Chapter 7 - THE LAST LETTER
My apartment had been searched.
Everything was overturned.
The mattress was cut open.
Drawers were emptied.
My grandmother's photographs were scattered across the floor.
Victor stood in the doorway.
“They were looking for something.”
I walked toward the bedroom.
“The letter.”
I searched through the old wooden box my grandmother had left me.
Nothing.
“It's gone.”
Victor's security team searched every room.
Then I remembered something.
The kitchen.
I opened the cabinet above the refrigerator.
My grandmother had always kept a blue tin there.
It was still there.
Inside was a letter.
I opened it.
My grandmother's handwriting filled the page.
My dearest Lily,
If you're reading this, then the Vale family has found you.
I continued.
I lied to you because I was terrified. Your mother gave you to me because she knew someone inside the family wanted you dead.
My eyes blurred.
But there is something I never told you.
The next sentence made me stop.
Victor knew about you.
I looked up.
Victor stood across the room.
“You knew?”
He didn't answer.
“You knew I was alive?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Since I was eighteen.”
My heart broke.
“You knew for five years?”
“I was told never to approach you.”
“Who told you?”
“My mother.”
“Why?”
“She wanted you to have a normal life.”
I laughed bitterly.
“A normal life?”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“I watched from a distance.”
“Why?”
“Because people were looking for you.”
“You could have told me!”
“I was protecting you.”
“No.”
My voice cracked.
“You were making the decision for me.”
Victor didn't defend himself.
That made me angrier.
Then I read the next line.
Victor is not the person you should blame.
I stopped.
My grandmother continued.
There is someone much closer.
The final paragraph contained a name.
I read it.
Then again.
My blood ran cold.
Beatrice Vale.
Victor's mother.
I looked at him.
“Your mother?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“She betrayed my mother.”
“I don't believe it.”
The letter continued.
Beatrice did not order Elena's disappearance. She tried to stop it.
I exhaled.
Then I reached the final line.
The person who betrayed Elena was the person she trusted with everything.
There was no name.
Only a symbol.
A black serpent.
Victor stared at it.
“I've seen that symbol before.”
“Where?”
“In our family records.”
“Whose symbol is it?”
Victor's face changed.
“The inner circle.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone in my organization has been controlling things for decades.”
Suddenly, the lights went out.
Victor immediately moved toward me.
A whisper came from the hallway.
“Lily.”
I froze.
The voice sounded like my mother.
Victor raised his weapon.
“Who's there?”
The bedroom door slowly opened.
A woman stood in the darkness.
Silver hair.
Pale face.
A familiar necklace.
My heart stopped.
“Mom?”
She stepped into the light.
“Elena.”
I ran toward her.
She caught me.
For the first time in twenty years, I heard my mother's voice against my ear.
“My baby.”
I cried.
She held me tightly.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I wanted you to believe I was.”
“Why?”
She pulled back.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because if you knew I was alive, they would have killed you.”
Victor stood nearby.
Elena looked at him.
“You brought her home.”
Victor nodded.
“I promised you.”
My mother turned to me.
“There is one thing you need to know.”
“What?”
She looked toward the door.
Then whispered:
“Your grandfather isn't the mastermind.”
“Then who is?”
May you like
She took my hand.
“The person behind everything is sitting at my dinner table tonight.”
