Chapter 6 - MY MOTHER'S SECRET
Darkness swallowed the tunnel.
Someone grabbed my arm.
I reacted instinctively.
“Elbow left!”
Dad's voice.
I stopped fighting.
“It's me.”
Flashlights snapped on.
Richard was still breathing.
The leather case was gone.
Dad looked around.
“Where is it?”
Nobody answered.
One security officer lay unconscious several feet away.
Someone had struck him during the blackout.
Dad grabbed his radio.
“Lock down the basement.”
Static.
I looked at my phone.
No signal.
Then emergency lights flickered on.
We carried Richard back toward the wine cellar.
Paramedics were waiting upstairs.
Police had finally entered the estate after security lifted one barrier under controlled access.
Detectives began separating witnesses.
But I wasn't thinking about Damian anymore.
I was thinking about Richard's words.
Don't let Evelyn get it.
My mother.
We found her in the ballroom.
She was speaking with a detective.
Dad walked directly toward her.
“Where were you?”
Mom frowned.
“Here.”
“The entire time?”
“Yes.”
“Can anyone confirm that?”
Her face changed.
“Alexander.”
“Answer me.”
She stared at him.
Then at me.
“What happened?”
“Richard was shot.”
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“What?”
“He said something before the lights went out.”
She didn't ask what.
That frightened me.
Dad saw it too.
“What aren't you telling us?”
Mom slowly lowered her hand.
“Not here.”
I almost laughed.
Everyone wanted privacy after spending years hiding things.
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“Here.”
Mom looked at my bruised face.
Something inside her seemed to surrender.
“Fine.”
She took a breath.
“I knew about Northstar.”
Dad stepped backward.
“For how long?”
“Eight years.”
His face hardened.
“Eight years?”
“I didn't know everything.”
“You knew enough to hide it.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“Prison.”
The word landed heavily.
Mom continued.
“Victor came to me eight years ago.”
“He showed me documents carrying your signature.”
“They were convincing.”
“I believed you had authorized illegal transfers.”
Dad stared at her.
“And you never asked me?”
“He threatened Claire.”
I froze.
Mom looked at me.
“You were twenty-two.”
“You had just moved to Boston.”
“Victor had photographs of your apartment.”
“Your office.”
“Your car.”
“He knew your schedule.”
Dad's face became terrifyingly calm.
“What did he demand?”
“Silence.”
“Anything else?”
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Your internal calendar.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“You gave him my schedule.”
“Yes.”
“For eight years?”
“No.”
“Six months.”
“Then I stopped.”
“What happened?”
“Thomas found out.”
I whispered,
“Thomas knew?”
She nodded.
“He helped me sever the access.”
“That's why Victor targeted him.”
Thomas had protected my mother.
Maybe that was why he had never told me everything.
Dad asked,
“Why did Richard warn us about you?”
Mom looked confused.
“I don't know.”
Then her eyes shifted toward something behind me.
I turned.
Vanessa Cross stood twenty feet away.
She was holding the missing leather case.
Police officers surrounded her.
Damian shouted from across the ballroom.
“Vanessa!”
She ignored him.
She walked toward us.
“I found this near the service stairs.”
Mom stared at the case.
Vanessa noticed.
“Recognize it?”
Mom whispered,
“No.”
Vanessa smiled sadly.
“That's unfortunate.”
She opened the case.
Inside were paper files.
A laptop.
Three encrypted drives.
And a photograph.
Vanessa lifted it.
Then handed it to me.
The photograph had been taken years earlier.
Victor Cross stood beside Richard.
Beside them was Thomas.
And beside Thomas was my mother.
I turned the picture over.
Four words were handwritten on the back.
FOUNDERS OF PROJECT NORTHSTAR.
I looked at Mom.
Her face had gone white.
“You said Victor blackmailed you.”
“He did.”
“You said you discovered Northstar eight years ago.”
“I did.”
The photograph was dated eleven years ago.
Dad read the date.
Then looked at his wife.
“Evelyn.”
She began shaking.
I held up the photograph.
“You were there before Northstar supposedly existed.”
Mom closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, the woman standing in front of me seemed different.
Older.
Tired.
And finally finished with lying.
“Yes.”
May you like
Her voice was barely audible.
“I helped create it.”
