Chapter 9 - WHAT EVELYN KNEW ABOUT MY FATHER
Nero collapsed beside the storage locker.
That ended the investigation for forty minutes.
I sat on the concrete floor feeding him water from my palm while Jared called the veterinarian.
No empire.
No mystery.
Just one exhausted animal and two people trying to keep him breathing.
“He brought us here,” I said.
Jared crouched beside me.
“He remembered the whistle.”
“He remembered this place.”
Jared touched Nero’s head.
“My father used to bring Caesar here.”
I looked at him.
“Do you think Arthur knew my father was in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Did he help?”
“I don’t know.”
For once, the uncertainty seemed to hurt Jared more than the truth.
Nero stabilized.
We returned to the penthouse before dawn.
At 5:40, an encrypted video call appeared on the laptop.
Evelyn.
Alive.
“Jared.”
He crossed the room so fast his chair fell.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“What do you see?”
“Medical equipment. Windows sealed. Maybe private care facility.”
She looked weak but alert.
Then she saw me.
“Willa.”
My throat tightened.
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“He saved me.”
Jared sat slowly.
She explained that she remembered very little from age six.
A warehouse.
Her uncle Dominic shouting.
Her father Arthur arguing.
Daniel Thornton pulling her through a side door.
Then a car.
Sirens.
Afterward, Arthur told everyone Daniel died in a construction accident because admitting the truth would expose the family.
My mother received money and a fabricated explanation.
I felt anger rise.
“Your father lied to my mother for twenty-two years.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn didn’t defend him.
“He thought secrecy kept people alive.”
Jared closed his eyes.
Apparently the Kensington men inherited that particular disease.
Evelyn continued.
“When I found Daniel’s old payment files last year, I started investigating.”
“That’s why you came to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“Because Daniel wrote about you.”
My chest tightened.
“He kept photographs in his office. He talked about his daughter constantly.”
I looked away.
I barely remembered his voice.
Evelyn did.
That felt unfair.
“I wanted to tell you,” she said. “But I didn’t know who was watching.”
Brendan appeared behind her.
Jared immediately stood.
“You.”
Brendan raised both hands.
“I got her out of Dominic’s first location.”
“You kidnapped her from the motel?”
“No. Dominic found us before I could move her safely.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“He’s telling the truth.”
I stared at Brendan.
The man who had controlled me for years was now standing beside the woman he had apparently helped.
Nothing about that erased what he had done to me.
But people could be guilty of one thing and innocent of another.
“Why did Dominic keep her alive?”
Brendan answered.
“Biometric transfers. But that’s not the main reason anymore.”
“What is?”
Evelyn looked terrified.
“He found Daniel’s ledger.”
“We have it.”
“No.”
Her face went pale.
“You have the copy.”
I stared at the stack beside Jared.
“What’s in the original?”
“Proof of who ordered Daniel’s death.”
Silence.
Then she looked directly at Jared.
“And it wasn’t Dominic.”
Jared whispered:
“Who was it?”
May you like
Evelyn swallowed.
“Our father.”
