Chapter 7: The Person I Never Suspected
The recording ended.
But my mother’s final sentence stayed in the room.
*“The person you trust most is the one who betrayed us.””*
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at my father.
Then at Claire.
Then back at my father.
Because there was only one person I trusted more than anyone.
The man standing in front of me.
My father.
The silence became unbearable.
“Dad…”
He looked at me immediately.
“Emily.””
His voice was different.
Not angry.
Afraid.
“Tell me she wasn’t talking about you.””
My father’s face changed.
Pain crossed his eyes.
But he didn’t answer quickly.
And that scared me.
“I need you to understand something,” he said.
“That’s not an answer.””
He looked down.
“I understand why you’re asking.””
“No.””
My voice cracked.
“You don’t understand.””
I stepped back.
“My whole life, I thought you were the only person who would never lie to me.””
Claire moved closer.
“Emily, listen—”
“No.””
I looked at her.
“You disappeared for years. My father hid my entire past. My mother left a recording saying someone close to her betrayed her.””
I pointed at the letter.
“And nobody can just tell me the truth.””
My father took a breath.
“I never betrayed your mother.””
The certainty in his voice almost made me believe him.
Almost.
“Then who was she talking about?””
He had no answer.
That was the problem.
For years, my father had built an empire by knowing what to do.
Now he stood there with nothing.
Claire looked at the device.
“Maybe the recording was incomplete.””
My father turned toward her.
“What do you mean?””
She hesitated.
“There was another part.””
My heart jumped.
“What?””
Claire looked uncomfortable.
“I only recovered part of the file.””
“Where is the rest?””
She looked at my father.
“Victor has it.””
The name returned.
Victor.
The person who had worked beside my father.
The person my mother feared.
My father grabbed his phone.
“I need to call someone.””
“Who?”” I asked.
“Someone who can verify what happened.””
A few minutes later, he was speaking quietly outside.
I watched him through the window.
For the first time, I noticed something.
My father was looking over his shoulder.
Like someone was watching him.
Like he was no longer the most powerful person in the room.
Claire sat beside me.
“I’m sorry.””
I looked at her.
“For what?””
“For not coming sooner.””
I studied her face.
“You knew me.””
She nodded.
“I helped raise you for a while.””
The words hit me.
“What?””
“Before everything happened, I was around your family almost every day.””
I touched the photograph.
“This picture…”
She smiled sadly.
“You were three.””
I stared at her.
“Why don’t I remember?””
“Because your brain protected you.””
I hated that answer.
Everyone kept saying that.
Protected you.
Protected you.
But nobody asked what it felt like to have pieces of yourself missing.
“Did my mother know she was going to die?””
Claire looked down.
“She knew something bad was coming.””
“And my father?””
“He tried to stop it.””
I looked toward the window.
“Then why did she say someone I trusted betrayed us?””
Claire stayed quiet.
Too quiet.
“What?””
She looked at me.
“There was someone else.””
“Who?””
She swallowed.
“Someone inside your father’s security team.””
My stomach tightened.
“What are you saying?””
“Your mother believed someone close to your family was feeding information to Victor.””
Before I could answer, my father came back inside.
His face was pale.
“What happened?”” I asked.
He locked the door.
Then he looked at Claire.
“Victor knows she’s alive.””
Claire froze.
“How?””
“He received a message twenty minutes ago.””
My father looked at me.
“And he knows Emily found the file.””
A cold feeling moved through me.
“How?””
Nobody answered.
Then my phone buzzed.
I looked down.
Unknown number.
One message.
My fingers froze.
My father saw my expression.
“What is it?””
I slowly turned the phone around.
May you like
The message contained only one sentence.
*You should have asked your father why your mother was afraid of him.*
