Chapter 5 - Someone Inside Desmond’s Family
Vanessa reached for the photograph.
Desmond caught her wrist.
“No.”
“That’s my mother.”
“Maybe.”
“I know her face.”
“You knew her face twenty years ago.”
Her eyes flashed.
“And you knew your father’s.”
Desmond released her.
The truth landed harder than he wanted to admit.
If Arthur had hidden parts of his life, Vanessa’s mother could have done the same.
People like them inherited money, enemies, and edited versions of the past.
Claire studied the photograph.
“The timestamp says seven minutes ago.”
Roman checked his watch.
“Cathedral is twenty minutes away.”
Desmond picked up his coat.
“We’re going.”
Patrick blocked him.
“That’s exactly what they want.”
“Probably.”
“Then don’t.”
Desmond looked at him.
“They’ve spent six months arranging a wedding to get me somewhere. I’m done letting them choose the timing.”
Vanessa stepped beside him.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
She stared.
Desmond sighed.
“Fine.”
Roman smirked.
“You’ve become very persuasive, boss.”
“Say another word and you’re walking.”
They entered the cathedral through the underground service corridor.
Daniel had already secured the property.
No wedding staff remained except trusted personnel.
The sanctuary lights were off.
Only altar candles burned.
Vanessa moved first.
“Mom?”
Her voice disappeared into the enormous room.
No answer.
Desmond noticed a single white envelope resting on the altar.
He approached it.
His name was written across the front.
Inside was a letter.
Desmond,
If Vanessa is with you, then the plan has already begun to fail.
You were never intended to marry her.
You were intended to inherit what remained after both families destroyed each other.
Desmond stopped.
Vanessa read over his shoulder.
The letter continued.
Your father discovered us too early.
My daughter discovered us too late.
Do not trust Patrick Shaw.
Roman looked toward Patrick.
Patrick had remained at headquarters.
Desmond folded the letter.
“Convenient.”
Vanessa stared toward the dark balcony.
“She’s here.”
“How do you know?”
“I can feel it.”
“That’s not evidence.”
“It’s enough for me.”
She walked toward a side aisle.
Desmond followed.
Behind the confessionals, they found another envelope.
This one was addressed to Vanessa.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Sweetheart,
I am sorry you grew up believing I abandoned you.
Vanessa stopped reading.
Desmond waited.
She forced herself to continue.
I disappeared because your father agreed to give you to the network when you turned thirty.
Vanessa’s face went white.
Roman whispered, “What does that mean?”
She continued reading silently.
Then handed Desmond the page.
The Bellucci family had joined the hidden network decades earlier.
Vanessa’s father had agreed to arrange her eventual marriage according to the network’s needs.
Her mother discovered the agreement and tried to expose it.
When she failed, Evelyn Cross helped her disappear.
“Evelyn wasn’t the creator,” Desmond said.
“No.”
Vanessa looked shaken.
“She protected my mother.”
“Then Patrick lied.”
Roman said, “Or Arthur lied to Patrick.”
Desmond’s phone buzzed.
Claire.
He answered.
“We checked Evelyn Cross,” she said immediately. “She was an accountant for three organizations your father investigated. She disappeared twelve years ago.”
“Alive?”
“Unknown.”
“What about Patrick?”
A pause.
“We found something.”
Desmond looked at Roman.
“What?”
“Patrick’s financial records contain payments from one of the wedding shell companies.”
Roman’s hand tightened around his gun.
“How much?”
“Two million over five years.”
Desmond said nothing.
Claire continued.
“He also accessed the wedding security blueprint eight times last month.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“The letter was right.”
“Maybe.”
“Desmond.”
“I’m not executing a man based on another anonymous envelope.”
Roman said, “We need to bring him in.”
“We will.”
A soft sound came from behind the altar.
Vanessa spun.
A woman stepped into the candlelight.
Silver hair.
Elegant black coat.
Approximately sixty.
Vanessa stopped breathing.
“Mom?”
The woman’s face broke.
“My baby.”
Vanessa ran toward her.
Desmond nearly stopped her.
Nearly.
Then he watched Vanessa collapse into the woman’s arms.
Whatever else might be false, that reaction was not.
The woman held her daughter like she had waited twenty years to do it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Vanessa cried against her shoulder.
Desmond looked away.
Some moments did not belong to him.
Roman guarded the aisle.
After a minute, Vanessa turned.
“This is Desmond.”
Her mother gave a faint, exhausted smile.
“I know.”
Desmond approached.
“Name.”
“Margaret Bellucci.”
“Patrick calls you Evelyn Cross.”
“I used that identity for eight years.”
“Why?”
“To hide.”
“From whom?”
Margaret looked toward Vanessa.
“Her father.”
Vanessa stiffened.
“My father tried to kill you?”
“He tried to give me to them.”
“The network.”
Margaret nodded.
Desmond asked, “Who runs it?”
Her expression changed.
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“Your father and I damaged it badly nine years ago.”
“You knew Arthur.”
“Yes.”
“Was he murdered?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with sadness.
“Yes.”
Desmond felt the answer differently hearing it aloud.
“Who killed him?”
“Someone he loved.”
Roman looked at Desmond.
Desmond’s voice cooled.
“Name.”
Margaret shook her head.
“He made me promise.”
“My father is dead.”
“And the man who killed him is still close to you.”
Desmond stepped forward.
“Name.”
Vanessa whispered, “Mom.”
Margaret finally said, “Patrick Shaw.”
The cathedral seemed to shrink.
Desmond stared at her.
Patrick.
The man who had raised him after Arthur’s death.
The man who had taught him how to run the organization.
The man who had sat beside him at every funeral, every negotiation, every war.
“No.”
Margaret looked almost sympathetic.
“That’s why Arthur couldn’t expose him.”
“Patrick helped us today.”
“He has been helping both sides for years.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t serve the network.”
Desmond frowned.
“Then what?”
“He wants control of it.”
Roman muttered, “Jesus Christ.”
Margaret continued.
“Patrick didn’t kill Arthur because the network ordered it.”
Desmond’s hands became fists.
“He killed him because Arthur planned to destroy something Patrick wanted to inherit.”
Desmond turned away.
For once, his discipline failed.
He punched the wooden edge of a pew.
Vanessa flinched.
Roman did not.
Margaret said, “Desmond, listen to me.”
He looked back.
“If Patrick knows I’m alive, tonight’s plan changes.”
“What plan?”
“The wedding.”
“It’s still happening.”
“That’s what he wants.”
Desmond stared.
“We planned to use it against him.”
Margaret looked frightened.
“You still don’t understand.”
She stepped closer.
“The wedding ceremony was never the attack.”
“Then what is?”
“The cancellation.”
Silence.
Desmond’s blood ran cold.
Margaret continued.
“They expected you to discover Claire.”
“They expected me to cancel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because canceling activates the second plan.”
Desmond grabbed his phone.
At that exact moment, every light in the cathedral went out.
Roman drew his weapon.
Vanessa called for her mother.
Desmond heard running footsteps.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from Patrick.
THANK YOU FOR CANCELING THE WEDDING.
A second message appeared.
May you like
HEADQUARTERS IS OURS NOW.
And when Desmond called Claire, a man answered her phone.
