Chapter 14 - The tower shook again.Derek released Harper.
“What did you do?”
She stared at the screen.
“I didn't do anything.”
The system continued.
SUCCESSOR CONFIRMED.
PRIMARY BLOODLINE ACCEPTED.
Derek's face changed.
“No.”
Harper understood.
The system had chosen her.
Not because she wanted it.
Because of her blood.
The doors around the chamber locked.
Gabriel struggled to sit up.
“Harper.”
She rushed toward him.
“You're bleeding.”
“I'm fine.”
“You were shot.”
“I've had worse.”
She almost laughed through her tears.
“Don't joke.”
Gabriel reached for her hand.
“Listen to me.”
Derek aimed his gun.
“Enough.”
Gabriel looked at Harper.
“The system obeys the heir.”
Harper looked at the console.
“What does that mean?”
“You can shut it down.”
Derek shouted.
“Don't!”
Harper stared at him.
“You're afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Of me?”
“Of what happens if you remember everything.”
She looked at the screen.
“Then I'll remember.”
She closed her eyes.
The hospital.
Her mother.
Adrian.
James.
Rachel.
Gabriel's father.
The grandfather.
Derek.
All the faces.
Then one memory she'd never seen before.
She was four.
Sitting in Adrian's arms.
Gabriel stood nearby.
A little boy.
Crying.
Adrian handed Harper a wolf pendant.
“This is yours.”
Then he looked at Gabriel.
“And this is his.”
Two matching pendants.
Two children.
Two heirs.
Harper opened her eyes.
She looked at Gabriel.
“You have a pendant.”
He reached beneath his shirt.
He wore one.
Same wolf.
Two halves.
She touched hers.
They fit together.
A hidden compartment opened in the console.
Inside was a small black drive.
Gabriel stared.
“The master key.”
Harper inserted it.
Every screen went dark.
Then one final file appeared.
BLACK WOLF: FOUNDING MEMBER
Name:
Adrian Ashford.
Derek staggered backward.
“No.”
Harper turned.
“He wasn't a victim.”
Derek shook his head.
“He betrayed us.”
Gabriel stared at the file.
“My father founded Black Wolf.”
Derek nodded.
“And then tried to destroy it.”
Harper looked at the second file.
SUCCESSOR DESIGNATION
Name:
Harper Ashford.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You're the original heir.”
Derek fired.
Gabriel shoved Harper down.
The bullet shattered the screen.
Victor suddenly crawled toward them.
He was bleeding badly.
“Harper…”
She looked at him.
“Help me.”
She moved toward him.
Derek fired again.
Victor grabbed Derek's ankle.
The shot went wild.
Gabriel fired.
Derek was hit in the shoulder.
He collapsed.
The chamber fell silent.
Harper knelt beside Victor.
“Why?”
Victor struggled to breathe.
“I was told…”
He coughed.
“…you killed my mother.”
“I didn't.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because I believed them.”
He looked at Gabriel.
“You always protected me.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Victor closed his eyes.
Harper grabbed his hand.
“Stay with us.”
He whispered:
“There's one more.”
“What?”
“The founder.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What founder?”
Victor's eyes opened.
“Your grandfather wasn't the founder.”
Harper's blood ran cold.
“Then who?”
Victor looked at her.
“She knows.”
“Who?”
Victor smiled weakly.
“Mrs. Morrison.”
Harper froze.
The house manager.
The woman who had hired her.
The woman who told her never to enter Gabriel's private quarters.
The woman who had known exactly when Gabriel would be away.
The woman who had placed Harper inside Ashford House.
Gabriel's face hardened.
“No.”
Victor nodded.
“She put her there.”
Harper stood.
“Why?”
Victor whispered:
“To watch the heir.”
Then he died.
Derek laughed from the floor.
Harper turned.
“You knew.”
Derek smiled.
“For once, you're asking the right question.”
Gabriel helped Harper stand.
Derek continued.
“Mrs. Morrison isn't a house manager.”
“Who is she?”
Derek's smile disappeared.
“She is the person who ordered your father's death.”
Harper's face went pale.
“And she knows where your mother is.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Where?”
Derek looked at him.
“Beneath Ashford House.”
Harper stared.
Her heart stopped.
She had been cleaning that house for weeks.
She had walked those hallways.
She had entered Gabriel's bathroom.
And beneath that mansion was apparently another secret.
Derek smiled.
“Go home, Harper.”
May you like
“Why?”
“Because your mother has been waiting for you.”
