Chapter 7 - Dr. GrayWe had three seconds.
That's how long it took Evelyn to recognize him.
And less than one second for her to collapse.
Security surrounded the car.
The man stepped out slowly.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Gloves.
No expression.
He raised both hands.
“I came to help.”
Reed pointed a gun at him.
“Down.”
The man complied.
I stared at him.
“You're Dr. Gray.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“Yes.”
She backed away.
“You told me nobody knew I was here.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor would have killed you.”
Reed arrested him.
But Gray didn't resist.
He simply kept staring at Evelyn.
“I can tell you who you really are.”
Evelyn froze.
I stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Gray looked at me.
“You both have been lied to.”
He said my name.
Then another name.
A name I had never heard.
“Elias.”
Evelyn flinched.
“That was my brother.”
“Your brother?”
Gray nodded.
“Elias was the first person to uncover the original ledger.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
“Who took him?”
“Your father.”
I suddenly felt dizzy.
How many people had my father destroyed?
How many lives were buried beneath our family's wealth?
Gray told us about a network hidden within the company.
A system of blackmail.
False identities.
Illegal acquisitions.
Witness intimidation.
He claimed my father was not the leader.
He had inherited the system.
The real architect was Victor.
Then why had Victor remained hidden?
“Because your father betrayed him,” Gray said.
“How?”
“Your father planned to take everything.”
“And my father?”
“Victor arranged his death.”
My skin went cold.
“His heart attack?”
“Poison.”
Bianca covered her mouth.
She hadn't known.
The realization broke something in her.
She had protected a dead man while fearing a living one.
Gray explained why Evelyn was kept alive.
She had not merely witnessed the plan.
She had copied part of the ledger.
The original ledger was incomplete.
Evelyn had memorized the missing pages.
“Where are they?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“I don't remember everything.”
Gray said:
“You don't need to.”
He tapped his own temple.
“We recorded your memories.”
“What?”
“The device they implanted was not only a tracker.”
Evelyn went pale.
“It was a neural recorder.”
Reed stared at Gray.
“You recorded a woman's memories?”
Gray looked at him.
“You're thinking about the wrong crime.”
He turned to me.
“The device stored moments.”
“Which moments?”
“Everything she saw on the wedding day.”
That explained the hidden camera.
The ledgers.
The fake bride.
My father's meetings.
The missing pieces.
The device contained evidence.
“Can you retrieve it?”
“Yes.”
“But it's removed.”
“Doesn't matter.”
Gray produced a small drive.
“The signal was copied.”
He connected it to a laptop.
A video appeared.
Evelyn's point of view.
The bridal suite.
My father.
Bianca.
The fake bride.
I watched them argue.
Then came something I had never seen.
My father handed Bianca a gun.
He said:
“If she tells him, shoot her.”
Bianca took the gun.
But she didn't aim at Evelyn.
She aimed at my father.
The video ended.
I stared at Bianca.
“You had the chance to kill him.”
She nodded.
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because he was still your father.”
Then another video started.
It showed Bianca entering Evelyn's chamber months later.
She whispered:
“I found a way to get you out.”
Evelyn looked up.
“You never came back.”
“I was caught.”
“By Victor?”
Bianca nodded.
Then Victor entered.
He held a photograph.
It was of me.
Victor said:
“If you free her, he dies.”
Bianca froze.
That explained everything.
She hadn't hidden Evelyn because she wanted her gone.
She had hidden Evelyn because Victor was using me as leverage.
Three years of silence.
Three years of lies.
Three years of fear.
But then the video revealed something worse.
Victor turned toward the camera.
As if he knew we were watching.
He said:
“Adrian, if you're seeing this, you've already found the ledger.”
The screen went black.
Then a final sentence appeared.
COME TO THE CHAPEL ALONE.
Beneath it was a time.
Midnight.
And an address.
The address belonged to another property.
May you like
One I had never heard of.
A property registered under my name.
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