Chapter 10
1469 Words
THE BLOODLINE
“Gabriel Vale.”
The name hung in the room like a loaded gun.
I stared at Marcus, waiting for him to laugh.
He didn’t.
Nobody did.
My mother stood completely still near the fireplace. Victoria’s face had gone pale. Adrian looked as though someone had just punched him in the stomach.
I swallowed.
“Who the hell is Gabriel Vale?”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“That,” he said quietly, “is the question your father spent twenty-four years trying to answer.”
I felt my heartbeat pounding against my ribs.
“You said my father knew who my real father was.”
“I said he was looking for the truth.”
“No.” I stepped closer. “You said Gabriel Vale is my father.”
Marcus didn’t respond.
“Say it again.”
His jaw tightened.
“Gabriel Vale is your biological father.”
The room seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
I grabbed the edge of the table.
“No.”
My mother whispered my name.
“Elena—”
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
I looked at her.
“You knew?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I knew his name.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
She looked away.
My stomach twisted.
“You knew.”
“I didn’t know everything.”
“Bullshit.”
The word escaped before I could stop it.
Victoria flinched.
I didn’t care.
For twenty-four years, everyone had apparently known something about me except me.
My father.
My mother.
Marcus.
Victoria.
Even Adrian.
I turned toward him.
“You knew about Gabriel.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not until tonight.”
“Then why did you look like you’d seen a f*****g ghost when Marcus said his name?”
His expression hardened.
“Because Gabriel Vale was connected to my father.”
I froze.
“What?”
Adrian stepped forward.
“My father knew him.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“They weren’t friends.”
“I know.”
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“They were enemies.”
Silence filled the room.
I looked between them.
“So let me get this straight. My biological father was enemies with Daniel Cross, your father was murdered twenty-five years ago, my father was murdered days ago, my mother had three babies, one was removed from the records, and somehow Gabriel f*****g Vale is sitting in the middle of all of it?”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
I laughed.
It wasn’t a happy laugh.
It was the kind of laugh that came when reality became too insane to process.
“This family is completely fucked.”
Victoria whispered, “Elena…”
“No. I’m done.”
I pointed at Marcus.
“You’re going to tell me everything.”
Marcus stared at me.
“I don’t think you’re ready.”
“I’m past ready.”
I stepped closer.
“Start talking.”
Marcus looked toward my mother.
Sophia closed her eyes.
Then Marcus finally spoke.
“Gabriel Vale was a businessman.”
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Marcus paused.
“He was dangerous.”
My stomach tightened.
“How?”
“Money. Influence. Connections.”
“Criminal connections?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Adrian folded his arms.
“What did Gabriel want?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Your father discovered something.”
“What?”
“A transaction.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“What transaction?”
Marcus walked toward the old desk.
“He found payments being made from Gabriel’s accounts to several people inside Blackwood Falls.”
“Who?”
“Doctors. Police officers. Hospital administrators.”
I felt cold.
“Why?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Because Gabriel wanted control over what happened the night you were born.”
My breathing stopped.
“The night I was born?”
Marcus nodded.
“May seventeenth, 2002.”
The room became painfully quiet.
I whispered, “Why would he care about my birth?”
Marcus didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said something that made my blood run cold.
“Because you weren’t supposed to survive.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
My mother covered her mouth.
Adrian immediately looked at her.
“Is that true?”
Sophia began crying.
I stared at her.
“Mom?”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear to God, Elena, I didn’t know.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Because there are things I should have told you.”
“Like what?”
She looked at me.
“Like the fact that Gabriel Vale wasn’t just your father.”
My blood ran cold.
“What else was he?”
She whispered:
“He was the man your father feared most.”
A sudden sound came from upstairs.
A door slammed.
Everyone froze.
Adrian reached inside his jacket.
I stared at the staircase.
“Did anyone else hear that?”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
He moved toward the stairs.
Marcus grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
Adrian pulled free.
“Someone is upstairs.”
“There shouldn’t be.”
“Exactly.”
He looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I shook my head.
“Absolutely not.”
“Elena—”
“I’ve spent my entire life being told to stay out of things that apparently involve me.”
I followed him.
We reached the second floor.
The hallway was dark.
Every door was closed.
Adrian raised a finger to his lips.
We listened.
Nothing.
Then—
A quiet scratching sound came from the end of the hallway.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
I stared at the old door.
“What the hell is that?”
Adrian slowly approached it.
His hand moved toward the handle.
He opened the door.
Empty.
There was only a small wooden table.
And on it sat an envelope.
My name was written across the front.
ELENA.
My heart hammered.
Adrian picked it up.
“Don’t touch it,” I whispered.
He stopped.
“Why?”
“Because every time someone leaves me a f*****g envelope in this house, my life gets worse.”
He almost smiled.
“Fair point.”
He opened it carefully.
Inside was a single photograph.
Adrian pulled it out.
I looked at it.
And everything inside me froze.
It was a photograph of my mother.
She was young.
Very young.
She was standing outside a hospital.
Beside her was a man I’d never seen before.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
And somehow…
I recognized him.
Not from memory.
From the photographs.
From the documents.
From the nightmares.
“That’s him,” I whispered.
Adrian stared at the picture.
“Gabriel Vale.”
My fingers trembled.
There was writing on the back.
Adrian turned it over.
Three words were written in black ink.
HE KNOWS YOU.
I stared at the message.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Gabriel.”
A noise came from behind us.
We turned.
Marcus stood in the hallway.
His face was pale.
“What happened?” I demanded.
He didn’t answer.
He was staring at the photograph.
Then he whispered:
“He’s alive.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“You said he was dead.”
“I thought he was.”
“You thought?”
Marcus looked at me.
“No.”
He swallowed.
“I knew.”
I stepped toward him.
“Knew what?”
Marcus’s voice broke.
“Gabriel Vale never died.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Then where is he?”
Marcus looked toward the dark window at the end of the hallway.
“He’s been watching this family for twenty-four years.”
A cold breeze moved through the hallway.
The lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out.
My heart slammed against my chest.
In the darkness, I heard a man’s voice.
Low.
Calm.
Almost amused.
“Elena.”
I stopped breathing.
Adrian grabbed my hand.
“Don’t move.”
The voice came again.
Closer this time.
“You’ve finally come home.”
A light suddenly flickered back on.
The hallway was empty.
Except for one thing.
A red rose lay on the floor at my feet.
And beneath it was a folded piece of paper.
I picked it up.
My hands were shaking.
I unfolded it.
There was only one sentence.
YOUR FATHER LIED ABOUT WHO I AM.
I looked at Adrian.
Then Marcus.
Then my mother.
And for the first time, I realized something terrifying.
Maybe Gabriel Vale wasn’t the monster my family had spent twenty-four years warning me about.
Maybe the real monster…
was the person who had taught us to fear him.
And somewhere in the darkness outside the mansion, someone was watching.
Waiting.
For me to discover the next lie.
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