CHAPTER 12: THE BLOOD THAT CONNECTS US
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
Not because of what Evelyn said.
Because of what Amelia didn't say.
Denial would have been easier.
Anger would have been easier.
If she had looked at me and shouted that Evelyn was lying, maybe some part of me would have believed her.
But she didn't.
She just stood there.
Silent.
Like someone who had been waiting twenty-two years for this exact moment.
The moment when her son would finally see her not as a victim...
But as a mystery.
"Is it true?"
My voice barely came out.
Amelia looked at me.
"Nathan..."
"Is it true?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I made mistakes."
I stepped back.
"That's not an answer."
She closed her eyes.
"Yes."
The word destroyed something inside me.
"Yes?"
She nodded.
"I tried to stop Victor."
"By destroying him?"
"No."
"Then why does Evelyn think you wanted him dead?"
Amelia looked away.
"Because she doesn't know everything."
I laughed.
A tired, broken laugh.
Nobody knew everything.
That had become the theme of my entire life.
Everyone had a piece.
Everyone had a secret.
Everyone had a reason.
And I was always the last person to know.
I left the house.
I couldn't stay there.
Not with Amelia.
Not with the truth.
Not with another person looking at me like they knew the story of my life better than I did.
I sat in my car and stared at my hands.
Victor Cross.
My biological father.
The same man who betrayed my family.
The same man Evelyn spent years trying to escape.
The same man who had somehow connected all of us.
I had spent my entire life believing I was Nathan Reed.
Now I didn't know what that name meant anymore.
Evelyn called again.
I answered.
"Where are you?"
"Outside."
"With Amelia?"
"Yes."
Silence.
"She told you."
It wasn't a question.
"She told me Victor was my father."
Evelyn didn't respond.
That silence was enough.
"You knew."
"Nathan..."
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"Stop."
My voice became sharp.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
I closed my eyes.
"Everyone suspects. Everyone investigates. Everyone protects. Everyone lies."
"Nathan, listen to me."
"No."
I looked out the window.
"For once, you listen."
Silence.
"You were my best friend."
Her breathing changed.
"I know."
"You knew the truth about me."
"I knew pieces."
"You knew enough."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Her voice became quieter.
"Because I was afraid."
I froze.
"Of what?"
"That when you found out..."
She paused.
"You would look at me and only see him."
I didn't answer.
Because maybe that was the truth.
Maybe every time I looked at Evelyn now, I would see Victor.
Not the girl outside the library.
Not the person who stayed beside me.
Not the person who helped my family.
But the daughter of the man who destroyed us.
And maybe she felt the same.
Every time she looked at me...
She saw him too.
"Did my father know?"
Evelyn was quiet.
"Yes."
My heart tightened.
"He knew Victor was my father?"
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Since before you were born."
I closed my eyes.
The pain became almost physical.
"My whole life was a secret."
"No."
Evelyn's voice became firm.
"Your whole life was protected."
"That's what you all say."
"Because it's true."
"How?"
"Because Victor wanted you."
The sentence stopped me.
"What?"
"He knew about you."
"When?"
"Before you were born."
I felt cold.
"Why?"
"Because you were his heir."
I laughed.
"I don't want anything from him."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because Victor didn't see children as people."
She swallowed.
"He saw them as extensions of himself."
That evening, Evelyn finally told me the part she had hidden.
The part nobody knew.
The part that explained why she stayed.
"When I was sixteen, my father found out Amelia was pregnant."
"With me."
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
"He tried to take you."
My hands tightened.
"But my father stopped him."
"Your father and Amelia made a deal."
"What deal?"
"Your father would raise you."
"And Amelia?"
"She would disappear."
I looked away.
"Why?"
"Because Victor would never stop searching for you."
"Why did he care?"
Evelyn looked at me.
"Because you were the one thing he couldn't control."
I went back to the hotel.
I needed sleep.
I needed distance.
But before I could enter my room, I noticed something.
The door wasn't locked.
I froze.
I always locked it.
Slowly, I pushed it open.
The room looked normal.
Almost.
Then I saw it.
A piece of paper on the table.
My name written on it.
I picked it up.
Three words.
YOU ARE NEXT.
My heart raced.
I searched the room.
Nothing.
Whoever entered was gone.
But they left something behind.
A photograph.
I picked it up.
It showed a young woman.
Amelia.
Standing beside Victor.
But there was something strange.
Someone else was in the background.
A man.
A man I recognized.
My father.
But the date on the photograph was impossible.
It was taken five years after my father supposedly cut ties with Victor.
I turned the photo over.
A handwritten note.
Your father didn't abandon Victor.
He joined him.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice spoke.
"You finally found the truth."
"Who is this?"
"You want answers?"
"Yes."
"Then stop trusting everyone who says they love you."
My grip tightened.
"Who are you?"
A pause.
Then:
"The person who knows what Nathan Reed really is."
"What does that mean?"
The man laughed quietly.
"It means you are not the victim in this story."
The call ended.
I stood alone in the hotel room.
Surrounded by photographs.
Secrets.
Lies.
Questions.
And one terrifying possibility.
What if everyone had been protecting me?
Not because I was innocent.
But because I was dangerous.
The next morning, Evelyn arrived.
She saw the photograph on the table.
Her expression changed.
Immediately.
"You found this."
"Yes."
"Where?"
"My room."
She picked it up.
Her face became pale.
"You need to leave."
Again.
Those words.
Always those words.
"Why?"
She looked at me.
"Because whoever gave you this isn't trying to scare you."
"Then what are they doing?"
She looked at the photograph.
"They're trying to remind you of who you are."
I stared.
"And who am I?"
Evelyn's eyes filled with fear.
Before she could answer...
The lights in the hotel went out.
Complete darkness.
Then a voice came from the hallway.
A voice I had never heard before.
But somehow...
I recognized.
"Nathan."
The voice stopped outside the door.
"You spent your whole life searching for your family."
A pause.
"Now your family is searching for you."
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End of Chapter 12
Chapter 13: The Son of Victor Cross sẽ tiếp tục khi Nathan đối mặt với người đứng sau mọi bí mật, phát hiện cha nuôi Thomas Reed đã che giấu một sự thật khủng khiếp về chính bản thân anh và lý do mọi người sợ ngày anh biết mình là ai.**
