Chapter 5: Victor Hale
Victor Hale looked exactly like the man in the photographs.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
I stared at him.
“You're dead.”
He smiled.
“That was the idea.”
Arthur stepped between us.
“Don't move.”
Victor laughed.
“Arthur Bennett.”
He looked almost amused.
“You always did enjoy playing lawyer.”
“You're under arrest.”
Victor smiled.
“For what?”
Arthur didn't answer.
Victor stepped forward.
“I've committed crimes you haven't even discovered yet.”
The investigators moved to surround him.
Victor didn't resist.
Instead, he looked directly at me.
“You look like your mother.”
My chest tightened.
“What did you do to her?”
He lowered his eyes.
“I didn't kill her.”
“Where is she?”
“She chose to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered the truth.”
“Which was?”
Victor smiled.
“That your father wasn't the man you believed him to be.”
I shook my head.
“My father built this company.”
“No.”
Victor's voice was soft.
“Your mother did.”
He looked at Arthur.
“Didn't she tell you?”
Arthur remained silent.
Victor laughed.
“You don't know everything either.”
He reached into his coat.
Every investigator raised their weapons.
But Victor pulled out a small envelope.
He extended it toward me.
“This belongs to you.”
I didn't move.
Arthur took it.
Inside was a birth certificate.
My name.
Cassidy Hart.
Father:
William Hart.
Mother:
Evelyn Hart.
My hands trembled.
Victor smiled.
“You've been asking the wrong question.”
“What question?”
“Who betrayed your family?”
He paused.
“You should have asked who your real family is.”
I stared at him.
Victor turned toward the investigators.
“Take me.”
They handcuffed him.
As he passed me, he whispered:
“Brendan doesn't know the whole truth.”
I looked at him.
“What does he know?”
Victor smiled.
“Enough to destroy you.”
Then they led him away.
I stood there.
Arthur came over.
“Are you all right?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
I looked at the birth certificate.
“Why does Victor insist my father wasn't my father?”
“We'll test the DNA.”
I shook my head.
“That's not what worries me.”
“What does?”
“Brendan.”
We found him downstairs.
He was sitting on the floor.
His expensive suit was torn.
He looked nothing like the confident executive from earlier.
When he saw me, he stood.
“Cassidy.”
I walked toward him.
“Did you marry me for the company?”
He didn't answer.
“Brendan.”
His eyes fell.
“I was told you would inherit it.”
My heart shattered.
“Who told you?”
“My father.”
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I owned Aurora.”
“Yes.”
“You knew before we got married.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
I slapped him.
Not hard.
Just enough to make the truth hurt.
“You used me.”
He looked at me.
“At first.”
“At first?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
“What?”
“I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you.”
I stared.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I know what I did.”
“No, Brendan.”
My voice shook.
“You don't.”
He stepped closer.
“I loved you.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You cheated on me.”
“I know.”
“You let your mother treat me like garbage.”
“I know.”
“And when I got pregnant, you left.”
He closed his eyes.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
He whispered:
“My father told me you had no idea what your mother had built.”
I froze.
Brendan continued.
“He said if you ever activated Protocol Seven, they would kill you.”
Silence.
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“Everyone involved.”
My heart pounded.
“Who is everyone?”
Before he could answer, Arthur entered.
“Cassidy.”
I turned.
Arthur's face was grim.
“We recovered data from Victor's encrypted drive.”
“What does it say?”
Arthur looked at Brendan.
Then at me.
“It identifies the person who ordered your mother's disappearance.”
My breath stopped.
“Who?”
Arthur hesitated.
Then he handed me the document.
I read the name.
My entire body went cold.
EVELYN HART.
My grandmother.
The woman who had supposedly died before all of this began.
The woman my mother accused in her hidden documents.
The woman whose funeral I had attended as a child.
I looked at Arthur.
“She's dead.”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
He showed me the file.
A recent photograph.
A woman in her seventies.
Standing outside a private clinic.
The caption read:
SUBJECT CONFIRMED ALIVE.
I stared at the photograph.
Then I looked at Brendan.
He was crying.
“She knew you would find out eventually,” he whispered.
I turned.
“Who?”
“My grandmother.”
He lowered his voice.
“She wants the company back.”
My phone vibrated.
One new message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
You finally activated Protocol Seven.
Now come home.
I stared at the screen.
Below the message was an address.
A private clinic three hundred miles away.
May you like
And one final line.
Your mother is waiting.
