Chapter 4 — The Last Witness
1333 Words
“I was there.”
The words hung in the war room like a gunshot.
Isabella stared at Adrian.
Cassandra’s gun remained pointed directly at his chest.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Isabella whispered, “You were there?”
Adrian didn’t look away.
“I was the last person who saw your father alive.”
Her heart seemed to stop.
“You told me he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“You told me The Sovereign took him.”
“They did.”
“Then why are you standing here acting like you know nothing?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Because knowing the truth and surviving it are two different things.”
Cassandra stepped closer.
“Enough.”
Her voice was calm, but the gun in her hand was steady.
“You've lied to this girl since she walked through those doors.”
Adrian finally looked at her.
“You want to talk about lies, Cassandra?”
Something flashed across Cassandra’s face.
Fear.
It lasted less than a second.
But Isabella saw it.
And suddenly, she understood something.
Cassandra wasn't angry because Adrian had been there.
She was afraid of what he might say next.
Isabella turned toward her aunt.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Cassandra's expression hardened.
“Your father created enemies everywhere.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“You've known nothing about this world for twenty-four years. You don't understand what you're asking.”
“I understand enough.”
Isabella stepped between them.
“You both knew my father. You both knew my mother. You both knew what happened eighteen years ago.”
Her voice cracked.
“And everyone keeps telling me pieces of the truth like I'm a child.”
Nobody answered.
Isabella's hands curled into fists.
“I want the whole story.”
Adrian looked at Cassandra.
Cassandra looked at Adrian.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
“DOWN!”
Adrian grabbed Isabella and pulled her behind the heavy conference table as bullets tore through the war room.
Cassandra dropped behind a pillar.
Security alarms screamed throughout the mansion.
“Again?” Isabella shouted.
Adrian pulled his weapon.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
For the first time, Isabella didn't see the frightened woman who had entered the mansion hours earlier.
She saw something harder.
“I've spent my entire life being protected by people who refuse to tell me the truth.”
Another bullet slammed into the wall.
“I’m done hiding.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Then stay behind me.”
He moved.
Two attackers entered through the western doorway.
Adrian fired twice.
One dropped.
The second ducked behind the doorway and returned fire.
Cassandra suddenly appeared from the opposite side and fired.
The attacker collapsed.
Isabella stared at her aunt.
Cassandra lowered the weapon.
“Welcome to your father's world.”
Three more men stormed through the corridor.
Adrian pushed Isabella toward the hidden exit.
“Move!”
They ran.
Footsteps thundered behind them.
The mansion had become a battlefield.
Isabella followed Adrian through a narrow corridor she hadn't seen before.
He opened a steel door.
Inside was darkness.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere they won't expect.”
They descended a staircase.
One floor.
Two.
Three.
The deeper they went, the colder the air became.
Finally, Adrian stopped beside a massive steel door.
He entered a code.
The door opened.
Isabella stepped inside.
Her breath caught.
It wasn't another war room.
It was an archive.
Thousands of files filled the walls.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Maps.
Newspaper clippings.
Weapons.
Names.
Dates.
Entire criminal organizations had been documented here.
At the center stood a single glass case.
Inside was a black leather folder.
Adrian walked toward it.
Isabella followed.
“What is that?”
“Your father's last investigation.”
Adrian opened the folder.
The first page contained one sentence.
THE SOVEREIGN IS NOT THE ENEMY.
Isabella frowned.
“What?”
Adrian turned the page.
The second sentence was worse.
THE SOVEREIGN IS ONLY THE SHIELD.
She looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I was.”
Adrian continued turning pages.
Alexander had spent years investigating The Sovereign.
But every time he got close to identifying its leaders, the trail disappeared.
Then Isabella saw something familiar.
Her mother's name.
MARIA VEYRON.
Her fingers trembled.
“What is my mother doing in this file?”
Adrian didn't answer.
She grabbed the folder.
Another page.
A photograph.
Her mother standing beside Alexander.
But they weren't alone.
Behind them stood seven men.
Seven faces.
The Black Council.
Isabella's stomach tightened.
“Why would my mother be meeting them?”
“She wasn't meeting them.”
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“She was working with them.”
Isabella looked up sharply.
“No.”
“That's what your father believed.”
“You said my mother was taken.”
“She was.”
“Then why would she work with them?”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“Because your mother may have known what was coming.”
A sound came from the doorway.
Click.
Both turned.
Cassandra stood there.
Her gun was lowered.
But her face had changed.
She looked exhausted.
“Put the folder down, Isabella.”
“Why?”
“Because you aren't ready.”
“I've heard that enough.”
Cassandra stepped inside.
“Your mother wasn't a victim.”
Isabella's chest tightened.
“Then what was she?”
Cassandra hesitated.
“Your mother's name was Maria Cross.”
Silence.
Adrian froze.
Isabella looked between them.
“What did you just say?”
Cassandra continued.
“Before she became Maria Veyron, she belonged to another family.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“No.”
Cassandra looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
Isabella slowly turned toward Adrian.
“Another family?”
Cassandra's voice became colder.
“The Cross family.”
Adrian's hand tightened around his weapon.
Isabella stared at him.
“Your family?”
He didn't answer.
Cassandra did.
“Adrian Cross isn't just Alexander's former commander.”
She paused.
“He is your mother's son.”
Isabella stopped breathing.
Adrian looked at her.
For once, the dangerous man had no words.
And then a voice came from the archive speakers.
A voice Isabella had heard before.
Her father's voice.
“Isabella.”
She spun toward the ceiling.
The recording continued.
“If you're hearing this, then Adrian has finally told you enough to put you in danger.”
Adrian stepped toward the speaker.
“Alexander…”
The recording continued.
“Don't trust the Black Council.”
A pause.
Then:
“Don't trust Cassandra.”
Cassandra's face went white.
Isabella stared at her aunt.
But the next words destroyed everything.
“Most importantly…”
Alexander's voice became quieter.
“If Adrian tells you that he doesn't remember what happened that night…”
A long silence followed.
“…he is lying.”
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Isabella slowly turned toward Adrian.
“You don't remember?”
Adrian's eyes met hers.
His face was unreadable.
Then he whispered the words that made her blood run cold.
“I remember everything.”
He looked toward Cassandra.
“And your father didn't disappear.”
A beat.
“He was betrayed.”
The lights in the archive suddenly flickered.
A red warning light began flashing.
Then every locked door in the underground facility slammed shut.
Cassandra looked at the security panel.
Her expression changed.
“They've breached the estate.”
Adrian raised his weapon.
“No.”
Isabella looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at the monitor.
“Not the estate.”
The screen came alive.
A live camera feed appeared.
It showed the underground archive from above.
Someone was watching them.
Then a message appeared across the screen.
HELLO, ISABELLA.
Another line appeared.
YOUR FATHER SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU ABOUT ME.
Then the final message appeared.
ASK ADRIAN WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER.
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