Chapter 6: The Enemy Inside the Empire
The words stayed with me long after Victoria stopped speaking.
*Someone who is still inside Vance International.*
My father’s company.
The empire he spent his entire life building.
The same company everyone believed represented success.
Power.
Legacy.
But now I stood beside my mother’s abandoned car, surrounded by evidence of betrayal, realizing the walls of my father’s empire might have been hiding a war for twenty years.
I looked at Victoria.
“Who?””
She didn’t answer.
That made me angrier than if she had given me a name.
“Who is inside the company?””
Victoria looked at Jonathan.
Then at the police officers searching the area.
“We can’t talk here.””
I stepped forward.
“You don’t get to say that anymore.””
Her eyes met mine.
For once, she didn’t fight back.
Maybe because she understood.
Maybe because she knew I had finally reached the point where nothing could push me away from the truth.
“I don’t know exactly who it is,” she said.
I stared at her.
“You just said—”
“I said someone inside Vance International destroyed your family.””
She looked at the old car.
“That doesn’t mean I know their identity.””
Jonathan crossed his arms.
“You knew more than you told Richard.””
Victoria’s expression changed.
A flash of anger.
“You think I wanted any of this?””
“You knew Elena survived.””
“I knew she was alive.””
“You helped hide it.””
Victoria looked at him.
“And you helped Richard bury the truth.””
The two of them stared at each other.
Two people who had spent decades protecting the same secret.
And I was suddenly standing in the middle of it.
“Enough.””
My voice made them both turn.
“I don’t care who kept which secret.””
I pointed toward the car.
“My mother disappeared.””
I pointed toward the road.
“Someone stole evidence today.””
Then I held up my phone.
“Someone is threatening me.””
My eyes moved between them.
“So either one of you tells me everything, or I find out without you.””
Nobody spoke.
Because they knew I meant it.
Finally, Jonathan sighed.
“There is a place we can go.””
“Where?””
“Your father’s old private office.””
I frowned.
“My father had an office nobody knows about?””
Victoria looked away.
Another secret.
Of course.
“Apparently,” I said quietly, “my father had an entire life I never knew existed.””
Jonathan didn’t argue.
Because it was true.
The private office was hidden beneath one of the oldest Vance International buildings downtown.
Not the famous headquarters with glass walls and television interviews.
This building was different.
Older.
Smaller.
Almost forgotten.
The kind of place nobody noticed.
Which was probably why my father chose it.
When the elevator doors opened, I saw a room frozen in time.
Wooden shelves.
Old photographs.
Stacks of documents.
A desk with my father’s initials carved into the surface.
For a moment, I forgot everything.
Because it smelled like him.
Leather.
Coffee.
The faint scent of the cologne he always wore.
My chest tightened.
I walked slowly toward the desk.
There was a picture sitting there.
My father.
My mother.
Me.
A family photo from when I was eight.
Before everything changed.
I picked it up.
“I don’t understand.””
Jonathan stood behind me.
“What?””
“He kept this.””
“Yes.””
“But he told me she was gone.””
Jonathan looked down.
“Richard believed some truths were dangerous.””
I put the picture back.
“And lies are safer?””
Jonathan didn’t answer.
Victoria walked toward a bookshelf.
“He wasn’t lying because he didn’t love you.””
I looked at her.
“Then why?””
She ran her fingers across the books.
“Because your mother found something that could destroy powerful people.””
“People inside the company?””
“Yes.””
“What did she find?””
Victoria stopped.
Then pulled out an old book.
Inside was a hidden compartment.
My heart started beating faster.
She removed a small black notebook.
A ledger.
The black ledger.
I stared.
“That’s it?””
Jonathan nodded.
“Your father spent years protecting that.””
I reached for it.
But Victoria pulled it back.
“Before you open it, you need to understand something.””
“What?””
“The information inside will change how you see everyone.””
I looked at the ledger.
“My father?””
“Everyone.””
I took it from her.
The cover was worn.
Old.
Like it had been carried through years of fear.
I opened the first page.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Companies.
Transactions.
But one name appeared again and again.
A name I recognized.
A name that made my stomach drop.
*Marcus Vance.*
My uncle.
My father’s younger brother.
I looked up.
“No.””
Nobody spoke.
“Marcus?””
Jonathan’s face became serious.
“Ethan—”
“My uncle?””
Victoria nodded slowly.
“Richard and Marcus built Vance International together.””
I flipped through the pages faster.
My uncle’s signature.
Approvals.
Transfers.
Private accounts.
“This can’t be right.””
Victoria’s voice was quiet.
“It is.””
I felt sick.
My uncle Marcus had been the person who brought me gifts when I was a child.
The person who taught me chess.
The person who told me my father was proud of me.
Every memory suddenly felt suspicious.
“You’re saying he did this?””
“We’re saying the evidence points toward him.””
I looked at Jonathan.
“You knew?””
His silence answered.
Again.
“You knew my uncle was involved?””
“We suspected.””
The word made me angry.
“Everyone always suspects.””
I slammed the ledger onto the desk.
“Does anyone actually tell me anything?””
The room went quiet.
Then Victoria said something unexpected.
“Your father wanted to.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
“He was going to tell you.””
“When?””
“After he secured the evidence.””
I laughed bitterly.
“But he died before that.””
Victoria nodded.
“Yes.””
The silence that followed felt heavy.
Then I noticed something.
A page near the back of the ledger was folded.
I opened it.
There was a handwritten note.
My father’s handwriting.
Again.
*Ethan, if Marcus is exposed, do not assume the betrayal ends with him.*
I read it twice.
Then continued.
*He was only the first door.*
My heart sank.
First door.
Meaning there was more.
I turned the page.
A list.
Four names.
The first was Marcus.
The second was someone I didn’t recognize.
The third made my blood run cold.
*Victoria Vance.*
I looked up.
The room went silent.
Victoria saw the page.
Her face changed.
Not anger.
Not surprise.
Pain.
“You’re on the list.””
The words came out slowly.
She closed her eyes.
“I know.””
I stared at her.
“You knew?””
“Yes.””
“And you never told anyone?””
She looked at me.
“Because I knew Richard was testing something.””
“What?””
Victoria stepped closer.
“He wanted to know who would betray him.””
Jonathan shook his head.
“Richard never told me about this.””
Victoria looked at him.
“That’s because he didn’t trust you either.””
The words landed hard.
Jonathan went completely still.
Nobody spoke.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Again.
Everyone looked at it.
This time, I answered immediately.
“Who is this?””
A man’s voice responded.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar.
A voice I had heard many times growing up.
My blood turned cold.
“Ethan.””
I couldn’t speak.
Because I knew that voice.
“Uncle Marcus?””
A pause.
Then a quiet sigh.
“Your father always knew you were smart.””
I gripped the phone.
“Where are you?””
Another pause.
Then he said:
“I’m calling because you need to know the truth before Victoria tells you her version.””
My eyes moved toward her.
Marcus continued.
“Your father didn’t die because he was sick.””
The room froze.
“What?””
His voice lowered.
“He died because he found out who really killed your mother.””
I stopped breathing.
Then he said the sentence that shattered everything I thought I knew.
“And Ethan…”
May you like
A pause.
“Your father knew the person responsible was standing beside him every single day.””
