked at my sister.
“Emily tried to save you.”
I asked the only question that mattered.
“Why are you doing this?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Because my family is trapped inside the same machine.”
She pressed a button.
The screens changed.
Thousands of names appeared.
Then one name at the top.
JAMES CARTER.
I stared.
Next to it:
SUBJECT: ORIGINAL KEY.
I felt the room go cold.
May you like
Vanessa whispered:
“You were never outside the experiment.”
