Chapter 14 - THE LAST CROSS SECRET
I met Marek behind reinforced glass.
Stellan argued until his stitches almost opened.
I went anyway.
Marek had a bandage around his neck where Dominic’s bullet had grazed him.
“You look like your mother when you’re angry.”
“Say her name again and I leave.”
He smiled.
“There she is.”
“Did Silas order my mother killed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena found out he had created the trust.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Marek leaned closer.
“Silas knew Stellan would inherit the organization. He also knew Stellan hated it.”
I looked through the glass.
“What does that have to do with my mother?”
“Elena convinced him to create an exit.”
“The legitimate companies.”
“Yes.”
“The trust.”
“Yes.”
“So why kill her?”
“Because she discovered the second clause.”
“What clause?”
Marek smiled.
“If Stellan’s heir married outside the approved families, control of the legitimate fortune would transfer permanently away from Cross family governance.”
I stared at him.
“That sounds like medieval nonsense.”
“Our family specialized in medieval nonsense.”
“Why did my mother care?”
“Because Silas planned your future before you were old enough to understand it.”
My stomach turned.
“He wanted me to marry Stellan?”
“No.”
Marek smiled wider.
“He wanted to make sure you never did.”
I went cold.
“Why?”
“Because Elena told him she would give you the evidence against the Cross empire when you turned eighteen.”
Everything clicked.
Silas knew who I was.
Watched me.
Kept me away from Stellan.
Not because I was dangerous physically.
Because I might expose everything.
“The gala.”
“Silas had you followed. He saw you on the guest list as temporary staff. When Stellan appeared there unexpectedly, Silas panicked.”
“The man who drugged me?”
“Was supposed to get you out of the hotel.”
“Instead Stellan stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“And we met.”
“The one thing Silas spent years preventing.”
I closed my eyes.
My entire life manipulated by people with money and guns.
I opened them again.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want Silas’s empire destroyed too.”
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“I never intended to hurt her.”
I stood.
“Every man like you says that after hurting everyone around him.”
His smile disappeared.
“You think Stellan is different?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s trying to become different.”
I left.
Stellan was waiting outside in a wheelchair.
“You’re supposed to be upstairs.”
“You’re supposed to stop ignoring me.”
“Not happening.”
I crouched in front of him.
“Marek has evidence.”
“What kind?”
“Copies of everything my mother collected.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Where?”
“A safety deposit box.”
“Under what name?”
“Mine.”
Six hours later, federal agents had enough financial records, bribery ledgers, offshore accounts, and historical documents to collapse what remained of the illegal Cross organization.
Stellan made the call himself.
He handed them names.
Assets.
Routes.
Everything.
Dominic watched him hang up.
“That was thirty years of Cross power.”
Stellan looked at Fern asleep in my arms.
“No.”
He reached for her tiny hand.
“This is Cross power.”
Then an alarm began screaming downstairs.
One of the guards burst into the room.
“Marek escaped transport.”
Stellan stood despite his wound.
I felt the blood leave my face.
“Where is he?”
The guard swallowed.
“He killed two men.”
“And?”
“He left a message.”
“What message?”
The guard looked at me.
“He said he’s going back to where this started.”
I knew before anyone else did.
“The Whitmore Hotel.”
Stellan turned.
“Why?”
My mother’s journal.
The gala.
The hidden evidence.
I suddenly remembered a page.
A single unfinished line.
Whitmore, room 612. If Silas ever finds—
May you like
I looked at Stellan.
“There’s something else in that hotel.”
