Chapter 5 - DANIEL MARLOWE
Elena stared at Victoria.
The chamber seemed to tilt beneath her feet.
“No.”
Victoria’s expression did not change.
“No?”
“My father was an auditor.”
“Your father was many things.”
“He tried to expose you.”
“That is what you were told.”
“I saw his notes.”
“You saw what he left for you.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“He documented the transfers.”
“Yes.”
“He tracked the shell companies.”
“Yes.”
“He recorded meetings with your executives.”
Victoria smiled.
“Because they were his executives too.”
Julian looked at Elena, but she did not see him.
Her entire life had been built around one belief.
Her father had died because he tried to reveal the truth.
That belief had carried her through years of research.
Through fear.
Through anger.
Through every lie she told to enter the Sterling family.
Victoria was trying to poison that belief.
Elena refused to let her.
“You framed him.”
Victoria shook her head.
“I protected him.”
“By destroying his reputation?”
“By making the world believe he was dead.”
Silence.
Even Sloan looked surprised.
Elena’s lips parted.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
“No,” Victoria said. “Your father disappeared twelve years ago.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“You said his body was found.”
“A body was found.”
Elena’s breathing became shallow.
“No.”
Victoria watched her carefully.
“The dental records matched.”
“They were altered.”
“The coroner confirmed—”
“The coroner was paid.”
Elena shook her head.
“You’re lying.”
Victoria glanced at the terminal.
The upload reached eighty-seven percent.
“Then wait.”
“For what?”
“The second archive.”
Sloan tightened her grip on Victoria’s arm.
“You said it would put lives at risk.”
“It will.”
“Whose?”
Victoria looked directly at Elena.
“His.”
Elena’s face went white.
Somewhere above them, alarms began sounding again.
Marcus checked his radio.
“The boathouse team found Graham’s blood trail.”
“Did they find him?” Sloan asked.
“No.”
The answer came from another agent.
“He took a boat.”
Sloan cursed under her breath.
“River patrol?”
“On the way.”
Elena barely heard them.
“My father is alive.”
Victoria said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“You already know my answer.”
“Where is he?”
Victoria’s gaze moved to the upload bar.
Ninety percent.
“You will find out soon.”
Elena rushed toward her.
Julian caught her before she reached Victoria.
“Let me go.”
“Elena.”
“Let me go!”
Her restraint vanished.
Years of grief surged through her at once.
“You let me think he was dead!”
Victoria’s composure remained intact.
“He wanted you to think he was dead.”
“No.”
“He chose it.”
“You’re lying.”
“He chose the network too.”
Elena struggled against Julian.
“He was not like you.”
Victoria’s eyes hardened.
“You know nothing about what he was like.”
“I was his daughter.”
“You were a child.”
The words silenced her.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Your father understood the world. He knew that governments moved through favors, that charities moved money, that shipping companies moved more than cargo.”
Sloan’s jaw tightened.
“Careful.”
Victoria ignored her.
“He built the first system. I expanded it.”
Elena stared at her.
“Why would he disappear?”
“Because he became afraid.”
“Of you?”
“Of what we had created.”
Victoria’s expression shifted for the first time.
Not guilt.
Memory.
“He wanted out.”
“And you wouldn’t let him.”
“No one simply leaves an empire like ours.”
Julian looked sick.
“So you threatened him.”
“I gave him a choice.”
Elena’s voice dropped.
“What choice?”
“To vanish or be exposed.”
“As what?”
“As the architect of everything.”
The upload reached ninety-five percent.
Sloan looked at the terminal.
“We need to stop the secondary release.”
Elena wiped at her face.
“There may be a manual override.”
She moved to the console.
Her fingers trembled as she searched the code.
Julian came beside her.
“What do you need?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me what to do.”
She looked at him.
The hurt between them was still there.
So was the love.
Neither had disappeared.
“There’s a root authorization hidden inside the Sterling legal network.”
Julian frowned.
“Where?”
“Graham likely controls it.”
Sloan raised her radio.
“Any update on the river?”
Static.
Then Marcus’s voice.
“His boat is empty.”
“What?”
“We found it drifting near the south bank.”
Elena stopped typing.
“Then Graham never intended to escape by river.”
Julian understood.
“The medical jet.”
Sloan turned toward her agents.
“Get me the airport feed.”
An agent opened a secure tablet.
The estate’s private airfield appeared on-screen.
A white jet waited near the far hangar.
Two black vehicles approached it.
Graham stepped out of the first.
His tuxedo shirt was soaked with blood along one side, but he was walking.
The second vehicle stopped.
A man emerged.
He was older.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
Even through the grainy security footage, Elena recognized the way he tilted his head.
The way he touched the frame of his glasses.
The way he paused before stepping into the light.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Dad.”
Julian caught her.
Victoria watched silently.
Daniel Marlowe turned toward the security camera.
As if he knew Elena was watching.
Then he removed his glasses.
There was no doubt.
He was alive.
And he was standing beside Graham.
Sloan lifted her radio.
“Airfield team, stop that aircraft immediately.”
A voice answered.
“Negative. Runway gates just locked.”
“Override them.”
“We can’t. Control system has been disabled.”
On the screen, Daniel and Graham boarded the jet.
Elena stared in disbelief.
Her father was not a prisoner.
No one forced him inside.
He walked beside Graham willingly.
The upload reached ninety-nine percent.
Victoria looked at Elena.
“I told you.”
The terminal chimed.
PRIMARY ARCHIVE TRANSFER COMPLETE.
A second message appeared.
DEAD-MAN ARCHIVE RELEASED.
The screen filled with new destinations.
News agencies.
Government servers.
Foreign intelligence contacts.
Private addresses.
One file opened automatically.
A video.
Daniel Marlowe appeared on-screen.
He was younger in the recording.
His hair was darker.
His eyes were tired.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Elena,” he said, “if you are seeing this, then Victoria has lost control.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Daniel continued.
“And that means you have done exactly what I trained you to do.”
Julian looked at her.
Elena shook her head.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Daniel’s recorded voice continued.
“You believe you came to the Sterling family for justice.”
He paused.
“But justice was never the reason.”
Victoria’s face tightened.
For the first time, she looked afraid of the video.
May you like
Daniel leaned closer to the camera.
“You came because I needed someone inside.”
