Chapter 8 - The Dinner Table Confession)
Victoria was waiting in the dining room.
The table was set for two.
Marcus almost admired the performance.
Candles.
Silverware.
Wine.
As though she were preparing to discuss an inheritance dispute rather than four years of kidnapping and deception.
Marcus entered alone.
At least, Victoria believed he did.
Rebecca waited in a vehicle two blocks away.
Nathan was listening through an encrypted transmitter hidden inside Marcus's cufflink.
Victoria lifted her wine.
"Sit."
Marcus remained standing.
"Where is Elena?"
"You inherited your father's lack of patience."
"You kidnapped my wife."
"I saved your daughter."
Marcus stared.
Victoria gestured toward the chair.
"Sit down and hear the entire story before deciding who the villain is."
Marcus sat.
Victoria poured wine.
He did not touch it.
"Aurelia became dangerous long before you were old enough to understand it," she began.
"So you joined it."
"I tried to control it."
"You authorized Elena's abduction."
"Because she was about to expose information that would have destroyed dozens of innocent families."
"How noble."
Victoria ignored the sarcasm.
"Elena had stolen a list identifying former child subjects. Some had built new lives. Families. Careers. Exposure would have destroyed them."
"Then why not destroy the list?"
"Because Adrian's father wanted it."
Marcus leaned forward.
"And you helped him."
"I stalled him."
"For four years?"
Victoria's expression tightened.
"Elena was supposed to disappear for forty-eight hours."
Marcus stared.
"What happened?"
"Adrian intervened."
"Meaning?"
"He discovered Elena had copied the second-generation files."
"Lily."
"Yes."
Victoria finally looked uncomfortable.
"Graham Cole believed Lily was the most important child Aurelia had ever documented."
Marcus's voice turned cold.
"She's not documentation."
"I know that."
"Do you?"
Victoria looked directly at him.
"Why do you think I kept her inside this family?"
Marcus stopped.
"What?"
"If Graham had gotten control of Lily after Elena disappeared, you might never have seen your daughter again."
Marcus stood.
"Don't you dare make yourself her protector."
"I did what was necessary."
"You told my child I wouldn't believe her."
"Because I needed her to stop searching my room."
"You let Adrian grab her."
"I told him not to touch her."
Marcus slammed his palm on the table.
"You told him not to leave marks."
Victoria flinched.
For once, silence defeated her.
Marcus lowered his voice.
"Where is Elena?"
Victoria looked away.
"I don't know."
"You were with her today."
"I was taken to her."
"By whom?"
"Adrian."
"Where?"
"I was blindfolded during part of the journey."
Marcus watched her carefully.
Half-truth.
Maybe.
"Why show you to me?"
"To convince you I was involved."
"You are involved."
"Not the way you think."
Victoria suddenly reached across the table.
"Marcus, Adrian is no longer following anyone's rules. His father died last year. Elias Vale disappeared. The remaining Aurelia network has fractured."
Marcus did not sit.
"What does Adrian want?"
"Lily."
"Why?"
Victoria hesitated.
"Because she remembers."
"Remembers what?"
"Things she shouldn't."
Marcus frowned.
"She's six."
Victoria's eyes filled with something Marcus had almost never seen.
Regret.
"When Lily was three, Elena took her to one of the storage facilities."
"Why?"
"Elena needed access to a biometric lock."
Marcus stared.
"She used our daughter?"
"She believed it was safe."
"What did Lily see?"
"Records. Faces. Perhaps a meeting."
"Perhaps?"
Victoria lowered her voice.
"Children from Elena's genetic line retain visual patterns unusually early."
Marcus felt disgust.
"Stop talking about my family like lab specimens."
"I'm telling you why Adrian is afraid."
Victoria stood.
"Lily might remember people she saw when she was three."
"Who?"
"People who now believe they were never connected to Aurelia."
Marcus's phone vibrated once.
Nathan's emergency signal.
Something had happened.
Marcus maintained his expression.
Victoria continued.
"That's why the pendant matters. It wasn't simply a key to Charles's archive. It marks access to the master index."
"Where is the master index?"
"I don't know."
Marcus almost believed her.
Then a voice came through the dining room speakers.
Adrian.
"You always were a terrible liar, Victoria."
She went rigid.
Marcus looked toward the ceiling.
Adrian continued.
"Tell Marcus what Charles put inside his house."
Victoria whispered, "No."
The lights went out.
Marcus moved instantly.
He grabbed Victoria and pulled her away from the windows.
A shot cracked through the glass.
The chair where Victoria had been standing exploded into splinters.
She gasped.
Marcus dragged her behind the stone fireplace.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Marcus whispered, "Still think you're controlling this?"
Victoria's face was bloodless.
A message appeared on Marcus's phone.
Unknown sender.
YOU HAVE 60 MINUTES.
BRING THE LEDGER.
COME ALONE.
LOCATION ATTACHED.
Marcus recognized the address.
May you like
Chicago Memorial Cemetery.
Elena's grave.
