Chapter 6 - The Secret in the Micro-SD Card
That night, after Poppy was fast asleep in her small bed, I sat at our wobbly kitchen table under the dim glow of a single 40-watt bulb. I pulled an old, battered laptop out from beneath the couch—a machine I kept hidden because it lacked any digital footprint linking back to my real identity.
I slid the tiny micro-SD card into a USB adapter and plugged it into the side port.
A single video file popped up on the screen, dated four years and two weeks ago—recorded just hours before the fiery car crash that supposedly claimed Julian Cain’s life.
I clicked play with a trembling finger.
The screen flickered to life, showing Julian Cain sitting in the dark interior of a parked car, looking pale, exhausted, and bleeding from a gash on his temple. His green eyes—so startlingly similar to Ronan’s, yet infinitely softer—stared directly into the camera lens.
"Thea," Julian’s voice whispered softly from the tinny laptop speakers, sending a violent shiver down my spine. "If you're watching this, it means I didn't make it out, and the package made it to you safely. My brother Ronan didn't orchestrate the hit on our shipping docks—it was our uncle Victor working with the federal prosecutor's office to frame our family and seize the ports. My father was poisoned slowly, not killed by natural causes. Mother knows, but they locked her in her own mind with chemical suppressants."
Julian leaned closer to the camera, a bittersweet, heartbreaking smile touching his lips.
"Take care of my mother, Thea. And protect Poppy—she's safe as long as she stays hidden behind your name. But sooner or later, you're going to have to hand this file to Ronan. He’s the only one ruthless enough to burn the traitors out."
The video cut to black.
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I sat frozen in the dark kitchen, the hum of the refrigerator sounding like a roaring jet engine. The burden I had carried for four years—the guilt of surviving, the terror of discovery—suddenly shifted. It wasn't just my secret anymore. It was a loaded weapon aimed directly at the heart of the Cain empire.
And the man holding the trigger was standing outside my front door.
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