Chapter 12 - THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK
The investigation changed overnight.
Julian had spent years believing he knew every secret connected to his family.
He was wrong.
And that terrified him.
Because the one person he trusted most in the world...
His father.
Richard Croft.
Maya sat in the penthouse living room, staring out at Chicago.
Everything she believed had collapsed.
"My whole life..."
Her voice was quiet.
"Everything I knew was a lie."
Julian sat across from her.
"I know what that feels like."
She looked at him.
"Do you?"
He nodded.
"My entire empire was built on a foundation of secrets."
A pause.
"Some of them were not mine."
For the first time, Maya saw something behind Julian's power.
Pain.
He wasn't just a dangerous man.
He was a son discovering his family might have been the villain.
Derek entered.
"We found something."
Julian stood.
"What?"
Derek placed a folder on the table.
"Financial records."
He opened it.
"Eight years ago, money moved from an account connected to Richard Croft."
Maya's face changed.
"To my mother?"
Derek shook his head.
"No."
He pointed.
"To the company that owned the hospital."
Silence.
Julian stared at the documents.
His father had paid the hospital.
Not to save Maya's mother.
But to control something.
"What was he hiding?"
Derek looked serious.
"We don't know yet."
Then Julian's phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
One picture.
Julian opened it.
And froze.
It was Adrian.
Alive.
Standing beside someone.
Someone Julian recognized.
Someone impossible.
His own father.
Richard Croft.
Below the picture was a message.
YOUR FATHER KNOWS WHY MAYA'S MOTHER DIED. ASK HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
Maya saw Julian's face.
"What is it?"
He slowly turned the phone toward her.
She looked at the picture.
Her entire body went still.
Because the man she thought was gone...
Was standing right there.
And the man she trusted most...
Might have been the reason her family was destroyed.
Julian closed his hand around the phone.
For the first time in years...
He wasn't fighting an enemy outside his family.
May you like
He was fighting the truth inside it.
TO BE CONTINUED...
