Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Inside The Ashford Family
The room went silent after Elena spoke.
"Your mother."
Two words.
But they changed everything.
I looked at Brett.
I expected anger.
I expected disbelief.
I expected him to deny it immediately.
But he didn't.
That was what scared me.
Because Brett Ashford had built his entire life on control.
He controlled businesses.
He controlled negotiations.
He controlled his emotions.
Yet now, standing in front of that photograph, he looked like a man watching the foundation beneath him collapse.
"My mother died twelve years ago."
His voice was quiet.
Elena nodded.
"I know."
"Then explain why she is in that picture."
Nobody answered.
Because nobody could.
I stared at the photograph again.
My father.
My mother.
Brett's father.
And the woman who raised Brett.
Four people who were supposed to belong to the past.
Four people connected by a secret I had never known existed.
"How long have you known?" Brett asked Elena.
She looked away.
"Not long."
"That's not true."
His voice became colder.
"Elena."
She closed her eyes.
"Three months."
Brett froze.
"You've known for three months?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't come to me?"
Her expression broke slightly.
"I couldn't."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't sure who I could trust."
That sentence hurt him.
I could see it.
Because Brett had spent ten years believing he lost his sister.
Now she was standing in front of him.
Alive.
But still keeping secrets.
"Why come now?"
Elena looked at the broken window.
"Because they know I found the truth."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"They?"
She nodded.
"The people who destroyed our families."
Brett walked to the desk.
His fingers touched the photograph.
"Where did you get this?"
"From Marcus."
Brett looked up sharply.
"Marcus gave this to you?"
"No."
Elena hesitated.
"He wanted me to find it."
That made no sense.
"Why would he do that?"
Elena looked at Brett.
"Because Marcus was never trying to hide the truth."
She paused.
"He was trying to control who discovered it."
Brett's expression darkened.
I knew that look.
It was the expression of someone putting pieces together.
Someone realizing the enemy was closer than expected.
"Marcus wanted me to blame him."
Elena nodded.
"Because while everyone was looking at him..."
She looked at the photograph.
"Someone else was moving behind him."
The silence returned.
I looked at Brett.
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
And for the first time, I saw something terrifying.
Brett Ashford had enemies.
Many of them.
But enemies were easy.
You knew where they stood.
You knew what they wanted.
Betrayal was different.
Betrayal came from people who smiled at you.
People who shook your hand.
People who sat at your table.
People who knew your weaknesses.
My phone vibrated.
Everyone looked at me.
Another message.
Unknown number.
I didn't want to open it.
But Brett nodded.
"Show me."
I unlocked the screen.
The message contained a video.
The three of us watched.
The footage was old.
Security camera footage.
A hallway.
A dark office.
A man entering.
I recognized the place immediately.
The Ashford family estate.
The date appeared in the corner.
The night Elena disappeared.
Nobody spoke.
The camera showed a younger Brett walking through the hallway.
Then Elena appeared.
They were arguing.
But there was no sound.
Then someone else entered.
A person wearing a dark suit.
The camera angle didn't show the face.
But it showed the watch.
The same watch from the photograph.
The same watch belonging to someone inside Brett's family.
The person handed Elena a folder.
Then pointed toward the exit.
A few minutes later, Elena left.
And she never came back.
Brett watched the video without blinking.
Then the screen changed.
A second camera angle appeared.
This time, the person's face was visible.
My breathing stopped.
Brett stepped backward.
"No."
The word escaped him.
Because the person on the screen was impossible.
The person who had helped Elena disappear.
The person who had been hiding the truth for ten years.
Was someone Brett trusted more than anyone.
His right-hand man.
Victor Hale.
The man who had protected the Ashford family since Brett was twenty.
The man who handled Brett's security.
The man who knew every secret.
Brett stared at the screen.
"No."
He said it again.
But this time, it sounded different.
Like he was trying to convince himself.
Elena looked at him sadly.
"I told you."
Brett turned.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"You suspected Victor?"
"Yes."
"And you still came here?"
Elena stepped closer.
"Because I knew you would never believe me unless you saw it yourself."
Brett looked away.
I had never seen him so broken.
Not angry.
Not violent.
Broken.
Because Victor wasn't just an employee.
He was family.
The person Brett trusted when everyone else walked away.
The person who had helped him build everything.
And maybe the person who had destroyed everything.
"I need to find him."
Brett reached for his phone.
"No."
I grabbed his arm.
He looked at me.
For a second, the powerful mafia boss disappeared.
And I saw the man underneath.
The man who was hurting.
"He knows you know now."
Brett's eyes hardened.
"Exactly."
"That's why you can't go after him alone."
The room became quiet.
Because I had never spoken to Brett like that.
Nobody did.
But I wasn't afraid anymore.
Not of him.
Not of his world.
Not of the secrets.
Because this was my life too.
My father's name.
My mother's disappearance.
My entire past.
It belonged to me.
Brett stared at me.
Then slowly nodded.
"You've changed."
I looked at him.
"No."
I shook my head.
"I just finally know the truth."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Elena walked toward the desk.
"There is one more thing."
Brett looked at her.
"What?"
She opened the old folder.
Inside was another document.
A handwritten letter.
The paper was yellowed.
Old.
But the name on the top was clear.
Gianna Costa.
My heart stopped.
"Where did you get that?"
Elena looked at me.
"Your father wrote it."
My hands trembled.
A letter.
From my father.
Something he had written before he died.
Something that had been hidden from me for fifteen years.
I reached for it.
But before my fingers touched the paper, Brett's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
His expression changed after only a few seconds.
"What happened?"
Silence.
Then:
"Are you sure?"
He looked at Elena.
Then at me.
The color drained from his face.
"What?"
I knew.
Whatever he heard was bad.
Very bad.
Brett slowly lowered the phone.
"Victor is gone."
Nobody moved.
"What do you mean gone?" Elena asked.
Brett looked at the screen.
A final message had appeared.
One sentence.
From Victor.
"If you want the truth about Gianna's father, come alone."
Brett looked at me.
Then at the letter.
Then at the door.
Because Victor hadn't sent the message from a random location.
He had sent it from somewhere Brett knew better than anyone.
The place where all the secrets began.
May you like
The Ashford family estate.
And waiting there was the one person nobody expected to see again.
