Chapter 15 - The Truth My Grandfather Hid
I turned toward Sebastian.
He looked destroyed before I said a word.
“You know who killed my mother.”
“No.”
Mom’s recording continued behind us.
“He may tell you he doesn’t know. Technically, that will be true.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
“He knows why they wanted me dead.”
The recording clicked off.
I stood there shaking.
“Start talking.”
Sebastian sat down.
“In 1999, after Clara disappeared, David Mercer contacted me once.”
My father.
Alive after the car explosion.
My throat tightened.
“What did he say?”
“He said Clara and Charlotte were safe. He told me never to look for you.”
“Why?”
“Because Atlas was bigger than Andrew.”
Andrew laughed softly from across the room.
“Finally.”
Sebastian ignored him.
“Some of the payments moved through outside contractors connected to organized financial crime. People who did not care about hotels. Valle was useful because we moved large sums across borders.”
“You laundered money.”
“Without understanding the full structure at first.”
“And later?”
He looked at me.
“Later I understood enough to be afraid.”
I felt sick.
“David told you to leave us alone because contacting us could expose where we were.”
“Yes.”
“And you obeyed.”
“Yes.”
“For twenty-seven years.”
“I received proof of life through intermediaries for a while.”
My head snapped up.
“What?”
“Photographs. School records. Confirmation Clara was alive.”
The surveillance file.
I looked at Margaret.
She shook her head.
“That wasn’t mine at first.”
Sebastian continued.
“I told myself distance kept you safe.”
“You also told yourself it let you keep the company.”
“Yes.”
Again, the honest answer hurt more.
“Why did Mom come back three months ago?”
“Because David contacted her.”
I stopped breathing.
“My father is alive?”
Sebastian looked uncertain.
“He was alive three months ago.”
The room tilted.
I gripped the chair.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
Sebastian looked at Andrew.
Andrew smiled.
Not pleased.
Resigned.
“North Bridge.”
“What is North Bridge?”
“Not just a holding company,” Andrew said. “It’s the modern version of the network David spent his life chasing.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You pledged Olivia’s inheritance to criminals?”
“I pledged assets to people who could finish the sale.”
Olivia whispered, “You’re insane.”
Andrew snapped, “I was trying to keep this family alive.”
I laughed.
Every terrible person in the room had the same favorite sentence.
I was trying to protect the family.
Nathan’s radio crackled.
“Mr. Reed, security breach. Ballroom level.”
A second voice shouted in the background.
Then gunfire cracked over the radio.
Sebastian stood.
Andrew moved first.
Not toward the door.
Toward me.
He grabbed my arm.
“Charlotte, listen to me.”
I tried to pull away.
“Let go.”
“If North Bridge is here, they are not coming for the company.”
“Then what?”
He looked terrified.
“They’re coming for the evidence your mother just released.”
The lights went out.
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