Gabriel pulled the trigger.
\nThe gunshot exploded through the sealed chamber.
\n\u201cDavid!\u201d
\nHis body jerked backward.
\nHe crashed against me, knocking us both onto the stone floor.
\nA sharp pain tore through my ribs, but I barely noticed it.
\nAll I could see was David lying across my legs, completely motionless.
\n\u201cYou killed him!\u201d I screamed.
\nGabriel lowered the gun.
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nDavid suddenly coughed.
\nHis hand moved toward his chest.
\nWhen he pulled open his jacket, a small black device fell from the torn fabric and bounced across the floor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A bullet had passed through it.
\nDavid stared at the shattered object.
\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d
\n\u201cA tracking transmitter,\u201d Gabriel answered.
\nHe crushed it beneath his shoe.
\n\u201cMaya must have slipped it into your jacket when you carried Victoria from the basement.\u201d
\nDavid\u2019s face hardened.
\n\u201cShe knew we would find the second entrance.\u201d
\n\u201cShe wanted Adrian to know exactly where we were.\u201d
\nGas continued pouring from the vents.
\nMy lungs were already burning.
\nI looked down at my father\u2019s letter.
\nGabriel had said my father never intended me to survive long enough to read it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you say that?\u201d
\nHe looked directly at me.
\n\u201cBecause Adrian was listening.\u201d
\nGabriel pointed toward a tiny red light hidden above the monitor.
\nA camera.
\n\u201cIf Adrian believed I had turned against you, he would keep watching instead of triggering the emergency ignition system.\u201d
\nMy blood ran cold.
\n\u201cIgnition?\u201d
\n\u201cThe gas is flammable.\u201d
\nDavid looked at the vents.
\n\u201cSo one spark could destroy the entire underground level.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gabriel holstered his gun and pressed the device in his hand against the vault\u2019s control panel.
\n\u201cYou have perhaps two minutes before the concentration becomes lethal.\u201d
\nI held the letter tightly.
\n\u201cIs this real?\u201d
\nGabriel did not look at it.
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n\u201cYou recognized the handwriting.\u201d
\n\u201cBecause Adrian\u2019s people have been forging your father\u2019s signature for years.\u201d
\n\u201cThe letter was inside my suitcase.\u201d
\n\u201cWho had access to your bedroom?\u201d
\nThe answer came immediately.
\nMaya.
\nShe had wandered through every room in the mansion for three years.
\nShe had borrowed clothes without permission.
\nShe had entered my bedroom while I was sleeping.
\nAnd she had once insisted on helping the maids reorganize my closets.
\n\u201cShe planted it,\u201d I whispered.
\n\u201cMost likely after Thomas entered the estate,\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cAdrian wanted you to distrust the one person capable of opening the archive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou?\u201d<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
A loud metallic click came from the control panel.<\/p>\n
Gabriel pulled the device free.<\/p>\n
The vault door remained closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cManual lock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
David forced himself upright.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we break through the wall?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis chamber was built beneath forty feet of reinforced concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gas crept higher.<\/p>\n
My vision began to blur.<\/p>\n
I pressed part of David\u2019s jacket over my mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do we get out?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel looked at the monitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be an emergency release inside the chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n
David began searching the walls.<\/p>\n
Gabriel checked beneath the steel table.<\/p>\n
I tried to stand, but my body refused.<\/p>\n
The stone floor seemed to sway beneath me.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered something from the security video.<\/p>\n
Thomas had been chained to a chair in the center of the room.<\/p>\n
But when we entered, the chair was several feet away from where it had appeared on camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove the chair,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Neither man heard me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove the chair!\u201d<\/p>\n
David dragged it aside.<\/p>\n
Beneath one leg was a circular metal plate.<\/p>\n
Gabriel dropped to his knees and brushed blood and dust from its surface.<\/p>\n
Four symbols had been carved around the edge.<\/p>\n
They matched the symbols on the back of the jade pendant.<\/p>\n
Gabriel stared at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas found the release.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn\u2019t he use it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he didn\u2019t have the green key.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jade pendant was already with Old Sal.<\/p>\n
Gabriel pressed each symbol in a different order.<\/p>\n
Nothing happened.<\/p>\n
David tried lifting the metal plate.<\/p>\n
It did not move.<\/p>\n
My lungs tightened.<\/p>\n
Breathing became almost impossible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere must be another way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father designed this vault.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow would I know the combination?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe trained you to read financial reports when you were a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has nothing to do with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father never taught without a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memories rushed through my mind.<\/p>\n
My father sitting across from me inside his library.<\/p>\n
Balance sheets spread across the table.<\/p>\n
His finger tapping four numbers repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Assets.<\/p>\n
Liabilities.<\/p>\n
Equity.<\/p>\n
Cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always made me read the statements in the same order,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
Gabriel crouched beside the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich order?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the four symbols.<\/p>\n
A tower.<\/p>\n
A broken chain.<\/p>\n
A crown.<\/p>\n
A river.<\/p>\n
Assets.<\/p>\n
Liabilities.<\/p>\n
Equity.<\/p>\n
Cash flow.<\/p>\n
\u201cTower. Chain. Crown. River.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel pressed them.<\/p>\n
The plate clicked.<\/p>\n
A handle rose from its center.<\/p>\n
David grabbed it and pulled.<\/p>\n
A narrow section of the floor lifted, revealing a ladder descending into darkness.<\/p>\n
Fresh air rushed upward.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo!\u201d Gabriel ordered.<\/p>\n
David climbed down first.<\/p>\n
Gabriel lifted me into his arms.<\/p>\n
As he carried me toward the opening, the hidden camera above the monitor rotated toward us.<\/p>\n
Adrian was still watching.<\/p>\n
The speaker crackled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always were clever, Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel stopped.<\/p>\n
Adrian\u2019s voice filled the chamber.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut cleverness will not save Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
I raised my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you taking him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the place where this began.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPier Seventeen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrian laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was only for Gabriel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timer appeared on the monitor again.<\/p>\n
This time, it showed forty-seven minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have until sunrise to discover where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The screen changed.<\/p>\n
For less than two seconds, I saw Thomas inside the moving vehicle.<\/p>\n
Behind him, through the rear window, stood a tall clock tower illuminated against the night sky.<\/p>\n
Then the image vanished.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll kill you,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Victoria. You still believe I am the monster in your story.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou nearly beat me to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy men were instructed to frighten you, not kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventeen bones were fractured!\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
That was the first time Adrian sounded surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour security men beat me for three hours while you watched.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not inside the estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stood in the hallway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His answer came immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone wanted you to believe I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel tightened his grip around me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t listen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Adrian continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI returned to Greenwich less than twenty minutes ago. By then, Gabriel\u2019s men had already breached the property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ordered the beating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI ordered you confined after Maya claimed you pushed her down the stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said, \u2018Keep hitting her.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the hallway.<\/p>\n
My vision had been blurred by blood.<\/p>\n
A man had stood in the shadows wearing Julian\u2019s dark suit.<\/p>\n
I had heard Julian\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
But had I clearly seen his face?<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
The speaker crackled again.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Gabriel who owns the technology capable of copying a man\u2019s voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel carried me toward the opening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk him!\u201d Adrian shouted.<\/p>\n
Gabriel began descending the ladder.<\/p>\n
The speaker\u2019s final words followed us into the darkness.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour uncle ordered the men to beat you, Victoria!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the vault door exploded.<\/p>\n
Fire roared across the chamber above us.<\/p>\n
Gabriel shoved me downward.<\/p>\n
David caught my body as the blast struck.<\/p>\n
The floor shook violently.<\/p>\n
Flames poured through the opening.<\/p>\n
Gabriel jumped onto the ladder and pulled the hatch closed above him.<\/p>\n
For several seconds, we hung in total darkness.<\/p>\n
Only our breathing could be heard.<\/p>\n
Then David switched on a small flashlight.<\/p>\n
The ladder descended into a narrow brick tunnel.<\/p>\n
Water reached our ankles.<\/p>\n
Gabriel\u2019s coat had caught fire along one sleeve.<\/p>\n
David tore it away and stamped it out.<\/p>\n
I stared at Gabriel.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you order the beating?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not lie to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did Adrian know about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he is manipulating you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou manipulated him inside the vault.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo keep you alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what happened in Prague?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel said nothing.<\/p>\n
The tunnel stretched ahead of us.<\/p>\n
I reached toward David.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut me down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMa\u2019am\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut me down.\u201d<\/p>\n
He carefully lowered me until my feet touched the wet ground.<\/p>\n
Pain surged through me so intensely that black dots filled my vision.<\/p>\n
I leaned against the brick wall.<\/p>\n
Gabriel stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot walk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can stand long enough to hear the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not have time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have spent six years married to a man who doesn\u2019t exist. My family is dead. My brother has been kidnapped. A woman inside my home helped destroy everything I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd every person around me keeps telling me there is no time for the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tunnel fell silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not taking another step until you tell me what happened in Prague.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel stared at me for a long moment.<\/p>\n
Then he removed the wet black coat from his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty years ago, your father, Elias Vale, and I created a private intelligence network.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVance Enterprises?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat company was only the public face.\u201d<\/p>\n
David glanced toward him.<\/p>\n
Gabriel continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cConstruction projects gave us access to ports, government facilities, financial institutions, and private estates. Elias used those connections to collect information.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor blackmail?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, we told ourselves it was protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd later?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel\u2019s face darkened.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater, Elias began selling information to whoever paid the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid my father know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three of us began moving through the tunnel.<\/p>\n
David supported most of my weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your father discovered what Elias had done, he wanted to shut down the network,\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cElias refused.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you went to Prague.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA government minister had agreed to purchase a list containing the identities of hundreds of undercover agents. We followed Elias to stop the sale.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the dead man in the photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho killed him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel looked straight ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tunnel seemed colder.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father\u2019s letter was telling the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat part was missing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElias killed your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
David nearly lost his grip on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother died in the plane crash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel\u2019s voice became quieter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe woman who raised you as Evelyn Vance was not your biological mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a moment, I could not understand the words.<\/p>\n
They entered my ears but refused to form meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour biological mother\u2019s name was Elena Markovic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was an intelligence officer stationed in Prague.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father met her while establishing the European branch of the network.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pushed away from David.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I were.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother gave birth to me in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn raised you from the time you were six months old.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArranged photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHospital records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cForged.\u201d<\/p>\n
I struck Gabriel across the face.<\/p>\n
The movement sent agony through my shoulder, but I did not care.<\/p>\n
He accepted the blow without defending himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen don\u2019t stand there and tell me she wasn\u2019t my mother!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was your mother in every way that mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tears burned in my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Elena gave birth to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would my father hide that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Elias discovered Elena was investigating our network.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe killed her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe lured her to an apartment in Prague. Your father and I arrived too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe body in the photograph\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElena.\u201d<\/p>\n
My knees gave way.<\/p>\n
David caught me.<\/p>\n
I remembered the grainy image.<\/p>\n
The body lying behind the three men.<\/p>\n
The face hidden from view.<\/p>\n
My biological mother had been lying on that floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy were you all standing there?\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cElias forced your father to choose. Hand over the archive, or he would expose your existence to the same people Elena had been investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did my father do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe surrendered the black pendant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second half of the cipher.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Elias still tried to kill us. During the struggle, I shot him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said he died in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man sent to prison was not Elias.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of Elias\u2019s employees. He was paid to accept the charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Elias survived Prague.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel stopped walking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the question your father spent thirty years trying to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tunnel ended at a rusted steel door.<\/p>\n
David pushed it open.<\/p>\n
We emerged inside a small abandoned utility building beyond the estate grounds.<\/p>\n
Gabriel\u2019s men were waiting with vehicles and medical equipment.<\/p>\n
A doctor rushed toward me.<\/p>\n
I stepped backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are bleeding internally,\u201d she said. \u201cYou may have less than an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen give me an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVictoria,\u201d Gabriel warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas has forty minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctor exchanged a look with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can stabilize her temporarily,\u201d she said, \u201cbut she needs surgery immediately afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
They placed me on a stretcher inside an armored vehicle.<\/p>\n
The doctor inserted an intravenous line and pressed bandages against my wounds.<\/p>\n
Gabriel sat across from me while David contacted the men searching for Adrian\u2019s vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matches at the southern gate,\u201d David reported. \u201cThe license plates were stolen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about the clock tower?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Gabriel opened a tablet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are dozens around New York and Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
The image from the video replayed in my mind.<\/p>\n
Thomas in the back seat.<\/p>\n
Maya beside him.<\/p>\n
The glowing clock face behind them.<\/p>\n
There had been something else.<\/p>\n
A red reflection in the rear window.<\/p>\n
Not a traffic light.<\/p>\n
Letters.<\/p>\n
Three reversed letters.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe video.\u201d<\/p>\n
He replayed the two-second clip.<\/p>\n
The clock tower appeared behind Thomas.<\/p>\n
Gabriel froze the image.<\/p>\n
In the corner of the rear window was a reflected neon sign.<\/p>\n
The letters were reversed.<\/p>\n
R-E-I.<\/strong><\/p>\n David leaned closer.<\/p>\n \u201cCould be part of a longer word.\u201d<\/p>\n I studied the shape of the clock tower.<\/p>\n My father had once taken Thomas and me to an abandoned waterfront building when we were children.<\/p>\n He said it had once been the largest refrigeration warehouse on the East Coast.<\/p>\n A red neon sign had stood above its loading entrance.<\/p>\n EMPIRE ICE.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe Empire Cold Storage building,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Gabriel stared at me.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was demolished fifteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. Only the front warehouses were demolished. The underground storage tunnels still exist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy father owned them.\u201d<\/p>\n David checked the location.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is eight miles from Pier Seventeen.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabriel ordered the driver to move.<\/p>\n The armored vehicle accelerated through the night.<\/p>\n The doctor injected something into my IV.<\/p>\n Warmth spread through my body.<\/p>\n \u201cYou will remain conscious,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the effect will not last.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabriel loaded a fresh magazine into his gun.<\/p>\n I looked at him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy does Adrian want the archive?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo find Elias.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou believe Elias is alive?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know he is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n Gabriel\u2019s face became unreadable.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause he contacted me three months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone inside the vehicle fell silent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe said your father had finally paid for Prague.\u201d<\/p>\n The plane crash.<\/p>\n The collapse of Vance Enterprises.<\/p>\n My family\u2019s destruction had not been Adrian\u2019s revenge alone.<\/p>\n His father had returned.<\/p>\n \u201cDid Adrian know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo Julian\u2014Adrian\u2014may not be controlling Maya.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabriel looked out the window.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe Maya is working for Elias.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart pounded.<\/p>\n The car turned toward the abandoned industrial district.<\/p>\n In the distance, the clock tower rose above the dark warehouses.<\/p>\n The time was 4:12 in the morning.<\/p>\n Thomas had less than twenty minutes.<\/p>\n Gabriel\u2019s team surrounded the building.<\/p>\n No lights shone inside.<\/p>\n No vehicles were visible.<\/p>\n The armored car stopped beside a rusted loading entrance.<\/p>\n David helped me out.<\/p>\n The doctor protested, but I grabbed the side of the vehicle and forced myself upright.<\/p>\n \u201cStay behind us,\u201d Gabriel ordered.<\/p>\n We entered through a broken steel door.<\/p>\n The old warehouse smelled of rust, oil, and stagnant water.<\/p>\n Gabriel\u2019s men spread through the darkness.<\/p>\n A trail of fresh blood led toward a freight elevator.<\/p>\n \u201cThomas,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n The elevator had no power.<\/p>\n David and two men forced the doors apart.<\/p>\n A ladder descended into the underground level.<\/p>\n This time, Gabriel did not try to stop me.<\/p>\n We climbed down.<\/p>\n At the bottom was a corridor lined with thick insulated doors.<\/p>\n The blood trail continued.<\/p>\n One door stood open.<\/p>\n Inside, Thomas was tied to a chair.<\/p>\n His head hung forward.<\/p>\n \u201cThomas!\u201d<\/p>\n I stumbled toward him.<\/p>\n Gabriel caught my arm.<\/p>\n \u201cWait.\u201d<\/p>\n A thin wire stretched across the doorway.<\/p>\n One of his men cut it carefully.<\/p>\n We entered.<\/p>\n I touched my brother\u2019s face.<\/p>\n His skin was warm.<\/p>\n \u201cThomas, wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n His eyelids fluttered.<\/p>\n \u201cVictoria?\u201d<\/p>\n A sob escaped me.<\/p>\n I wrapped my arms around him.<\/p>\n Pain tore through my body, but I held him anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo are you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n David cut the ropes.<\/p>\n Gabriel searched the room.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are Adrian and Maya?\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey knew you were coming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere did they go?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t bring me here to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n A low humming began beneath the floor.<\/p>\n Red lights switched on across the ceiling.<\/p>\n Gabriel looked toward the far wall.<\/p>\n A row of refrigeration compressors had started operating.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is that?\u201d David asked.<\/p>\n Thomas tried to stand.<\/p>\n \u201cThis building is a trap.\u201d<\/p>\n Steel doors slammed shut throughout the underground corridor.<\/p>\n Cold air blasted from the vents.<\/p>\n Frost began forming on the walls.<\/p>\n A monitor switched on.<\/p>\n Maya appeared on the screen.<\/p>\n She was sitting inside a private aircraft.<\/p>\n Adrian was beside her, unconscious, with blood running from his temple.<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Victoria,\u201d Maya said.<\/p>\n My hands clenched.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you do to him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo Adrian?\u201d<\/p>\n She smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cHe finally discovered who I truly work for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cElias Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n Her smile faded slightly.<\/p>\n \u201cSo Gabriel told you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Elias?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCloser than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n The temperature dropped rapidly.<\/p>\n My breath became visible.<\/p>\n Maya leaned toward the camera.<\/p>\n \u201cYou spent six years believing Adrian was your enemy. Adrian spent thirty years believing your father was his.\u201d<\/p>\n She laughed softly.<\/p>\n \u201cBut both of you were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n The camera moved.<\/p>\n A man sat across from Maya inside the aircraft.<\/p>\n At first, only his polished shoes were visible.<\/p>\n Then the camera slowly rose.<\/p>\n Gray trousers.<\/p>\n A dark overcoat.<\/p>\n A pair of familiar hands.<\/p>\n My heart stopped before I saw his face.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n The man looked directly into the camera.<\/p>\n He had aged.<\/p>\n His hair was silver.<\/p>\n A scar ran across his forehead.<\/p>\n But I knew those eyes.<\/p>\n I had seen them every morning of my childhood.<\/p>\n I had watched them fill with pride at my graduation.<\/p>\n I had seen them shine with tears on my wedding day.<\/p>\n My father smiled at me from the screen.<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n I could not breathe.<\/p>\n Gabriel stepped backward as though he had seen a ghost.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n My father\u2019s smile grew colder.<\/p>\n \u201cYour uncle has lied to you about many things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDad?\u201d<\/p>\n The word came out like the voice of a frightened child.<\/p>\n My father leaned closer.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were never supposed to activate the jade pendant.\u201d<\/p>\n Tears streamed down my face.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n His expression did not change.<\/p>\n \u201cEvelyn is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n My brother stepped beside me.<\/p>\n Our father looked at him without affection.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should have stayed hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas stared at the screen.<\/p>\n \u201cYou caused the crash.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI arranged my disappearance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere were 120 innocent people on that plane!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNecessary sacrifices.\u201d<\/p>\n The man I remembered would never have said those words.<\/p>\n The father who had taught me to skate, held me when I was sick, and walked me down the aisle no longer existed.<\/p>\n Or perhaps he had never existed.<\/p>\n Gabriel raised his gun toward the monitor.<\/p>\n \u201cYou became Elias.\u201d<\/p>\n My father laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, brother.\u201d<\/p>\n The underground room became even colder.<\/p>\n Ice spread across the floor.<\/p>\n My father delivered the truth that destroyed the last piece of my old life.<\/p>\n \u201cElias Vale was never Adrian\u2019s father.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked directly at me.<\/p>\n \u201cElias Vale was me.\u201d<\/p>\n The screen went black.<\/p>\n Locks engaged around the chamber.<\/p>\n Thomas grabbed my hand.<\/p>\n Gabriel stared at the empty monitor.<\/p>\n And from somewhere behind the frozen wall, a child began crying.<\/p>\n I turned toward the sound.<\/p>\n A small hand struck the other side of the metal door.<\/p>\n Then a little girl screamed:<\/p>\n \u201cMommy! Please help me!\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas\u2019s face went completely white.<\/p>\n I looked at him.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n His lips trembled.<\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at my brother.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Victoria\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n His next words were almost impossible to hear.<\/p>\n \u201cHer mother is Maya.\u201d\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n