Chapter 10 - The MotherCassian could not move.
Elena stared at the speaker.
“No.”
The voice continued.
“I know you believe I died.”
Cassian whispered:
“Mom?”
Static crackled.
Then a woman's voice returned.
Older.
But unmistakable.
“Cassian.”
He sat down hard.
Elena watched him.
The strongest man she had ever known suddenly looked sixteen again.
“You left me,” he whispered.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Silence.
Then the voice said:
“You were never supposed to inherit the syndicate.”
Cassian's jaw tightened.
“Then why did I?”
“Because your father died before he could destroy the Council.”
Elena stepped toward the speaker.
“What did you do with me?”
“I hid you.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Elena's voice shook.
“Why?”
“Because the Council believed you were the only person who could unlock the archive.”
Elena looked at the black book.
“What archive?”
“The one beneath Blackwood.”
Cassian stared.
His mother continued.
“Your father built it as a weapon against the Council. He spent years collecting evidence.”
“And you?”
“I became their informant.”
Cassian looked confused.
“I had to.”
“You betrayed him.”
“I saved him.”
Cassian looked up.
“What?”
“He wasn't killed by the Council.”
The room went silent.
“Then who killed him?”
“You did.”
Cassian's face emptied.
“What?”
His mother spoke slowly.
“When you were sixteen, your father knew they were coming for us. He arranged a false betrayal. He made you believe he was selling you to an enemy.”
Cassian shook his head.
“I remember.”
“He needed you to hate him.”
“Why?”
“So you would take control.”
Cassian's hands trembled.
“I watched him die.”
“He was already dying.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Her mother continued.
“The man you saw die was not your father.”
Cassian looked at her.
“What?”
“A body double.”
The realization was devastating.
“For seventeen years, you have been building an empire on a lie.”
Cassian stood.
“Where is he?”
No answer.
“WHERE IS MY FATHER?”
Static.
Then the speaker came alive again.
“One final truth.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What?”
“You are not the one who can destroy the Council.”
She paused.
“Cassian is.”
Elena frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he is the last Thorne.”
The speaker clicked.
Then died.
A moment later, every light in the archive turned green.
The doors unlocked.
Cassian looked at Elena.
Neither spoke.
Then the main screen displayed a location.
A remote monastery in northern California.
Cassian recognized the coordinates.
May you like
His mother had one more secret.
And this time, someone wanted them to find it.
