Chapter 10: The Dead Man
The dead were beginning to pile up.
Or rather, the people I had believed were dead.
Victor.
My mother.
My grandmother.
Now my grandfather.
Arthur drove me to a secure archive beneath the federal courthouse.
Diane had agreed to cooperate.
Victor was alive but heavily injured.
Evelyn had disappeared.
And Brendan was in custody.
The world had turned upside down.
We entered a records room.
Arthur placed an old file on the table.
“Your grandfather's death certificate.”
I read it.
Confirmed deceased.
Date:
August 3, 2010.
Cause:
Cardiac arrest.
I looked up.
“So he's dead.”
Arthur shook his head.
“This certificate was filed electronically.”
“And?”
“It was filed twelve years after his reported death.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“He supposedly died in 2010.”
Arthur tapped the screen.
“But the death certificate was created in 2022.”
I stared.
“Who filed it?”
A name.
Evelyn Hart.
My grandmother.
Arthur continued.
“We traced the original records.”
There was no hospital.
No funeral home.
No body.
No grave.
My grandfather had never been buried.
He had simply disappeared.
I sat down.
“Why?”
Arthur opened a second file.
“This is a surveillance photograph from last month.”
A man entered a private airport.
He wore a dark suit.
He was older.
Gray hair.
Straight posture.
I stared.
I had seen that face in family portraits.
My grandfather.
Alive.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
His voice came through.
“Hello, Cassidy.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Grandfather?”
“It's been a long time.”
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
Arthur immediately signaled the team.
My grandfather laughed.
“You've become just like your mother.”
“Where is my daughter safe?”
“With you?”
“With me.”
“Good.”
“What do you want?”
“The company.”
I closed my eyes.
“Everyone wants the company.”
“No.”
His voice became colder.
“I want what the company represents.”
“What?”
“Control.”
I stood.
“You destroyed your family for control.”
“No.”
He corrected me.
“I saved it.”
“How?”
“Your family was weak.”
“You betrayed my father.”
“He betrayed me first.”
“You tried to kill my mother.”
“I protected the family.”
“You manipulated Brendan.”
“Yes.”
I nearly laughed.
“At least you're honest.”
“I have no reason to lie anymore.”
“Why reveal yourself?”
“Because Protocol Seven has changed the balance.”
Arthur leaned closer to me.
“Ask him about the trust.”
I did.
“What is the trust?”
Silence.
Then my grandfather said:
“The trust owns more than Aurora.”
My blood went cold.
“How much?”
“Enough to influence governments.”
Arthur's expression hardened.
He gestured for me to put the call on speaker.
I did.
My grandfather continued.
“Your family didn't build a company.”
“We built an empire.”
“Financial institutions. Infrastructure. Energy. Shipping. Technology.”
I stared.
“The visible corporation was only the front.”
Arthur whispered:
“Jesus.”
My grandfather continued.
“The person who controls the trust controls all of it.”
“And you want me to give it to you.”
“No.”
He laughed.
“I want you to understand that you already lost.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Your daughter is the heir.”
“Yes.”
“But she has a father.”
I froze.
“Brendan.”
“Exactly.”
“You planned this.”
“Of course.”
“He would control the trust through guardianship.”
“After your death.”
Silence.
My grandfather continued.
“You understand now.”
My hand went to my belly.
“You planned to kill me.”
“No.”
His voice was almost gentle.
“We planned to make your death look natural.”
The line went silent.
Then he said:
“There's still time.”
“To do what?”
“Give me custody of the child.”
“No.”
“Then I will release the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Proof that you are not legally Cassidy Hart.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“You were adopted without a valid adoption order.”
I stared at Arthur.
My grandfather continued.
“Your identity can be erased.”
“You can't do that.”
“I already did.”
The call ended.
Arthur looked at me.
“We need to verify it.”
Then one of his investigators rushed in.
“Arthur.”
“What?”
“We checked Cassidy's identity records.”
“And?”
“There is no original birth certificate.”
I stared.
“My whole life…”
Arthur finished the sentence.
“Was built on a legal identity that may not exist.”
I looked down at my daughter.
Then at the files.
For years I had fought for a company I thought belonged to me.
Now I wasn't even sure the law recognized me as a person.
Arthur's phone rang.
He answered.
Then immediately looked at me.
“Cassidy.”
“What?”
“Your grandfather just released something.”
“What?”
A video.
It showed me.
Three years earlier.
Standing outside a courthouse.
And beside me was a woman I had never met.
The timestamp was two weeks before I met Brendan.
Arthur pressed play.
The woman said:
“Cassidy doesn't remember us.”
Then she looked into the camera.
“But she will.”
The screen went black.
Underneath appeared a single sentence.
THE MEMORY PROCEDURE FAILED.
I stared.
“What memory procedure?”
Arthur didn't answer.
Because another file had just arrived.
My medical records.
May you like
And the first page contained one word.
AMNESIA.
