Chapter 6: The Person Nobody Suspected
I used to think betrayal always came with warning signs.
A cold look.
A strange conversation.
A moment when your instincts told you something was wrong.
But sometimes betrayal wears a familiar face.
Sometimes it smiles at you.
Sometimes it tells you thank you.
And sometimes it opens its home to you.
The name on the list was Eleanor Kingston.
Malik’s mother.
I stared at the paper.
Then at Malik.
“No.””
The word came out before I could stop it.
Malik didn’t look angry.
That scared me more.
He looked broken.
“I know what it looks like.””
“It doesn’t make sense.””
“I know.””
“Your mother?””
He looked away.
“My mother raised me.””
Exactly.
That was the part I couldn’t understand.
People can be complicated.
They can make mistakes.
They can have secrets.
But helping someone hurt your own granddaughter?
That was something my mind refused to accept.
“She saved Maya’s life emotionally before anyone else did,” I said.
Malik looked at me.
“What do you mean?””
“I mean when I came here, she didn’t treat me like a stranger. She thanked me. She cared.””
“That doesn’t prove anything.””
“No,” I admitted.
“But it matters.””
Malik was silent.
Because I knew he felt it too.
The conflict.
The impossible question.
How do you investigate someone you love?
How do you search for the truth when you’re terrified of finding it?
The next morning, Malik confronted his mother.
I wasn’t supposed to be there.
But I stayed.
Not because I wanted to watch their family fall apart.
Because I knew Malik needed someone who wasn’t afraid to remind him to see clearly.
Eleanor sat in the living room.
Calm.
Almost too calm.
“Mother,” Malik said.
She looked up.
“You found the list.””
Her words froze the room.
Malik stopped.
“You knew?””
Eleanor sighed.
“I knew eventually you would.””
My heart sank.
Malik’s voice became quiet.
“Explain.””
She looked at him.
Not like a criminal.
Like a mother looking at her child.
“I never wanted Maya hurt.””
“Then why is your name there?””
“Because I made a mistake.””
A mistake.
That word felt too small.
“For years, I tried to keep this family together,” Eleanor said.
“After your father died, I watched you become someone who carried anger everywhere.””
Malik’s face tightened.
“I protected you.””
“You lied to me.””
“Yes.””
She admitted it.
No excuses.
No denial.
And somehow, that made it worse.
Eleanor explained that after Malik’s father died, she discovered the truth about Leonard Cross.
She also discovered that someone inside the Kingston organization had helped him.
Someone she never identified.
So she made a deal.
She exchanged information to protect Malik.
But the deal created a debt.
A debt that Victor later used against her.
“I never helped them kidnap Maya,” Eleanor said.
Her voice cracked.
“I would die before I let anyone hurt that child.””
Malik stared at her.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?””
“Because I was afraid.””
That answer surprised all of us.
Not because it was shocking.
Because it was honest.
Eleanor had spent years being the strong one.
The mother.
The protector.
But even protectors get scared.
Especially when they’re protecting people they love.
The investigation continued.
And slowly, the truth came out.
Eleanor had hidden information.
But she wasn’t the person behind Maya’s kidnapping.
Someone had planted her name to destroy trust inside the family.
Someone wanted Malik to turn against the people closest to him.
And it almost worked.
That realization hit him hard.
Because whoever was behind everything knew exactly where to attack.
Not his businesses.
Not his money.
His heart.
Later that night, I found Malik sitting beside Maya.
Again.
That was where he went when life became too heavy.
“I almost lost my mother,” he said.
I sat beside him.
“But you didn’t.””
“No.””
He looked at Maya.
“I’ve spent my whole life believing strength means never needing anyone.””
“And now?””
He smiled sadly.
“Now I think strength means knowing who deserves your trust.””
I looked at him.
“And do you know?””
He was quiet.
Then he said:
“Yes.””
The word hung between us.
I didn’t ask what he meant.
I already knew.
The next morning, the investigators found the final piece.
A hidden financial account.
A secret meeting.
A message sent the night Maya disappeared.
And the person behind it wasn’t a stranger.
It wasn’t a rival.
It wasn’t even someone trying to destroy Malik.
It was someone trying to replace him.
Someone who believed the Kingston family belonged to them.
Someone who had been waiting years for the perfect moment.
And now that moment had arrived.
May you like
Because the person who wanted Malik gone had finally made one mistake.
They underestimated the woman from the basement apartment.
