Chapter 11 - THE MAN WHO BUILT THE LIES
Raymond Cross looked almost exactly like the portraits hanging in the Cross family hall.
That was the strange part.
He didn’t look monstrous.
He looked respectable.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
Polished shoes.
A man you might trust to run a bank.
Or a charity.
Or destroy an entire family without raising his voice.
Police were informed despite his demand.
Julian refused to walk into another trap blind.
For once, secrecy ended.
We went to the abandoned cathedral with surveillance teams positioned nearby.
I wore a concealed microphone.
Julian hated that I came.
But he respected the choice.
That mattered.
Raymond stood near the altar.
Gabriel was bound to a chair.
Martin held a gun behind him.
Julian stepped forward.
“Let him go.”
Raymond smiled.
“Look at you.”
His eyes moved down Julian’s body.
“Walking.”
“Yes.”
“So the crippled prince was pretending.”
Julian didn’t react.
Raymond looked at me.
“And Elena Vale.”
My skin crawled.
“You look like Anna.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Raymond smiled.
“Your mother caused more trouble than your father.”
My hands tightened.
“Did you kill them?”
“Anna died naturally.”
“And David?”
“He made a choice.”
Julian stepped closer.
“What choice?”
“To save her.”
Raymond nodded toward me.
“He compromised your car because I showed him photographs of Elena leaving her cardiologist.”
My stomach turned.
“He believed we would kill her.”
“You would have.”
Raymond smiled.
“Yes.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Then David changed the plan.”
“He called emergency services.”
“He donated blood.”
“He also tried to give you my name.”
I looked at Gabriel.
That was why the warehouse burned.
David arranged to meet Julian.
He planned to expose Raymond.
Raymond found out.
“What happened that night?” I demanded.
Raymond’s expression remained calm.
“Martin drugged Julian before he arrived.”
Julian stared toward Martin.
Martin smiled faintly.
“You don’t remember because we made sure you wouldn’t.”
“What about David?”
“Gabriel arrived unexpectedly.”
Gabriel looked up.
“I pulled Julian out.”
Raymond continued.
“David didn’t make it.”
“You killed him.”
Raymond’s smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
The word hit me like a physical blow.
Julian moved before I did.
But I caught his arm.
He looked at me.
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
Raymond wanted violence.
He wanted Julian to become the monster everyone already believed he was.
Julian stopped.
The microphone under my clothes transmitted every word.
Raymond had confessed.
He didn’t know that.
Then he smiled again.
“There is one thing you still haven’t figured out.”
Julian’s voice hardened.
“What?”
“Why I cared whether Elena lived.”
I went cold.
Raymond stepped closer.
“Her mother didn’t merely access family records.”
He looked at me.
“She found the original Cross inheritance.”
Margaret had mentioned nothing about that.
Julian frowned.
“What inheritance?”
Raymond laughed.
“The one proving Edward Cross never legally owned the empire.”
Silence.
May you like
Then Raymond looked directly at me.
“Anna Vale did.”
