Chapter 6
1582 Words
The apartment fell silent.
Isadora stared at the front door.
Someone was standing on the other side.
Someone who claimed to know what had happened to her father.
Lucien remained between her and the entrance, his entire posture changing. The calm businessman she knew from Grave Industries had disappeared.
This was different.
Alert.
Focused.
Dangerously still.
The stranger knocked again.
“Mrs. Blake?”
Clara's hand went to her mouth.
Lucien looked at Isadora.
“Stay with your mother.”
“But—”
“Please.”
The word stopped her.
It wasn't an order.
It was a warning.
Lucien approached the door without opening it.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
“My name doesn't matter.”
“It does to me.”
The stranger gave a quiet laugh.
“Still protecting her, Grave?”
Lucien froze.
Isadora noticed immediately.
“You know him.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
The stranger laughed again.
“You always were a terrible liar, Lucien.”
Isadora's eyes narrowed.
“Who is he?”
Lucien didn't answer.
She stepped closer.
“Who is he?”
“Isadora, stay back.”
“No.”
She looked toward the door.
“If he knows my father, I want to hear what he has to say.”
Lucien turned toward her.
“You don't know what you're asking.”
“I've spent two years not knowing anything.”
Her voice shook.
“I'm done with that.”
Silence.
Then the stranger spoke.
“She's right.”
Lucien's jaw tightened.
“Leave.”
“I came here because Edward left something for his daughter.”
Isadora's heart jumped.
“What?”
Lucien immediately looked at her.
“Don't.”
The stranger continued.
“A key.”
Isadora stared at the door.
“A key to what?”
“The place where your father kept the truth.”
Clara suddenly whispered, “Edward had a key.”
Isadora turned.
“Mom?”
Clara's face had gone pale.
“He gave me one.”
Lucien looked at her sharply.
“You have a key?”
Clara nodded slowly.
“He told me never to give it to anyone.”
“Where is it?” Isadora asked.
Clara hesitated.
“I thought it was useless.”
“Where?”
“My bedroom.”
She hurried away.
Isadora started after her.
Lucien caught her wrist gently.
“Wait.”
She looked at his hand.
He immediately released her.
“Sorry.”
She nodded but remained tense.
Clara returned moments later holding a small wooden box.
She opened it.
Inside was a silver key.
Isadora stared at it.
A black line was engraved across the metal.
The same symbol.
Lucien's face changed.
“Where did Edward get that?”
“I don't know,” Clara whispered.
The stranger knocked again.
“You have the key.”
Isadora looked at the door.
“How do you know?”
“Because Edward told me you would still have it.”
Lucien stepped closer to the door.
“When did Edward tell you that?”
The stranger didn't answer.
Instead, a photograph slid underneath the door.
Isadora moved toward it.
Lucien stopped her.
“Don't touch it.”
He crouched and picked it up carefully.
His eyes moved across the image.
Then he went completely still.
Isadora watched him.
“What?”
Lucien didn't answer.
She stepped closer.
“Lucien.”
He finally handed her the photograph.
It showed Edward standing beside a black car.
But that wasn't what frightened her.
Behind him stood the same man whose face had been scratched out in the previous photograph.
Except this time, his face was visible.
Isadora stared.
She didn't recognize him.
But Lucien did.
“You know him.”
Lucien's voice was quiet.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Elias Vane.”
The name meant nothing to Isadora.
“Who is Elias Vane?”
Lucien looked toward the door.
“He worked with your father.”
“Worked with him doing what?”
“Something your father never told me.”
The stranger laughed softly from the hallway.
“You still don't know the whole story, do you?”
Lucien's eyes hardened.
“Elias.”
The stranger went silent.
Isadora's heart began pounding.
“You said you didn't know who he was.”
“I said I didn't know who was outside.”
“You knew it was him?”
“I suspected.”
“Why?”
“Because he's supposed to be dead.”
Elias laughed again.
“People have been saying that for two years.”
Lucien's expression darkened.
“You disappeared.”
“So did Edward.”
Isadora stepped toward the door.
“What happened to my father?”
Elias's voice became quieter.
“Your father discovered something.”
“What?”
“A list.”
“What list?”
“The names of people who had been stealing from his company.”
Isadora frowned.
“That doesn't explain why he disappeared.”
“No.”
Elias paused.
“Because the list contained more than thieves.”
Lucien's voice became cold.
“Stop.”
Elias ignored him.
“Your father discovered that someone close to him had been moving money through several companies. Millions of dollars.”
“Who?”
“I never learned the final name.”
Isadora looked at Lucien.
“Did you?”
Lucien said nothing.
Her stomach tightened.
“Lucien?”
He looked at her.
“Your father suspected someone at Grave Industries.”
The room seemed to freeze.
“Your company?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don't have the name.”
Elias spoke from behind the door.
“But I do.”
Isadora's breath caught.
“Tell me.”
Lucien stepped toward her.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if Elias has the name, there is a reason he hasn't given it to you.”
Elias laughed.
“You're finally learning.”
Lucien's voice hardened.
“What do you want?”
“Not money.”
“Then what?”
“I want the key.”
Clara clutched the wooden box.
Isadora immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Elias sighed.
“Then you don't want the truth badly enough.”
“You broke into our building.”
“I came through the front door.”
“You've been watching us.”
“I've been protecting you.”
Lucien's expression became cold.
“Don't use that word.”
“Why? It's what you claim to be doing.”
The silence that followed was heavy.
Isadora looked at Lucien.
“What's he talking about?”
Lucien didn't answer.
Elias did.
“Ask him what happened after your father gave him the black envelope.”
Isadora's heart stopped.
She turned toward Lucien.
“What happened?”
Lucien looked away.
“Not here.”
“Where, then?”
“Tomorrow.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I've waited two years for answers.”
Her voice broke slightly.
“I won't wait another day.”
Lucien looked at her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then he finally said:
“Your father asked me to protect you.”
Isadora stared.
“What?”
“He knew something was going to happen.”
“When?”
“The night he disappeared.”
“Then why didn't you?”
Lucien's expression cracked.
Just slightly.
“Because I was too late.”
Isadora's anger faded.
“What happened?”
Lucien looked at the floor.
“I arrived at his office after he had already left.”
“And you never found him?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know he's alive?”
Lucien looked up.
“I don't.”
The answer hit her harder than she expected.
Elias spoke again.
“That's where you're wrong, Grave.”
Lucien turned toward the door.
Elias's voice became almost a whisper.
“Edward Blake was alive when you left that night.”
Isadora's heart pounded.
Lucien went completely still.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know he was alive?”
A long silence followed.
Then Elias said:
“Because I was the one who drove him away.”
Isadora covered her mouth.
Lucien's eyes hardened.
“Why?”
Elias didn't answer.
Instead, he stepped away from the door.
His footsteps began moving down the hallway.
“Wait!” Isadora shouted.
She rushed toward the entrance.
Lucien caught her before she could open it.
“Don't.”
“Let me go!”
“Isadora.”
“He knows what happened!”
“He also knows how to manipulate you.”
She struggled against his grip for a moment before stopping.
Then she heard something slide across the floor outside.
A small envelope.
Lucien slowly opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
He picked up the envelope.
There was only one sentence written on the front.
For Isadora Blake.
He handed it to her.
She opened it with trembling fingers.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
Five words were written across it.
ASK WHO BETRAYED YOUR FATHER.
Isadora looked up at Lucien.
He was already staring at the message.
And she realized something.
Whatever had happened to Edward Blake two years ago wasn't finished.
It had only just begun.
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