Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEADTessa stopped breathing.
The man standing across the room had her father's eyes.
The same posture.
The same scar above his eyebrow.
The same crooked smile.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Dad?”
The man smiled.
“Tessa.”
Her entire body shook.
Evan stared at him.
“No.”
Their father walked closer.
“I knew you would find the ledger.”
Tessa couldn't move.
“You died.”
He sighed.
“That was the plan.”
Salvatore raised his gun.
“Stay back.”
Her father looked at him.
“Still protecting her.”
“You don't get to say that.”
Her father smiled.
“You've done exactly what I needed.”
Tessa looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Her father turned to Brett.
“Leave.”
Brett hesitated.
Then obeyed.
The room emptied until only Tessa, Evan, Salvatore, and their father remained.
Her father placed a hand on the ledger.
“The Black Ledger isn't a list of criminals.”
Tessa frowned.
“Then what is it?”
“A list of people who secretly control Chicago.”
Salvatore stepped forward.
“Founders.”
Her father nodded.
“Exactly.”
Tessa's stomach tightened.
“And Victor Hale?”
“A puppet.”
“Your father?”
“Another puppet.”
She looked at Salvatore.
“Then what about him?”
Her father stared at Salvatore for a long moment.
“He was supposed to become the next Founder.”
Salvatore laughed bitterly.
“I refused.”
“And that is why they tried to kill you.”
Tessa suddenly understood.
Every attack.
Every rumor.
Every body.
Every secret.
Salvatore wasn't trying to control Chicago.
He had spent years trying to destroy the people who did.
Her father looked at Tessa.
“You were never meant to inherit money.”
“You were never meant to become part of this world.”
“Then why me?”
“Because you're the only one nobody suspects.”
He opened the ledger.
A final page contained a single name.
Tessa.
She stared.
“What is that?”
Her father looked at her.
“A successor.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He smiled sadly.
“I knew you would say that.”
Salvatore moved closer.
“Then why leave it to her?”
Her father looked at him.
“Because she can speak to the one person none of us could control.”
“Who?”
Her father pointed at Evan.
Tessa's face changed.
Evan.
He continued.
“Your brother isn't the key because he can hear.”
“He's the key because he remembers.”
Tessa looked at Evan.
“What do you remember?”
Evan stepped forward.
His eyes filled with tears.
“I remember the night Dad died.”
He turned toward Salvatore.
“You didn't kill him.”
Salvatore stared.
Evan continued.
“The man you killed looked exactly like Dad.”
Tessa's blood ran cold.
“What?”
“He had Dad's face.”
“He had Dad's voice.”
“But he wasn't Dad.”
Her father went pale.
Evan pointed at him.
“The man you killed was a clone.”
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Tessa stared at her father.
Then at Salvatore.
Then back at Evan.
“That isn't possible.”
Evan whispered:
“That's what Dad wanted us to believe.”
Her father suddenly reached for a hidden weapon.
Salvatore reacted instantly.
A gunshot exploded.
Tessa screamed.
Her father fell.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Salvatore lowered his weapon.
But something was wrong.
Too easy.
Tessa ran to her father.
He grabbed her hand.
His eyes were fading.
“Listen to me.”
She leaned closer.
“There is another ledger.”
“Where?”
He smiled.
“Under the restaurant.”
Tessa froze.
“What?”
He whispered the final words.
“Your mother has it.”
Tessa's heart stopped.
“Our mother is dead.”
Her father's eyes closed.
And from somewhere beneath the floor...
came the sound of a woman knocking.
Three times.
Pause.
Two times.
Then four.
Tessa looked at Salvatore.
His face had gone completely white.
“That,” he whispered,
“is your mother.”
The knocking came again.
Three.
Two.
Four.
And then a woman's voice rose from beneath the floor.
“Tessa?”
She stepped backward.
The voice spoke again.
“It's me.”
Tessa covered her mouth.
Salvatore grabbed her hand.
“Don't open it.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
His eyes were fixed on the floor.
“Because if your mother is alive…”
He tightened his grip.
“…then everything we've been told for fourteen years is a lie.”
The floor began to crack.
May you like
Something moved beneath it.
And then the trapdoor slowly opened.
