Chapter 15 - Ashford House was silent when Harper returned.Too silent.
The rain had stopped.
The city beyond the gates glittered beneath the midnight sky.
Gabriel walked beside her.
His shirt was stained with blood.
His men surrounded the mansion.
Victor was dead.
Derek was missing.
And Harper's world had become unrecognizable.
She had once entered this house carrying a mop and a bucket.
Now she returned as the person whose blood could control the organization that had ruled Boston from the shadows.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You don't have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because someone has been hiding my mother beneath this house.”
He nodded.
They entered.
Harper looked toward the hallway.
Mrs. Morrison was standing there.
Still wearing her neat black uniform.
Still holding a silver tray.
Still looking completely ordinary.
“Welcome home,” she said.
Harper stopped.
Gabriel raised his gun.
“Don't.”
Mrs. Morrison sighed.
“You were always going to find out.”
Harper stared.
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“You put me here.”
“Yes.”
“Derek hurt me.”
“I know.”
Harper's voice broke.
“You let him.”
Mrs. Morrison's expression hardened.
“I kept you alive.”
“You watched him destroy me.”
“I watched you survive.”
Harper shook her head.
“You're a monster.”
Mrs. Morrison looked at Gabriel.
“So was your father.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Where is Harper's mother?”
Mrs. Morrison smiled.
“Follow me.”
She walked toward the library.
Gabriel and Harper followed.
She stopped in front of a bookshelf.
Pulled a book.
A hidden door opened.
Cold air rushed from below.
Harper stared.
The secret staircase.
The same architecture as the hospital.
Black Wolf.
Mrs. Morrison descended.
They followed.
At the bottom was a small room.
No weapons.
No guards.
Just a bed.
Machines.
A woman lying beneath white sheets.
Harper stopped breathing.
The woman opened her eyes.
Her face was older.
Scarred.
But Harper knew her.
She had seen her in the memories.
“Mom?”
The woman began crying.
“Harper.”
Harper ran to her.
They embraced.
For a moment, there was no Black Wolf.
No Gabriel.
No Derek.
No blood.
Only a daughter holding the mother she had spent her entire life believing was dead.
“I thought you died.”
“I tried to come back.”
“Why didn't you?”
“They would have killed you.”
“Who?”
The woman looked at Gabriel.
“Everyone.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Tell us everything.”
The woman nodded.
“Adrian founded Black Wolf.”
Gabriel listened.
“He created it to protect families like ours.”
Harper frowned.
“Then how did it become this?”
“Power.”
The woman looked at Mrs. Morrison.
“And betrayal.”
Harper turned.
“Who is she?”
Mrs. Morrison finally removed her gloves.
“You can call me Elena.”
Gabriel stared.
“That name…”
Elena smiled.
“Your grandfather knew it.”
Harper's mother spoke.
“Elena built the second network.”
“What second network?”
“The one that controlled Black Wolf from outside.”
Gabriel's face darkened.
“A shadow behind a shadow.”
“Yes.”
Harper looked at Elena.
“You killed my father.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“You ordered it.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Elena looked at Gabriel.
“Your father.”
Gabriel went still.
Harper stared.
“Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“He killed himself?”
“No.”
Elena's eyes became cold.
“He sacrificed himself.”
Harper didn't understand.
“Why?”
“To make Black Wolf believe he was dead.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Then where is he?”
Silence.
Harper's mother closed her eyes.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Where is Adrian Ashford?”
Elena looked at Harper.
“That's the last secret.”
A door opened behind them.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
“You've finally come home.”
Harper froze.
Gabriel raised his gun.
The man stepped into the light.
Older.
Scarred.
But alive.
Harper stared at him.
She knew those eyes.
She remembered them from the hospital.
From her childhood.
From the memory she'd buried for twenty years.
Her father.
Adrian Ashford.
Gabriel's father.
Her biological father.
Alive.
Gabriel couldn't speak.
Adrian looked at him.
“My son.”
Gabriel's gun lowered.
“You died.”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“I had to.”
Harper stepped forward.
“Why?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Because Black Wolf was never built to destroy Boston.”
“Then what was it built to do?”
“To find the people who would.”
Harper stared.
Adrian's face hardened.
“And we failed.”
“Who is behind everything?”
Adrian didn't answer.
He looked toward Elena.
Then Harper's mother.
Then Gabriel.
Finally, he spoke.
“The person who has controlled all of you.”
“Who?”
Adrian's expression became grim.
“Derek Lawson.”
Harper stared.
“But Derek is dead.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
Adrian looked toward the door.
A slow clap echoed from the hallway.
Harper turned.
Derek stepped inside.
No wounds.
No blood.
No fear.
He smiled.
“Still telling them stories, old man?”
Adrian's expression hardened.
Derek raised a weapon.
“But you forgot one thing.”
He looked directly at Harper.
“She still doesn't know what she really is.”
Harper's heart pounded.
Derek smiled.
“You thought she was the heir.”
He shook his head.
“She isn't.”
Gabriel stepped in front of Harper.
“Then who is?”
Derek's eyes moved toward Noah.
Noah stood frozen at the doorway.
Derek smiled.
“The heir is the boy.”
Harper stared at her brother.
“Noah?”
Derek nodded.
“Your father hid the real heir in the only place Black Wolf would never search.”
Gabriel's face went pale.
“Harper.”
Derek smiled.
“He didn't protect Noah.”
“He hid Noah.”
A terrible silence filled the room.
Derek raised his gun.
“And now that we've found him…”
The mansion lights went out.
May you like
Derek laughed in the darkness.
“…the war finally begins.”
