Chapter 12 - The BetrayalThe microfilm was enough to destroy entire careers.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officials.
Businessmen.
Doctors.
Every name was connected to the network.
But one page mattered most.
It showed transactions made after my father's death.
Payments signed with Daniel's authorization.
I looked at him.
"You knew."
He was silent.
"You knew what your family did."
"I knew some of it."
"And you continued?"
"I used their system to dismantle it."
"By pretending to be like them?"
"Yes."
Adrian laughed.
"That's his favorite lie."
Daniel turned toward him.
"You killed three people."
Adrian's smile disappeared.
"What?"
Daniel pulled out a second file.
"This is why you disappeared."
Adrian's face went pale.
Inside were photographs.
Mara.
Julia.
Rebecca.
Alive.
Then photographs from security cameras showing Adrian near each woman's last known location.
Mara took a step back.
"Is that you?"
Adrian stared at the photographs.
"Those aren't real."
"They are."
"You forged them."
"Did I?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Adrian didn't want the women dead."
"Then who?"
Silence.
Eleanor suddenly whispered:
"I did."
Every face turned toward her.
She began to cry.
"I made them disappear."
I stared.
"Why?"
"Because they were getting close to the truth."
Mara lowered her gun.
"You destroyed their lives."
"I saved them."
"From what?"
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
"From him."
My stomach dropped.
"Daniel?"
Eleanor nodded.
"My son became obsessed with finding the ledger."
Daniel looked stunned.
"I never hurt those women."
"You didn't need to."
She looked at me.
"You manipulate people until they destroy themselves."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"You knew."
"I raised you."
The night went silent.
Then Eleanor pulled out a final envelope.
"Your mother sent this to me six months ago."
I opened it.
Inside was one sentence.
Daniel is not the man who killed your father.
I breathed out.
Another page.
He is the man your father tried to protect you from.
My hands shook.
I looked at Daniel.
"What does that mean?"
He closed his eyes.
Then he finally confessed.
"Your father wasn't murdered because he discovered the ledger."
"Then why?"
"Because he discovered that I had access to it."
I stared.
"You?"
"I found the records when I was seventeen."
"What did you do?"
"I copied them."
"And?"
"I used them to blackmail my father."
The truth landed like a knife.
"Why?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Because I wanted control."
Before anyone could respond, a gunshot exploded.
Eleanor fell.
Blood spread across her white blouse.
Mara screamed.
I turned toward the trees.
A shadow disappeared into the darkness.
Adrian grabbed my arm.
"That wasn't my brother."
Daniel was already running.
I followed.
Behind us, Eleanor whispered:
"Claire..."
I turned.
Her eyes were fading.
"Your mother..."
She struggled to breathe.
"...isn't hiding from them."
"Then from whom?"
May you like
Eleanor's lips barely moved.
"From you."
