Chapter 12 - THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK
Damian Cross looked different.
The charming businessman was gone.
What remained was colder.
More dangerous.
Ronan aimed his weapon.
“You betrayed everyone.”
Damian laughed quietly.
“No.”
He looked around.
“I exposed everyone.”
Tessa stared at Arthur.
“Why?”
Arthur couldn’t look at her.
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Arthur swallowed.
“You don’t understand.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“I don’t.”
Damian stepped forward.
“Arthur was never the problem.”
Ronan narrowed his eyes.
“Then who?”
Damian smiled.
“Still asking the wrong question.”
He looked at Tessa.
“The real question is why your teacher chose you.”
Tessa froze.
“What?”
Damian continued.
“Eda didn’t give you that notebook because you were special.”
Ronan looked at him.
“Explain.”
“She gave it to her because she knew everyone else would be watching you.”
Tessa felt sick.
“What are you saying?”
Damian looked at her.
“You were never just a waitress.”
Silence.
“What?”
Damian pulled out a file.
He threw it toward her.
Tessa opened it.
Her hands shook.
Inside were documents.
Birth records.
Old photographs.
A hospital report.
Her name.
Her date of birth.
And another name.
Her mother.
Elena Callahan.
Tessa stopped breathing.
“No.”
Ronan looked at the papers.
His face changed.
“Tessa…”
She stepped back.
“No.”
Damian’s voice became quiet.
“You are Elena Callahan’s daughter.”
The world stopped.
Ronan stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Damian smiled.
“Is it?”
Tessa shook her head.
“My mother died when I was a baby.”
“Yes.”
“Who told you that?”
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
The person who raised her.
The person who protected her.
The person who taught her everything.
Eda.
Tessa looked at the old woman.
Eda’s eyes filled with tears.
“Tessa…”
“Is it true?”
Eda couldn’t speak.
That was enough.
Tessa felt like the ground disappeared.
“My whole life…”
Her voice broke.
“You knew?”
Eda whispered:
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your mother wanted you safe.”
Ronan stared at Eda.
“You knew she was alive?”
Eda shook her head.
“No.”
“Then how?”
Eda looked at Tessa.
“Because Elena gave her to me before she died.”
A long silence.
Then Ronan asked the question everyone feared.
“If Tessa is Elena’s daughter…”
He looked at Damian.
“Why have you been trying to kill her?”
Damian smiled.
“Because she has something your mother hid.”
“What?”
Damian pointed at the notebook.
“The final piece.”
A gunshot suddenly echoed.
Everyone froze.
Arthur collapsed.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Someone had shot him from the rooftop.
Damian looked up.
Confused.
“That wasn’t me.”
Ronan moved immediately.
“Everyone down!”
Another shot.
Then another.
And from the darkness above…
a voice spoke.
“You all spent fourteen years looking for the killer.”
A pause.
“But none of you ever looked at the person who was watching.”
Tessa looked up.
The figure stepped into view.
And Ronan’s face went completely white.
May you like
Because the person standing above them…
was the last person he expected.
