Chapter 5 - The Betrayer Among Us
The door opened.
Slowly.
Nobody moved.
The person standing outside the archive room stepped into the darkness.
For a moment, I couldn't see the face.
Only the silhouette.
Only the sound of footsteps.
Calm.
Certain.
Like someone who knew they had already won.
Adrian raised his weapon.
"Stop right there."
The figure stopped.
Then laughed quietly.
Not nervously.
Not fearfully.
Like Adrian's warning meant nothing.
The lights flickered back on.
And my heart almost stopped.
Because the person standing in front of us was someone I knew.
Someone I had trusted.
Someone I never thought could be part of this.
"Mom?"
The word escaped my mouth before I could control it.
Everyone froze.
My mother stood there.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
Different.
But unmistakably her.
For seven years, I had believed she was just a grieving woman who lost her husband.
A woman who suffered beside me.
A woman who cried with me.
Now she was standing inside a hidden archive connected to my father's secrets.
Connected to Adrian Voss.
Connected to everything that destroyed my family.
She looked at me.
And the expression on her face wasn't surprise.
It was sadness.
Like she had been waiting for this moment.
"Sadie..."
I stepped back.
"No."
My voice shook.
"No, this isn't happening."
Daniel looked at her like he had seen a ghost.
"You knew."
My mother didn't answer.
That was enough.
Daniel's face changed.
"You knew where this room was."
Silence.
Adrian lowered his weapon slightly.
But his eyes never left her.
"How long?"
My mother looked at him.
"Long enough."
The words felt like a knife.
I stared at her.
"You knew my father was alive?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
For a second, I wanted her to say no.
I wanted her to deny everything.
I wanted her to be innocent.
But she didn't.
"Yes."
One word.
That was all it took.
My entire world shifted.
Seven years.
Every birthday.
Every holiday.
Every night I cried because I missed my father.
She knew.
She knew he might still be alive.
And she let me believe he was gone.
"Why?"
I whispered.
She looked away.
"Because I was trying to keep you alive."
I laughed.
A broken sound.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
I looked around the room.
"Everyone says they were protecting me."
I pointed at the file.
"But nobody ever protected me from the truth."
My mother took a step forward.
"I wanted to tell you."
"When?"
Her eyes dropped.
"When you were ready."
I shook my head.
"No."
The anger came back.
"You were waiting until I was ready to hear that my father might have been alive?"
Nobody spoke.
Because there was no answer.
My mother looked at Adrian.
"You should have kept her away from this."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"You don't get to say that."
My mother stared at him.
"You brought her into your world."
"No."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Your husband did."
The room became tense.
Because everyone knew there was more.
Something deeper.
Something they were still hiding.
I looked at Adrian.
"Tell me."
He didn't respond.
"Tell me everything."
He looked at my mother.
Then Daniel.
Then the file.
Finally, he looked at me.
"Your father wasn't investigating my family."
I frowned.
"Then what was he doing?"
Adrian answered quietly.
"He was trying to save it."
The words made no sense.
Save the Voss family?
The same family everyone feared?
"The people who controlled this city weren't my father's allies," Adrian continued.
"They were using his name. His businesses. His reputation."
I watched him carefully.
"My father was fighting them from the inside."
"And my father?"
Adrian looked at the photograph.
"Your father was the only person who could expose them."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Then who killed him?"
Nobody answered.
Again.
That silence.
Always that silence.
My mother finally spoke.
"We don't know."
I looked at her.
"You don't know?"
Her eyes filled with guilt.
"We know someone wanted him gone."
"Who?"
She swallowed.
"Someone close."
The same words from my father's letter.
Someone closer than I thought.
I looked at everyone.
Trying to see the truth.
Trying to find the person hiding behind all these secrets.
Then I noticed something.
My mother's hand.
She was holding something.
A small black device.
My heart dropped.
"What is that?"
She looked down.
Then quickly closed her fingers around it.
Adrian noticed.
"What did you bring?"
My mother didn't answer.
Daniel moved closer.
"Where did you get that?"
The fear in his voice told me everything.
This wasn't just another secret.
This was important.
My mother looked at me.
And for the first time that night, she looked afraid of me.
Not for me.
Of me.
"I was hoping you would never find out."
I stared at the device.
"What is it?"
Nobody spoke.
Then Adrian said:
"That's the original copy."
"Original copy of what?"
His eyes met mine.
"The evidence your father died protecting."
The room went silent.
I looked at my mother.
"You had this the entire time?"
Tears rolled down her face.
"I had no choice."
I stepped away.
"No choice."
The same words everyone used.
The same excuse.
The same shield.
My father's letter was right.
Some people would tell me they were protecting me.
Some were telling the truth.
Some were not.
I reached for the device.
My mother didn't give it to me.
"Sadie."
Her voice broke.
"If you see what's on there, you can't go back."
I looked at her.
"I haven't been able to go back for seven years."
That hurt her.
I could see it.
But she handed it over.
The device was small.
Almost meaningless.
Something anyone could overlook.
But inside it was the truth.
Adrian connected it to the computer in the archive.
Everyone gathered around.
The screen turned on.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds of files.
Videos.
Documents.
Recordings.
Then one folder opened automatically.
A single video file.
Created seven years ago.
The name appeared on the screen.
"Final Message For Sadie."
My breathing stopped.
My father had made a video.
For me.
Adrian looked at me.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded.
My hands were shaking.
"Play it."
The video loaded.
The screen went black.
Then my father's face appeared.
Older.
Tired.
Scared.
But alive.
I covered my mouth.
Because seeing him was different from remembering him.
He looked directly into the camera.
Like he knew exactly who would watch it.
Like he knew I would find it someday.
"Sadie."
His voice broke.
And I almost collapsed.
"I don't know when you'll see this."
He looked away for a moment.
Then back.
"But if you're watching this, it means they found you."
Everyone in the room froze.
My father continued.
"Listen carefully."
The video suddenly glitched.
The image distorted.
Then a warning appeared on the screen.
FILE ACCESS DETECTED.
Someone else was opening the archive remotely.
Adrian looked at the computer.
"That's impossible."
The screen flickered.
A new message appeared.
One sentence.
One name.
May you like
And everyone in the room stopped breathing.
ACCESS GRANTED BY: ADRIAN VOSS.
